FY25 Sees Best Recruiting Numbers in 15 Years

According to the Pentagon’s FY25 recruiting summary, all five active‑duty DoD services met or exceeded their accession goals:

• Army: goal 61,000; actual 62,050 (101.72% of goal)
• Navy: goal 40,600; actual 44,096 (108.61% of goal)
• Air Force: goal 30,100; actual 30,166 (100.22% of goal)
• Space Force: goal 796; actual 819 (102.89% of goal)
• Marine Corps: goal 26,600; actual 26,600 (100% of goal)

Total new active‑duty recruits for these five services in FY25 were 163,731 (62,050 + 44,096 + 30,166 + 819 + 26,600). These figures do not include the Coast Guard, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, not the Department of Defense.

Measured against their FY25 goals, the largest recruiting gains (over‑goal performance) among the active‑duty DoD branches were:

• Navy: 108.61% of goal (44,096 recruits vs. a goal of 40,600)
• Space Force: 102.89% of goal (819 vs. 796)
• Army: 101.72% of goal (62,050 vs. 61,000)

The Air Force was essentially on target at 100.22%, and the Marine Corps hit exactly 100% of its goal. (Separately, the Coast Guard — not part of DoD — reported about 121% of its FY25 enlisted goal.)

The Pentagon credits several specific factors and initiatives for the FY25 recruiting rebound:

• Senior leadership focus: Officials explicitly link the upswing to President Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s emphasis on “restoring the warrior ethos” and prioritizing recruiting, overseen through a Department‑wide Recruitment Task Force co‑chaired by Undersecretary Anthony Tata and spokesman Sean Parnell.
• Streamlined medical screening: A medical‑records accession pilot program sped up processing at Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS), cutting typical wait times from as long as 10 days to about one day or less, which they say helps keep potential recruits from losing interest.
• Preparatory courses: Services expanded prep courses that help applicants who are just below standards improve academic test scores and physical fitness so they can qualify for enlistment.

These are the concrete changes the Pentagon highlights as driving the higher accession rates, alongside a general message campaign about the benefits of military service.

The article’s “best recruiting numbers in 15 years” claim is based on internal Pentagon tracking of the percentage of annual recruiting “mission” (goal) achieved across the services since November 2024. Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell says the services have seen “the highest recruiting percentage of mission achieved in more than 15 years” since that date, implying the comparison runs back to roughly 2009–2010, though the article does not name a specific baseline fiscal year.

Yes. In U.S. federal budgeting, “fiscal year 2025” runs from Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025, and the Pentagon is using that standard definition. The recruiting figures cited for FY25 cover accessions during that Oct. 1, 2024–Sept. 30, 2025 period.

The Pentagon announcement focuses almost entirely on new-recruit accessions and percentage of annual recruiting goals met. It briefly notes that “most reserve components also met their mission goals,” but does not provide data or discussion on retention or reenlistment rates. Other DoD and media reporting indicate that retention has generally been stronger than recruiting in recent years, but this particular FY25 release is about new accessions, not retention trends.