Pete Hegseth is the U.S. Secretary of War, the civilian official who leads the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) and has overall responsibility for the U.S. armed forces. He was sworn in as the 29th Secretary of Defense on Jan. 25, 2025, and later began using the title Secretary of War after the department’s name change in September 2025. In this article, he is acting in that role as the senior official hosting and presiding over the Pentagon event honoring top military recruiters.
The Recruitment Excellence Forum is a Pentagon event created to honor the military’s top-performing recruiters and to gather their feedback for improving recruiting. It is described as an inaugural, department‑wide forum and a byproduct of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s recently established Recruitment Task Force. It is organized by the U.S. Department of War, led by Hegseth and other senior War Department officials.
Public reporting says the invitees were “26 of the most successful recruiters” from the Army, Navy and Air Force during fiscal year 2025 and credits them with helping achieve the highest number of enlisted accessions in 15 years, with branches averaging about 104% of their recruiting mission. However, the specific scoring or selection formula (exact quotas, quality metrics, or other factors) used to determine which individual recruiters were labeled “top” is not disclosed in the available sources.
The forum brought together 26 top recruiters from across the U.S. military, specifically from the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air Force. Individuals mentioned in coverage include: Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Abel Layton Jr. (Marine Corps falls under the Department of the Navy), Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Dupuis (Army National Guard), and Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Ashley Lynch, as well as several Air Force and Air National Guard recruiters and liaisons. The Air Force article’s editor’s note explicitly lists Airmen who were recognized as “Top Recruiters” and “Top Service Liaisons,” showing that recruiters from each participating service (and Air Force components like the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve) were individually recognized, though full lists for Army and Navy are not publicly provided in these sources.
Available reporting only describes the Dec. 18, 2025 gathering as the “inaugural Recruitment Excellence Forum,” meaning it was the first of its kind. There is no public information in these sources confirming whether it will definitely be held again on a recurring basis, only that this was the initial event.
At the event, recruiters were formally recognized and thanked as the military’s top recruiters, with distinctions such as “Top Recruiters” and “Top Service Liaisons” for various components (e.g., Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve, Air National Guard). The coverage does not specify the exact physical form of the awards (such as whether they received plaques, certificates, or coins), only that they were honored with these titles and public recognition by senior War Department leaders.
