General Discussion

Yes, recruitment is up but it was up significantly BEFORE the election.

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2024/10/military-services-upping-recruiting-goals-after-rebound-2024/400698/

Military services upping recruiting goals after rebound in 2024

By Audrey Decker
Staff Writer
October 30, 2024

After years of shortfalls, nearly all of the U.S. military’s active-duty components met their recruiting goals this year—and plan to increase those goals in 2025.

The military services recruited 225,000 people in fiscal year 2024—25,000 more recruits than last year, Katie Helland, the Pentagon’s director of military accession policy, told reporters Wednesday.

Service officials have previously cited a lower desire to serve, limited familiarity with the military in the general population, a competitive labor market, and declining eligibility among young people as the biggest hurdles to military recruiting, and officials Wednesday said those challenges persist. Only about 23 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 24 are eligible to serve without some type of waiver, Helland said.

But as recruiters regain a foothold in communities post-COVID, the services are seeing more willingness to serve, and that “growing propensity” helped them achieve their recruiting goals this year, Helland said.
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