New recruiting programs put Army, Air Force on track to meet enlistment goals. Navy will fall short

WASHINGTON (AP) — After several difficult years, the Army and Air Force say they are on track to meet their recruiting goals this year, reversing previous shortfalls using a swath of new programs and policy changes. But the Navy, while improving, expects once again to fall short.

The mixed results reflect the ongoing challenges for the U.S. military as it struggles to attract recruits in a tight job market, where companies are willing to pay more and provide good benefits without the demands of service and warfighting. And even those who are meeting their goals say they are still finding it difficult to attract the dwindling number of young people who can meet the military's physical, mental and moral standards.

With half a year to go in the recruiting year, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said she is optimistic about hitting the 55,000 enlistment goal and getting an additional 5,000 recruits for the delayed entry pool that would come in during the next year or so.

"Right now we are 5,000 contracts ahead of where we were compared to this time last year," Wormuth said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I don't want to set expectations too high right now, but I'm feeling good."

For the Army, it is a bright spot in what has been a long slog of low numbers and lengthy deliberations on how to reverse the momentum.

Last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the Navy, Army and Air Force all failed to meet their recruitment goals. The Marine Corps and the tiny Space Force have consistently hit their targets, although the Marines have struggled a bit. The previous fiscal year, the Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000, and the other services had to dig into the pools of delayed entry candidates in order to meet their recruiting numbers.

Now, with six months of recruiting under their belts — including the historically meager winter months — the Air Force and Army are optimistic they'll meet their goals.

A key success, said Wormuth, has been the Army's future soldier prep course, which has graduated about 17,000 soldiers since it was started in August 2022, including about 5,300 so far in this current fiscal year. The prep course, which is now at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Fort Moore, Georgia, gives lowerperforming recruits up to 90 days of academic or fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and go on to basic training.