Quantico, Va. (AP) – The Army, Navy and Air Force have announced that they met their recruitment targets this summer months before schedule, with encouragement from the Trump administration.
This is a major change from the past few years when the military failed to meet its recruitment targets due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tight job market and the growth of young Americans. I struggle to meet fitness and academic standards. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses Turnaround claimed as an early victoryRecruit claimed that he was postponed by what he called a weakened army under Democratic President Joe Biden.
However, the rise began before President Donald Trump re-inaugurated in November, and major drivers The program where the service was started I increased the numbers a few years ago.
The Marines have not stepped into the fight before, but now they claim success. And the public in charge of this effort says that momentary politics had no impact on maritime adoption.
“Marnies are probably the most inelastic of the service,” Lt. Gen. William Bowers told the Associated Press this month. “We appeal to certain types of young men and women, and that doesn’t really change the economic wind.”
“They want to be part of that mysticity,” he added.
Marines say they just beat their recruitment goals.
Data provided by the Corps shows that they recruited 30,536 active and reserve enlisted Marines. They also recruited 1,792 active and reserve officers, breaking their goals.
Officials say the numbers are not the result of a hard-to-measurement of numbers, but rather reflecting the need for legions to be careful not to oversupply.
When Bowers took office as deputy commander of talent and reserve issues, he shifted the dates for 500 recruits to head to boot camp until September and afterwards, avoiding the Marines growing past Congress’ approved size.
Official recruitment figures for all military services will be released normally after the fiscal year ends on September 30th.
Marines also violated recruitment targets that one person enlisted last year. The service met recruitment targets that were enlisted in 2023 by 351 Marines. This is when the Army, Navy and Air Force missed targets by thousands of recruits. Only the army Approximately 10,000 shorts appeared..
But the 2022 legion had to do it too. Soak in the pool of applicants for delayed entry – The same Poolebowers are currently strengthening – to create that goal.
The military is struggling to make numbers
Marines have not changed entry requirements and are “non-attack” about standards.
“Where I’m in the country, people in America know that there’s a very high standard in the Marines and we’re sticking to them,” Bowers said. He added, “If you’re trying to appeal to everyone, you can’t get people you might really want.”
However, there is also an inherent contrast with other military services.
Both Army The Navy then launched a program at the boot camp to provide relief or physical training to recruits who did not meet the standards when shipped.
The Navy has also launched a program that allows more than 30 out of 99 on military academic tests, as long as they meet certain criteria for selected jobs. He also raised his maximum enlistment age to 41 over two years.
Army and Navy officials said none of these programs were lowered by standards.
The Legion does not offer the luxurious cash bonuses that some services do to attract recruits. The entire US military Over $2 billion spent Over the past three years, the Corps has recruited service members with just 2.5%, or about $51 million.
Marine Corps Commander General Eric Smith famously told a meeting in 2023 that “Your bonus can call yourself a Marine.”
Part of ensuring that the Marines can maintain this bravery is that they are a much smaller service with around 170,000 people. This means that recruitment goals will also be smaller.
In contrast, the Army consists of more than 450,000 troops Recruitment goals for 2025 Of the 61,000 recruits. The Navy is made up of over 440,000 sailors, with a target for 2025 It was 40,000.
Marines also focus on decades of recruitment, Bauers said. “Culturally, we were set on a different path many years ago, so we’re different.”
Its history makes it difficult to emulate or replicate the success of the legion. Bowers said Marine Corps officials played a role in the services they worked to talk to the Army and establish career recruiter executives, but he admits that “we got a head start of 45 years.”
Political Spotlight
The Marines have played an oversized role in Trump’s administration.
During his first term, Trump chose two. Marines retired for key positions: General James Mattis is Secretary of Defense, and General John Kelly is the head of the Department of Homeland Security and subsequent Chief of Staff. Both left the administration and were critical of Trump.
Since taking office this year, the Trump administration has once again turned its attention to the Marines. that We sent active Marines to Los Angeles Protect federal property and staff during protests against immigrant attacks.
It even pushes the Marines into the political spotlight, The development was challenged in court.
now, Marines are part of the US military accumulation In the Caribbean Crying out the fear of invasion Adding Trump speculation in Venezuela You can try to defeat it That president, Nicolas Maduro.
Asked about political attention, Bauers was not worried. It argues that it is an opportunity for the legion to demonstrate that it can succeed in a crisis and act as a positive force.
“Every time the Marines get caught up in a crisis, we turn successful performances,” he said. “We’re really good for young Americans.”
Bowers was also not plagued by the prospect that what Americans think of the Marines could be changing.
“I’ve never seen it,” he said. “What I saw is that Americans are advocating very high standards for our commanders to become Marines, and that the Marines never compromise those standards.”
