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Description
Recent news stories reported that the U.S. military is currently experiencing an unprecedented recruiting crisis. In fact, between 2022-2023, the U.S. armed forces (the Army in particular) failed to meet their numbers by a large margin: against goals of 232,021 accessions for 2022 and 244,533 for 2023, the branches collectively missed their targets by 40,369 and 41,336 accessions respectively. Even though the branches proved able to meet their recruitment goals – although barely – in fiscal year 2024, concerns continue to linger.
Although military recruitment is usually not a significant issue for voters, it became a central promise for the new Trump administration. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is following through with his promise to take action, beginning with policy changes related to diversity initiatives in the military, which he argues have dampened recruitment enthusiasm.
Publication Date
4-2-2025
Recommended Citation
Rossi, Guido, "GNSI Decision Brief: The United States Military Recruiting Crisis" (2025). GNSI Decision Briefs. 23.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/gnsi_decision_briefs/23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5038/HZLB9490
