The Army is poised to easily hit its recruiting target this year as the service has made enormous gains in filling the ranks ahead of its traditional summer rush of new enlistments.
As of last week, the Army had enlisted 51,837 recruits, or 85% of its 61,000 target for fiscal 2025, according service data provided to Military.com. A significant portion of that total -- roughly 14,000 -- comes from the service's delayed-entry program, or DEP, which is composed of recruits who signed up last year but are only now shipping out to basic training. The Army has the rest of the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, to hit its recruiting quota.
Despite the DEP, the numbers still represent an upswing compared to last year. At this point in 2024, the Army had reached just 63% of its goal, pulling in 34,512 recruits -- including only 5,000 from the DEP. The surge in delayed entries this year is largely attributed to the Army's aggressive recruiting pace in 2024, which outstripped available training capacity.
After missing its recruiting goals in multiple recent years, the Army hit its target last year for the first time since 2021 -- a fragile success following a decade of downward trends on enlistment numbers.
Driving the shortfall is a narrowing pool of eligible recruits. Pentagon officials estimate just 23% of Americans aged 17 to 24 qualify to serve, citing rising obesity rates and poor performance on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, a standardized test used to screen potential enlistees. Public school test scores have dropped steadily for years, particularly among boys, and that trend was exacerbated by pandemic-era disruptions.
The service turned that around when it introduced the Future Soldiers Preparatory Courses, which help applicants meet body fat and academic standards and have proven to be a recruitment lifeline. Once recruits are in compliance with the Army's standards, they move on to basic training.
Last year, one-quarter of Army applicants, who otherwise would not have been allowed to enlist, attended at least one of those prep courses.
But that stopgap measure may soon face limits. Two Army officials familiar with internal discussions told Military.com the service is considering capping the number of recruits allowed to enter via prep courses.
"The Army has not made any decisions to reduce the number of trainee volunteers attending the Future Soldier Prep Course," Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard, a service spokesperson, said in a statement. "However, we continually assess and scale the course based on the needs of the Army and the recruiting landscape."
"The Army has seen increasing interest in serving, which allows the Army to select among a larger pool of quality recruits who can meet our standards and serve honorably," he added.
Beyond prep schools, the Army has poured resources into streamlining enlistment processing that has long posed a bureaucratic bottleneck. Officials say reducing red tape has helped retain applicants who might otherwise walk away amid monthslong delays.
Recent recruiting progress has become a talking point for President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who have framed the numbers as a cultural victory for the administration. At a White House Easter event Monday, Trump credited his administration with energizing a "record" enlistment surge.
"Since Nov. 5, it's all happened," Trump said. "Enrollment in the military is at a record. That's testament to what's happening in terms of the spirit of our country."
Historically, economic downturns -- rather than electoral shifts -- have been the more reliable driver of recruiting booms, as young Americans turn to the military in search of job security and educational benefits.
Meanwhile, some Army officials in interviews with Military.com have expressed quiet unease about the administration's rhetoric and its potential chilling effect on minority and female recruitment.
While the overall recruiting landscape had deteriorated in recent years, women continued to enlist at steady rates. Black Americans, who make up 14% of the U.S. population, accounted for nearly 25% of new Army recruits in 2024.
Related: 'Last Stop USA': How the Army Is Trying to Fill in for a Broken Education System
