The Defense Department's armed services branches recruited 12.5% more people in fiscal year 2024 than in the year prior in spite of a tough and indifferent recruiting market.
Katie Helland Director of Military Accessions Policy Katie Helland speaks to members of the media throughout a panel on fiscal year 2025 recruiting goals at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
Share:
×
Share
Copy Link
Email
Facebook
X.
LinkedIn.
WhatsApp
Download: Full Size (235.52 KB).
Credit: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jackie Sanders, DOD.
VIRIN: scientific-programs.science 241030-D-XI929-1004
While speaking at a multiservice panel on 2025 hiring concerns at the Pentagon earlier this week, Director of Military Accession Policy Katie Helland said that the services increased the number of employees from 200,000 in FY 2023 to 225,000 in FY 2024, which ended September 30.
Additionally, she stated, the services had a 35% increase in written contracts, and the active parts' postponed entry program started FY 2025 with a 10% larger swimming pool.
" [The Office of the Secretary of Defense] and the services will continue to build off the momentum that we have actually gotten in 2024," Helland said.
" Nevertheless," she continued, "we require to remain meticulously positive about the future recruiting operations as we continue to recruit in a market that has low youth propensity to serve, restricted familiarity with military chances, a competitive labor market and a decreasing eligibility among young grownups."
Helland elaborated on those difficulties by describing that, for the very first time because the metric has been tracked, a lot of young individuals have actually never considered the alternative of serving in the armed force.
The factors behind that are multifold, Helland stated. Young Americans have fewer ties to pals or household members who have actually served in the armed force. There is a declining presence of veterans in our society. Approximately 77% of people between the ages of 17 and 24 need some type of waiver to serve due to any variety of disqualifications.
To counter such obstacles, Helland said the military has carried out a medical pilot program that allows recruits to join the armed force without a waiver for numerous health conditions - provided they satisfy certain requirements. Additionally, there are service member prep courses that prepare employees to fulfill the difficult requirements of military service. Moreover, DOD is seeking to reconnect with youth and their influencers by showing them the value of .
" The next generation of Americans to serve must know that there has actually never been a much better time for them to pick military service," Helland said.
Panel Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder facilitates a panel on 2025 recruiting objectives at the Pentagon, Oct. 30, 2024.
Share:.
×.
Share.
Copy Link.
Email.
Facebook.
X.
LinkedIn.
WhatsApp
Download: Full Size (266.24 KB).
Credit: Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jackie Sanders, DOD.
VIRIN: 241030-D-XI929-1016
" Youth today look for a bigger purpose in their lives and desire jobs where they have greater participation in decision-making and can produce a direct concrete impact," she continued. "Military service offers all of this."
Explaining that U.S. military service provides more than 250 professions which it represents among the most highly educated companies throughout the world and throughout all pay grades, Helland stated the Defense Department is striving to counter the narrative that signing up with the military is an alternative to participating in college or "an option of last option."
" We are working to reframe this narrative so that Americans comprehend that military service is a path to greater education and profession chances while defending democracy and the liberties we love," Helland stated.
She added that DOD is reframing this story. For example, the department's Joint Advertising Marketing research and Studies program will soon release a campaign to develop familiarity with the American public about the value of military service. Plans are also proceeding to have adult influencers advocate for military service.