Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Tuesday that preliminary recruitment figures for the military show how interest in serving is quickly rising under President Donald Trump.
Hegseth revealed that the Army had its best recruitment totals in 12 years in December 2024, the first full month after Trump was re-elected.
That was followed by the best recruiting numbers in 15 years as of January 2025, the month in which Trump officially took office.
The conclusion Hegseth drew is that “America’s youth want to serve” under the bold and strong “America First” leadership offered by Trump.
BREAKING: In December 2024, the @USArmy had its best recruiting number in 12 years.
In January 2025, the Army hit its best recruiting number in 15 YEARS.
BOTTOM LINE: America’s youth want to serve under the bold & strong “America First” leadership of @realDonaldTrump.
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) February 4, 2025
The Army now expects to add 10 more basic training units in April across Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, according to a report from Military.com. That puts the Army on track to train 9,600 recruits per year.
All of this is quite the shift from the administration of now-former President Joe Biden.
The Pentagon started Biden’s term with a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, a reality that surely did not give young Americans the confidence to put their lives on the line.
Then, for the next few years, conservative and Christian service members hesitant to take the COVID vaccine were booted from the armed forces, all while top brass like Gen. Mark Milley espoused the tenets of critical race theory to the public.
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But the new leadership indeed seems to be inspiring confidence.
One of Trump’s first actions in office was to offer full rank and back pay for service members kicked out for refusing the COVID vaccine if they choose to resume their military careers.
Beyond those sorts of moves, Trump himself has projected strength and aggression in a way that Biden never could, even in the latter’s best years of serving as a career politician.
Hegseth, a combat veteran, may have the same effect in the minds of potential recruits.
Unlike his predecessor, now-former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Hegseth speaks frequently and frankly about restoring a warrior ethos to the armed services.
The fact that he is relatively young, is in good physical shape, and is a devoted conservative Christian whose body is covered in tattoos to match his convictions cannot hurt his reputation among the core demographics who traditionally sign up for military service.
Such changes have already started to work into the military’s public image.
One new Army recruitment ad released on Tuesday showed soldiers completing rigorous exercises, firing weapons, and operating heavy machinery, which is quite the pivot from the woke recruitment ads that were fixtures of the Biden years.
Our warrior ethos is clear: to fight and win.
Hooah! pic.twitter.com/kyGBkt4dAV
— U.S. Army (@USArmy) February 4, 2025
The bottom line is that leadership matters, especially in a context like the armed forces, where a lack of competent and clear-minded leadership can make the difference between life and death.
Young Americans do not want to risk their lives fighting for transgender pronouns or diversity quotas.
They may, however, risk their lives fighting for their country under leaders who are equally devoted to defending that country.
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