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The US Army has announced that it has met its fiscal year 2025 active-duty recruiting goal of 61,000 soldiers months ahead of schedule.

Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, the Pentagon was previously struggling to meet military recruiting goals across nearly all branches, with the Army experiencing some of the most significant shortfalls. In fiscal year 2022, the Army missed its recruiting target by about 15,000 soldiers, falling short of its 60,000 goal by 25%. The situation only modestly improved in fiscal year 2023, when the Army again failed to meet its goal, signing roughly 54,000 recruits against a 65,000 target (a shortfall of 11,000). The Navy also missed its 2023 target by 7,000 sailors, achieving only 30,236 of its 37,700 goal; the Air Force fell short by about 3,000 active-duty airmen, its first recruiting miss since 1999; and the Marine Corps, while generally more resilient, narrowly hit its target by reducing recruiting goals late in the fiscal year.

What’s going on now: In a notable development, the United States Army announced that it had “successfully met” its fiscal year 2025 active-duty recruiting goal of 61,000 soldiers four months ahead of the September 30 deadline. This is the earliest the Army has hit its annual recruiting target since 2014, and the milestone comes after two consecutive years of recruitment shortfalls. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll praised the achievement, attributing the turnaround to the “colossal efforts” of over 10,000 Army recruiters and drill sergeants, and framed it as evidence that the Army’s recruiting challenges are “behind us.” According to a service statement, the early success represents a “significant turning point” and reflects a “renewed sense of patriotism and purpose among America’s youth.”

Officials credit a suite of initiatives implemented after the 2022 and 2023 recruiting crises, most notably the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which was launched in August 2022. The program provides up to 90 days of academic or physical fitness training for potential recruits who initially fall short of Army standards. This course alone accounted for roughly one in four recruits in 2024 and may comprise as much as a third of the 2025 recruiting class, according to former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth.

The success of this approach has not gone unnoticed across the Department of Defense. The US Navy has already adopted a similar model, rolling out its own version of the preparatory course to assist candidates who struggle to meet initial academic or physical criteria.