The Army is in a recruiting slump, struggling to pitch service to a skeptical Gen Z or even to find enough qualified candidates to join. But just how deep in the hole are the Army's recruiting numbers? It won't say.
The service has declined to provide the basic recruiting data, despite Army Secretary Christine Wormuth repeatedly telling Congress it is doing better on recruiting this year compared to last year, when it came up 15,000 soldiers short of its goal of bringing in 60,000 new troops.
On April 5, Military.com first requested the data on how many new soldiers enlisted for each quarter for the current and previous fiscal years. But the Army has balked for weeks, and service officials also declined to give the publication a reason it was withholding the data.
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“We have seen an increase across the force in each quarter,” Madison Bonzo, an Army spokesperson, told Military.com in a statement. “We expect to finish the third quarter strong and continue this momentum as we move into the fourth quarter.”
Lawmakers broadly see the Army's recruiting slump as one of the top issues for the Pentagon.
The Army is by far the largest branch and is key to bolstering NATO's front lines in Europe and training Ukrainians on American weapons systems. The Army is also in the midst of shifting its doctrine and focus toward conventional warfare…
