For the first time in three years, the Navy will likely meet its recruiting numbers, Navy recruiting leaders told reporters Thursday.
The Navy set a recruiting goal of 40,600 active-duty sailors for Fiscal Year 2024, an increase over the previous year despite the sea service falling short. The Navy is on track to meet the goal Rear Adm. Jeffrey Czerewko, commander of Naval Education and Training Command, said during a roundtable ahead of October’s official tally.
The Navy will likely have a buffer through its delayed entry program, which will have around 11,000 recruits in it at the start of FY 25. The Navy, like other services, depleted the delayed entry program, which allows them to recruit sailors but not immediately send them to boot camp, in order to address low recruiting numbers.
It was a rare move for the Navy to release recruiting numbers before October outside of testimony or speeches. It was also unexpected for the Navy to meet the recruiting goals, given the past two years. Predictions as late as April suggested the sea service would miss the goal by at least 6,000, USNI News previously reported.
The Navy started making its contracting goals in April and continued meeting the goals through July, Rear Adm. Jim Waters, commander of Navy Recruiting Command, told reporters. Waters assumed command of recruiting in April after a three-year stint as the dirctor Military Personnel Plans and Policy Division under the chief of naval operations.
Between April and July, the Navy brought in 4,000 new contracts a month, Waters said. As of Thursday, the Navy had 36,776 active-duty contracts and 30,314 sent to boot camp, he said.
Waters and Czerewko attribute it to a multi-faceted approach, which included filling recruiter billets, opening a recruiting operation center and a more efficient medical waiver process. Bringing in potential recruits who scored lower on entrance exams and the future sailor preparatory course also helped.
Czerewko called the future sailor preparatory course “a friction inducer,” but said while he would rather not need to have it, the course has helped meet recruiting goals.
Other policies, like raising the enlistment age to 42 and allowing a subset of recruiters to join without a high school diploma have brought in a small number of people, Waters said. Those were more about providing more opportunities to motivated Americans, he said.
Beyond bringing in recruits, the recruiting command focused on attrition rates, setting the goal at 11 percent, compared to the average 14-18 percent it usually sees, Czerewko said. They met that goal.
In addition to recruiters, which are doing phone calls, fleet week, career fairs and other ways to get out to the public, the Navy is advertising on social media, streaming platforms and commercials. They are also active on social media, Waters said.
