Buoyed by a resurgence in enlistments after two tough recruiting years, the Army is expanding the number of units that can train new recruits.

Ten additional training units will be established by April and split between basic training sites at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, according to Hunter Rhoades, a spokesman for the Army’s Center for Initial Military Training.

There are 153 units across the initial entry training enterprise, company- and battery-sized elements that conduct basic training or One Station Unit Training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Moore, Georgia, Fort Sill and Fort Leonard Wood.

Expansion of basic training capacity is aimed at moving more people into training sooner, including some of the 11,000 recruits who were placed in the delayed entry program at the end of fiscal year 2024. The extra units will create basic training slots for as many as 9,600 new recruits annually, Rhoades said.

To meet the training requirements, Army Training and Doctrine Command is working with Army Human Resources Command to fill the new companies with active-duty drill sergeants, NCOs who are currently attending the Drill Sergeant Academy, Rhoades said.

Following two years of failing to meet its recruiting goals, the Army announced in October that it had exceeded its fiscal 2024 goal of 55,000, bringing in 55,300 new recruits, plus the 11,000 who went into the delayed entry program.

Army Recruiting Command is on track to meet its fiscal 2025 recruiting goal of 61,000 new soldiers and an additional 10,000 in the delayed entry pool, according to command spokeswoman Madison Bonzo. She noted that as of Feb. 5, Recruiting Command had contracted 59% of its fiscal 2025 goal.

“Our success couldn’t be possible without the hard work of our recruiters, continued transformation of the recruiting enterprise and modernization initiatives to attract qualified talent into America’s most lethal fighting force,” Bonzo said.

Recruiting was hampered during the COVID-19 pandemic as brick-and-mortar recruiting stations were shut down and in-person canvassing in schools and public events was prohibited. The Army also grappled with low national unemployment rates, competition from the private sector and a cohort of young people who are either unfit or unwilling to serve.

The Army responded to the recruiting crisis with a Total Army effort that included updating its training programs; adding two new recruiter MOSs, including a new warrant officer recruiting specialty; expanding the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which helps potential recruits meet the service’s academic or physical requirements; developing the Go Recruit mobile application; and restructuring Recruiting Command by incorporating the Army Enterprise Marketing Office and transitioning the two-star command into a three-star command.

Most recently, the Army established two regional recruiting commands to oversee the five recruiting brigades responsible for enlisting new recruits. Slated to be fully operational this summer, the new command headquarters—the first of their kind—will be in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Each will have about 30 personnel commanded by a deputy commanding general of Recruiting Command.