Bolstered by sweeping changes to how it recruits, markets and harnesses innovation, Army officials announced that the service has met its fiscal year 2024 recruiting goal.

Having struggled to meet its recruiting goals for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, market competition and a shrinking pool of people willing or able to serve, the Army projects it will exceed its goal of 55,000 new soldiers by at least 300 by Sept. 30, the last day of the fiscal year, Maj. Gen. Johnny Davis, commanding general of Army Recruiting Command, said in a Sept. 26 phone call with reporters. The Army also will have some 11,000 new recruits in the delayed entry program, Davis said, giving “our Army and our recruiters nice breathing room and a head start as we enter fiscal year ‘25.”

“The U.S. Army’s recruiting force achieved our 55,000 accessions goal more than a month ahead of schedule, and we are on track to have more than 11,000 in our delayed entry program by the end of the month,” Army Secretary Christine Wormuth said in an Army news release. “This is more than double the goal we set for our delayed entry program and will allow our recruiting efforts for next year to start strong right out of the gate.”

The announcement comes a year after the Army launched major changes to its recruiting methods, market engagement strategies and command structure, and announced the addition of an innovation directorate. “This year we introduced so many new initiatives to attract qualified candidates and streamlined the overall enlistment process,” Davis said. “Our recruiters truly crushed it.”

The initiatives include investments in the recruiting workforce’s training and quality of life; the Soldier Referral Program, which has garnered more than 75,000 referrals and resulted in close to 5,000 enlistments; new warrant officer and enlisted recruiting MOSs; the Future Soldier Preparatory Course, which helps recruits meet the Army’s academic or fitness requirements; a mobile recruiting app; and the addition of more medical providers to help speed up the medical screening process.

In a Sept. 24 Noon Report webinar hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, Davis said, “it’s been an all-of-Army approach, and I think that’s why we’re starting to see wonderful momentum for this fiscal year.”

Davis, who has led Recruiting Command since October 2022, signaled that as part of the transformational changes announced by Wormuth and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George in October 2023, the recruiting enterprise has been “synchronized” into an entity that comprises Recruiting Command, Army Cadet Command and the Army Enterprise Marketing Office.

The changes, he said, have allowed the Army to “understand where we can transform and move forward instead of doing the same things we’ve done for years.”

Davis was joined on the webinar by Brig. Gen. Antoinette Gant, chief of the Army Enterprise Marketing Office, which was stood up in 2019 and is staffed by officers who are selected to become marketing and behavioral economics experts.

“These individuals have actually gone and gotten master’s degrees in some form of business and marketing,” she said, explaining that, along with a few civilians, they staff directorates in strategy, innovation and data; marketing execution; and regional marketing offices.

Research conducted by her office, Gant said, has shown that the average age of an Army recruit is 22. “Where else can you find an opportunity to be able to do what you may have thought you wanted to do as a civilian but do it in the Army?” she said. “These are all the things that the Army actually brings to an individual that is interested in being a part of something bigger than themselves, and we’re finding that that age group is really looking for that.”

Davis pointed out that soldiers, veterans and civilians can support the Army’s recruiting efforts by remembering that they are all influencers.

“Recruiting has faced some headwinds … but your support and those from AUSA and all the partners and services have all come together to move recruitment forward,” said Davis, who has been nominated to receive his third star and continue as commander of Recruiting Command. “It’s been hard, but it’s been easier because of your 100% unwavering support.”