US National Guard Surpasses 2025 Recruitment Targets

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The National Guard has exceeded its recruiting goals for fiscal year 2025, the Department of War (DOW), formerly the Department of Defense, said in a Sept. 24 statement.

“Since November 2024, the War Department has achieved its strongest recruiting performance in 30 years, with fiscal year-to-date accessions as of the end of August reaching 106% of active-duty targets,” the department said.

“The Army National Guard and the Air National Guard have combined to enlist almost 50,000 new members this fiscal year as of this month, bringing total National Guard end strength to over 433,000, surpassing each component’s goals and marking one of the most successful recruiting years in over a decade.”

Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus, National Guard Bureau chief, highlighted the value provided by the National Guard, which accounts for 20 percent of the country’s joint force at just 4 percent of the department’s budget.

The core missions of the National Guard include defending the homeland, supporting wars, and backing warfighters and their families, he said.

The Army National Guard now has more than 328,000 soldiers, exceeding the total number of authorized service members required to fulfill mission objectives, according to the department.

The strong recruitment numbers follow a new marketing campaign launched by the Army National Guard in March that aimed to attract young people to commit to part-time service.

As for the Air National Guard, total numbers are on track to surpass 105,000 airmen by the end of the current fiscal year, the department said.

“Young Americans are eager to serve,” Nordhaus said. “Today’s recruits are seeking long-term value, and the National Guard delivers through career training and hands-on, practical experience in more than 200 career specialties.”

Nordhaus said the National Guard was “central to President [Donald] Trump’s vision of peace through strength and [War] Secretary [Pete] Hegseth’s focus on restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military and reestablishing deterrence.”

In June, Trump had ordered the deployment of 4,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles in a bid to protect federal buildings and personnel amid widespread protests against immigration enforcement operations targeting illegal immigrants.

According to a Sept. 4 statement from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, 300 National Guard members were still deployed in Los Angeles.

In August, Trump deployed National Guard troops to the District of Columbia to combat violent crime and secure public safety in the country’s capital. The troops are scheduled to remain in Washington through Nov. 30.

On Sept. 15, Trump also signed a presidential memorandum to send National Guards to Memphis, Tennessee, to “support public safety and law enforcement operations” in the city.

Both the Army and Air National Guards had met their recruitment goals in fiscal year 2024 as well, according to a November 2024 post by the National Guard Association of the United States. This was a big change from the shortfalls in previous years.

In fiscal year 2023, the Army National Guard could only hit 94.92 percent of its recruitment target, with the Air National Guard meeting only 60.62 percent of its goal, according to data from the Department of Defense.

For fiscal year 2022, the Army National Guard attained only 64.58 percent of its recruitment goal, and the Air National Guard just 68.76 percent.

These numbers were at 83.32 percent for the Army National Guard and 64.28 percent for the Air National Guard during fiscal year 2021.

Democrat Criticism, Military Recruitment

Meanwhile, Democrats wrote a letter to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, on Sept. 17, raising concerns about the Trump administration’s deployment of armed forces in American cities.

Since Jan. 20, the Pentagon’s assistance to the Department of Homeland Security across the country has surged, the letter said.

“The military has fielded platforms and systems that are much more expensive than their civilian alternatives, such as using military aircraft for deportations and relying on warships and Army surveillance systems for detection and monitoring along the border and in U.S. territory,” it said.

The American people need clarity on the missions and priorities of the DOW, the lawmakers wrote.

The letter called for a public hearing to help the people and Congress understand the “implications of such large-scale redirection of the U.S. military and defense apparatus for support to traditionally non-military missions.”

In its Sept. 24 statement, the DOW said the surge in National Guard recruitment was part of a larger trend of “robust enlistment” across the military.

In a June 3 post, the U.S. Army said it signed contracts with more than 61,000 future soldiers and successfully met its active duty recruitment goals for fiscal year 2025.

“This year’s goal is more than 10% higher than the 55,000 recruits targeted in fiscal 2024, demonstrating a surge in interest and enthusiasm for Army service. Recent recruiting momentum has seen average contracts per day exceeding last year’s levels by as much as 56% during the same period,” the post said.

On June 30, the Air Force announced that it hit its annual recruitment target three months ahead of schedule.