During Wednesday's Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) questioned military generals for low recruiting numbers.
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00:00First off, thanks to each of you for your hard work. I don't think what you do is easy.
00:06So we've had a tough time, other than the Marines, of hitting our recruitment numbers for quite a few years.
00:13So should anybody be held accountable? And if so, have they been held accountable for not meeting our recruiting goals?
00:24I'll start, sir.
00:25So our recruiting numbers in the Air Force have gone up. We're actually exceeding where we thought we would be.
00:31Some of it we had, the last two, three years, it was a little more difficult.
00:36COVID, I think, was one of the factors. The other thing is just the propensity to serve across our nation was down.
00:43And so we have put every effort we can into increasing our recruits, and we have exceeded our goals.
00:50We actually were planning to exceed it by about 3,000 this year, and we'll see if we have enough MILPERS to cover that.
00:58But they didn't, but y'all didn't meet the goals.
01:01Yes, sir, we did this year.
01:03Yeah, but prior years.
01:05No, sir, we did not.
01:06And so we looked at what was, we had our own barriers internal to the Air Force, and so we removed those barriers.
01:13One of them, you know, we had very strict, for example, tattoo policies, and we, and so we removed some of those because it was a barrier for entrance from some of the population of our, of our nation.
01:25So that increased it.
01:26The other thing that we did was we noted that internally to the Air Force, you had to have a driver's license in order to enter our Air Force.
01:36We removed that, and then we do, if it, if it's required for your position, we will work on getting the driver's license.
01:41So all of the internal barriers we removed, and we have since seen a larger population from which we can recruit.
01:50Additionally, we did not lower our standards at all.
01:54We have, we've maintained our standards, DOD standards.
01:58But the individuals that were responsible for recruiting before you started making your numbers, should they have been held accountable or not, or is it something that was completely outside your control?
02:11It's not, I don't think it's in my control, but I think that they were held accountable in the fact that they were given specific goals.
02:18We used to do goals every quarter, and now we do them monthly.
02:20And so our recruiter, who's a one-star general, reports to a four-star, so I think the accountability was there.
02:28From that aspect, sir.
02:29But nothing happened to anybody for not meeting their goals.
02:32They were, they were promoted just like anybody else.
02:34Well, the same promotion, I mean, he's been a one-star the whole time, so he hasn't yet been promoted.
02:39Okay.
02:40How's the Navy?
02:41How about the Navy?
02:42So I'll tell you that, sir, thanks for the question, and also thanks for the opportunity yesterday to speak with you in your office.
02:48And you're meeting your goals, right?
02:49Sir, we are far exceeding our goals, absolutely, in 2025.
02:52I will, I anticipate sending 44,000 future sailors to boot camp, probably just under that number.
03:00Our goal is 40,600, so we're well above it.
03:04I think inside of our enterprise, inside the MyNavy HR enterprise, we took a really hard look about who was tasked to do what.
03:12We upgraded the position of the Navy recruiting commander from a one-star to a two-star,
03:16and with that came a recruiting operations center, it came increased data analytics, you know, you know, a review of medical waiver processes came.
03:26We understand the data behind recruiting.
03:28To be candid, sir, I think we had to learn how to recruit coming out of COVID, and I won't speak for my, you know, fellow service members here, but, you know, that's how it was for the Navy.
03:39I think prior to COVID, we were very good at processing the people who walked in the recruiting stations, coming out of COVID with a decrease in propensity that General Miller just, you know, mentioned.
03:50We really had to learn how to recruit.
03:51We are up on step now, and we're running on all cylinders, sir.
03:55How about the Army?
03:57Yeah, thanks, Senator.
03:58As you know, probably a couple years ago, we completely revamped it.
04:02I think this was an Army entirety fault.
04:05I wouldn't say an individual, but I would say the Army was at fault.
04:08We were sleeping at the wheel for years on recruiting, resting on our laurels, and we put General Davis and a team of folks in there to revamp and relook how we did recruiting, systemically from the top and the bottom.
04:22Over the last 12 to 18 months, have been putting these in place, and we're seeing now the fruition.
04:28We saw that last year was a good year.
04:30This year is a great year.
04:32We are exceeding.
04:33We're over 50,000 recruits out of the 61,000 that we were shooting for this year just six months in.
04:42So we're having, as I call it, catastrophic success with this with how we're doing now.
04:47But the ones in charge, when we weren't successful, nothing's happened to them.
04:52They were promoted just like normal, like, I think that's true.
04:57No, they weren't, Senator.
05:00Okay.
05:00All right.
05:01Okay, so what's the slogan for the Marines?
05:05Senator Scott, good to see you.
05:07We talked a bit about this.
05:08We put our best Marines in recruiting, even if they want to.
05:12Do you have a slogan?
05:13A slogan?
05:14Yeah.
05:14Do you have a slogan?
05:15The few, the proud.
05:16We have a lot of slogans, sir, if that's the one you're after.
05:21We don't promise you a Rose Garden.
05:24Many different.
05:24We'll stop there.
05:25I remember that one.
05:26So that was the Navy.
05:28And Army, do you guys have one?
05:30Yeah, this will defend, Senator.
05:32And how about the Navy?
05:33Sir, forged by the sea.
05:36Air Force?
05:38Fly, fight, and win.
05:39Aim high.
05:40Space Force?
05:41Semper Supra, always above.
05:43And when you, when, so, do you think that, do you think that when people come in, they
05:50know what your mission is?
05:53When you're recruiting, do they know what your mission is?
05:55I think we've all heard for years the Marine slogan, and we've all heard for years the Army
06:01slogan, but I don't know.
06:02Do you think we've heard the others, and do you think that that's a reason why we've
06:06had a hard time, is people not sure what we're doing?
06:12Anybody?
06:14Senator, I'll speak to it from a Navy component.
06:17We, we've been with the forged by the sea marketing campaign for a little bit of time.
06:22It resonates well with younger folks.
06:24The average age of our recruit is 22, not necessarily 18 like some of the others are.
06:29So they're a little older.
06:31It resonates.
06:32That slogan, that culture manifests through boot camp, through A-schools now, into the
06:37fleet.
06:37So I think it's nesting pretty well.
06:39Senator, I'll offer from the Space Force perspective, being just over five years old, we took a
06:48concerted effort to market what a Guardian is, and more importantly, what they do specifically
06:53for the joint fight.
06:55So I acknowledge your point.
06:56It's one of the focuses that we have right now.
06:58We've actually built a planetarium show that we're debuting in a month at planetariums around
07:02the nation to get after exactly your point, which is, does the average American know what
07:08the Space Force is, and that they can join it as its newest service?
07:12You think they do?
07:14Our data right now shows us that we have a brand awareness problem, absolutely.
07:18That's right.
07:18That's what I would say in Florida.
07:20Yes.
07:20Yes.
07:21As I show.
07:22Space Force, for sure, sir.
07:23Yeah.
07:24So have, so the Marines continue to be successful.
07:28Was there, was after, after the problems that we had, was, did the other branches, did they
07:34follow what the Marines are doing?
07:35Did you guys look at what the Marines were doing?
07:38It's nice to be the one that never had a problem.
07:40He, he tells us all the time.
07:42I was doing business.
07:42I always wanted to be number one.
07:43Absolutely.
07:44You know, I always wanted to be the one that nobody ever questioned my numbers.
07:48Senator, from a Navy perspective, we did take a little bit of a look at what the Marines
07:52had done.
07:53We had already been involved in, in increasing the quality of our recruiters.
07:58You know, in talking to my good friend here, you know, that manifests in what they're
08:02doing.
08:02So the, the communities that provide our officer recruiters have increased the quality of those
08:07commanding officers that go to recruiting command.
08:09And the Commodores that oversee them.
08:11And we do provide a large amount of incentives for junior, for our enlisted sailors to head
08:16out to recruiting.
08:17And the quality there is increasing as well.
08:21Senator, from the Air Force perspective, we absolutely did look at the, the Marines and
08:25their recruiting and their, their, their, the way that they attack it and that they do
08:30put their best and brightest on there.
08:31So we did modify that over the last year when we added additional 400 plus recruiters and that
08:38it was, it was, you know, you had to be selected to be there as opposed to just throw your name
08:43in the hat because you thought it would be fun to do.
08:45So yes, sir, we did do that.
08:47Senator, if I may, I would be remiss if I did not go on the record and note that the
08:51Space Force has made its recruiting numbers for the last five years, albeit small.
08:55Um, we, we are absolutely focused on finding the talent where it is and leveraging some technical
09:01ways to connect directly with those potential guardians.
09:06Senator, the, the Army took into a consideration in further professionalizing the recruiting force.
09:14Uh, so creating a new MOS, a new warrant officer that, uh, you know, taking some things from
09:20industry, training with industry and how they do that, how do they relate, uh, to get a little
09:26bit better and selecting, not everybody is a good recruiter.
09:29Some people are better than others and we're just making sure that we're putting the right
09:33people in the right places to, to access the people that we're trying to bring in.
09:37Thank you for what you do.
09:38Thank you, Chairman.