Sailors from Navy Talent Acquisition Group Red River set up a booth at the 75th Anniversary Armed Forces Day Parade in McAlester, Okla., in May 2022. NTAG Red River encompasses 150,000 square miles that includes North Texas and Oklahoma, and consists of 40 enlisted recruiting stations, three officer recruiting stations, and three Military Entrance Processing Stations. (Mark Andrew Hays/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The Navy is telling recruiters to start working an extra day every week as the service ratchets up efforts to get as close to its 2023 recruiting target as possible with three months left in the fiscal year.
Navy Recruiting Command informed the service’s nearly 4,000 recruiters this week of the schedule change, officials said.
“In an effort to maximize opportunities for potential recruits to connect with Navy recruiters and expand our reach, Navy Recruiting Command is temporarily implementing a six-day work week,” Lt. Cmdr. Richard Parker, a spokesman for the command, said Thursday.
The Navy’s move comes amid significant recruiting challenges across the armed forces, which resulted in most services missing their enlistment goals last year. The Navy is aiming to sign 37,700 new recruits this year.
Rear Adm. Alexis Walker, who leads Navy Recruiting Command, wrote in an email leaked online that the extra workload for recruiters is a “warfighting imperative.” In the message, Walker wrote the Navy expects to be 6,000 to 7,000 recruits short of its 2023 target. Adm. Lisa Franchetti, vice chief of naval operations, said at a House hearing in April that the service expected to be a few thousand recruits short this year.
After a similarly difficult recruiting year in 2022, the Navy has explored numerous incentives in recent months to attract new sailors. This month, the service said it’s offering new members enlistment bonuses as high as $75,000 if they pursue certain nuclear-related jobs. Last year, the Navy announced sailors can get a combined $115,000 in enlistment bonuses and student loan repayments. At the time, the service said the incentives were intended to attract the “highest quality of recruits.”
New Navy recruits take the oath of enlistment in Chicago in April 2019. (Camilo Fernan/U.S. Navy)
“The quality of recruits joining the fleet is one of our top priorities,” Parker said Thursday.
The Navy also has launched a physical training program designed to get potential enlistees in shape so they can pass fitness requirements, which are keeping many young Americans from serving. According to recent Pentagon data, 23% of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 qualify physically and academically to serve in the military.
The Navy said its recruiters will begin working six-day weeks on July 8 and continue to do so until further notice.
“While details of this change are being coordinated by [Navy recruiting] headquarters, it is expected to affect staff from the top down,” Parker said. “While [we are] aware this decision may be met with some hesitation, our duty is to bring the best and most qualified recruits into the Navy.”
Some of the other services also expect to come up short in their recruiting goals for fiscal 2023, which ends Sept. 30. The Army has said it will be a challenge to meet its goal of 65,000 new soldiers and the Air Force said it expects to come up about 10% short of its target. The Air National Guard said this month that it could be 3,000 to 4,000 recruits short and the Army National Guard said it expects to reach 95% of its goal. The Marine Corps has said it will meet its recruiting target this year, as it did in 2022.
