Recruiters for the Marine Corps take part in Veterans Day parade in Reno, Nev., on Nov. 11, 2025. (Ryan Harvey/U.S. Marine Corps)

The U.S. military is coming off a big recruiting win in 2025, surpassing the 146,473 new enlistees from 2024.

Now top military and political leaders want to determine how to keep the trend going and retain those who have signed up.

“This is a barometer of the health of the nation, the willingness of young people to serve,” said Anthony Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif., last weekend.

The Army recruited 61,000 new soldiers, the Navy signed up 44,096 future sailors, the Marines counted 32,328 added to its ranks, and the combined Air and Space forces total topped 30,000.

Tata said the first hurdle to getting young men and women to consider military life is to just get the idea on most teenagers’ radar.

“Only about half of our 17-, 18-, 19-year-olds in the country are even aware of a military option,” he said.

Aviation Electrician’s Mate 2nd Class Wenhao Yang, a recruiter with Navy Talent Acquisition Group Golden Gate, speaks with students at Westmoor High School during the 2025 San Francisco Fleet Week. (Li Zhang/U.S. Navy)

Speakers at the forum said successful recruiting efforts appeal to both patriotism and pragmatism.

“You joined us, we didn’t join you,” said Gen. Eric Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps.

According to a Reagan Defense Forum survey this year, 59% of Americans say they would encourage their children to join up.

Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said that the main source of recruits is the children of servicemembers.

“About 80% of military recruits come from a home where mom or dad served in the military,” said Banks, a former Navy Reserve officer. “At the end of the day it’s about patriotism, it’s about teaching children in school that America is great, that America is worth serving and fighting and dying for.”

Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., agreed with Banks that patriotism was often the primary motivation of new recruits.

“That really is the through line, the foundation of why people join,” Panetta said. “What can you do for your country?”

But Panetta added that retaining recruits beyond their initial service commitment often flips the question on its head.

“The pragmatism aspect of it is ‘what can the country’ do for me as well,” Panetta said. “We in Congress have to ask, what else are we doing to keep these people in the military.”

Smith said life often changes dramatically for a recruit who signed up as a teenager when it comes time to decide whether to make the military a career.

“There’s a saying that you recruit the Marine, but you retain the family,” Smith said. “You can recruit an individual and they’ll serve those four years, but the odds are they’re going to get married.”

U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sgt. William Rawls, Air Force Recruiting Service chief recruiter at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, celebrates the Air Force and Space Force passing recruitment goals for 2024 on Oct. 1, 2024. (Jonathan Mallard/U.S. Air Force)

If pay, housing, food and health care are seen as deficient compared to civilian life, the original motivation to join can be undermined when deciding whether to reenlist or leave the service.

“Once you lose them, you’ll never get them back,” Smith said.

Progress is being made in improving housing, food, education, medical care and child care, Tata said.

Base pay has been on the rise. Congress approved increases of 4.6% in 2023, 5.2% in 2024, and 4.5% in 2025, with an additional 10.5% increase for junior enlistees effective April 2025. The just-released 2026 National Defense Authorization Act calls for another 3.8% across-the-board pay bump for service members. The proposal also calls for increasing the family separation allowance from $250 to $300 per month. Service members would also be able to use parental leave up to two years after the birth or adoption of a child.

The Pentagon is working to reduce military spouse unemployment, which is currently about 20%. The Defense Department wants to work with states to make it easier for military spouses to transfer teaching, legal, business and other professional credentials between duty posts.

Panelists praised the services’ efforts to aid borderline recruits by enrolling them in prep courses to improve their mental and physical benchmarks on military entrance tests.

“It’s bringing young men and women up to our standards, not lowering our standards,” Tata said.

Lt. Col. Erin Fritzler, commander of the Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion, and recruits salute during an Armed Forces Day Parade in Torrance, Calif., on May 17, 2025.  (Brea DuBose/U.S. Army)