Last year, the US Air Force Recruiting Service barely met its Fiscal Year 2022 goals and missed its Reserve and Guard goals. It aimed to bring in 23,000 new active-duty recruits in fiscal 2023.
US Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall confirmed during a Monday conference the service’s previous prediction that the military branch would miss its recruiting goals for the first time since 1999.
“We’re almost to the end of the fiscal year, and the expectation is we’re going to come in short [by] about 10%,” Kendall said at a media roundtable during a military conference. “I’m overall encouraged by where we are in recruiting, but we still have a lot of work.”
The last time the Air Force failed to meet its recruitment goals was when the oldest millennials were first becoming eligible for service. The same thing happened in 1979, when Gen Xers became old enough for military service; however, the oldest Gen Z individuals have been eligible for military service for over six years.
The shortfall has been blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic, low unemployment in the US and a cultural shift that has made it more difficult to convince young adults to join the service.
There are also concerns about the declining health of young Americans. A recent study by the Pentagon revealed that 77% of young adults would not qualify for service without a waiver due to being overweight, using drugs, or having mental or physical disabilities.
In March, Major General Ed Thomas, the commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service, said that less than 10% of young Americans want to join the service.
Despite the issues, US Air Force spokesperson Leslie Brown said that next year is looking better than fiscal year 2023, which ends this month.
“We are cautiously optimistic though as we head into FY24. We’ve seen some positive trends such as the positive growth of our DEP [delayed-entry program], which is double what it was this time last year. It’s still lower than we want it to be, but we are continuing to see increases,” Brown told the military outlet, later adding that the US Air Force’s job requirements for October have already been met and only 15 positions need to be filled in November.
To increase their recruits the US Air Force is utilizing a variety of methods, including medals and promotions for recruiting, a streamlined naturalization process for noncitizen recruits, reserve bonuses, relaxing tattoo restrictions and a smartphone app that allows anyone to recommend any person to recruiters and give them their personal information.
The looming resumption of student loan payments in October, combined with the US Air Force’s resumption of the Enlisted College Loan Repayment Program, is also expected to increase the number of recruits.

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