As recruiting recovers, Army will expand basic training

WASHINGTON – Driven by a surge in recruiting, the Army will expand its basic combat training in what its leaders hope will reflect a turning point as it prepares to meet the challenges of future wars.

The additional training will begin in October and come as the Army tries to reverse years of dismal recruiting when it failed to meet its enlistment goals. New units in Oklahoma and Missouri will train up to 4,000 recruits every year.

Army leaders are optimistic they will reach their goal of 55,000 recruits this year and say the influx of new soldiers has forced them to increase the number of training sites.

“I’m happy to say that last year’s recruiting transformation efforts have us on track to accomplish this year’s recruiting mission, with thousands of people awaiting basic training” next year, said Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth. Adding the two new locations, she said, is a way to train Soldiers and place them in units quickly, “with a greater likelihood of expansion next spring if our recruiting numbers continue to improve.”

The expanded training is part of a broader effort to restructure the Army so that it is better able to fight a sophisticated adversary like Russia or China. The U.S. military has spent much of the past two decades fighting insurgent groups in Iraq and Afghanistan rather than fighting a broader war with another, more capable, high-tech nation.

Brig. Gen. Jenn Walkawicz, chief of operations for Army Training and Doctrine Command, said there will be two new training companies at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and two at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

Driving growth is the Preparatory Course for a Successful Future Soldier, which was created at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in August 2022 as a new way to bolster enlistment. This program offers low-performing recruits up to 90 days of academic or physical fitness instruction to help them meet military standards and move on to basic training.

Created two years ago, the program was cited as the main reason Army leaders hope this fall to reverse several years of recruiting deficiencies. In the budget year ending September 30, the Army brought in just over 50,000 recruitsfalling far short of the publicly stated “stretch target” of 65,000.

The Army has 151 general training companies that work with recruits at Fort Jackson and Fort Moore, Georgia, in addition to the 15 training companies designated for the prep course. Army leaders have expanded the preparatory course, which is expected to attract nearly 20,000 recruits this budget year and that total is expected to increase in 2025.

Due to the Army’s recruiting difficulties, the number of recruits in basic training has fallen in recent years. As a result, the 15 training units, totaling 27 soldiers each, including 16 instructor sergeants, became available for the preparatory course. But as the preparatory course grows, these units are not available to do basic training.

“We don’t want to mess with that because right now that formula is working and has provided a lot of value to the Army,” Walkawicz said. Thus, the Army is creating the four new companies and has developed plans for more if necessary.

She added that Fort Sill and Fort Leonard Wood have the infrastructure, barracks and space to accommodate the new units and can accommodate more if needed. The program’s costs are limited because the Army already has the necessary equipment and rooms, but there will be maintenance, food, personnel and other costs. Army officials did not provide a total price.

The move to add units is the latest change in a tumultuous period for the Army. Coming out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when the service grew dramatically to meet the country’s combat needs, the U.S. military began to see a drop in recruiting.

Unemployment has been low, corporate jobs pay well and offer good benefits, and, according to estimates, only 23% of people between the ages of 17 and 24 are physically, mentally and morally qualified to serve without receiving some type of discharge. Moral behavior issues include drug use, gang ties, or criminal records.

These problems were only amplified as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, preventing recruiters from meeting in person with students at schools, fairs and other public events.

In 2022, the Army fell 15,000 short of its enlistment goal of 60,000, and the other services had to dig deeper into their pools of late-entry applicants to reach their recruitment numbers. Then, in 2023, the Army, Navy and Air Force missed their recruiting goals. O Marine Corps and the small Space Force has consistently achieved its objectives.

Partly in response to recruiting deficiencies, Army leaders reduced the size of the force by about 24,000, or almost 5%. They said many of the cuts were in already vacant jobs.