SEAN PARNELL: The military needs more than recruiting ads — it needs to be seen

Three years ago, Washington had written off a generation. Too soft, too unfit, too disconnected to serve. In 2023, the Army, Navy and Air Force all missed their recruiting goals. People in this town started asking out loud whether the all-volunteer force could survive. Some started talking about a draft.

They were wrong about the kids.

Under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, every active-duty service made its recruiting mission in fiscal year 2026, and most of them did it months early. The Army signed 61,500 future soldiers with more than four months to spare. The Navy raised its goal by 10 percent and still hit it in July. It finished the year with 45,112 sailors, three years after coming up 7,450 short of its goal. The Air Force and Space Force had met their goals by April. The Marines said it was the best recruiting environment they'd seen in years, and they already have half of next year's class under contract.

RENEWED PATRIOTISM AND CAREER OPPORTUNITIES FUEL ARMY'S BIGGEST RECRUITING SURGE IN YEARS

Since November 2024, the military has posted its best rate of recruiting mission achieved in more than 15 years. We did it while American troops were in combat in the Middle East. Across the active-duty force, we saw interest across all demographics, and womens recruitment is up once again. That strength extended beyond active duty. The Navy Reserve finished at 113 percent of mission, Marine Corps Reserve at 108 percent, the Army National Guard at 102 percent, and the Army Reserve at 103 percent, its first time surpassing its goal in 10 years.

The kids didn't change. The leadership did. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth told young Americans the truth. The military exists to fight and win. The work is hard. Earning your place in it is something to be proud of. It turns out a generation that had been told nothing was worth sacrificing for was hungry to hear that something is.

I co-chair the Department of War Recruiting Task Force, and our job is to make sure this years success is a starting point, not a high-water mark. Records don't sustain themselves. If we want to keep setting them, I believe we have to do two things. Build propensity, the desire to serve, and create proximity, a military close enough to the American people that the desire turns into a decision.

Propensity

There's a photo that says this better than I can. A little boy, maybe five years old, stands ankle-deep in the surf in a swim shirt, holding up a small American flag. Two Army Apache helicopters are thundering low over the water in front of him. He's never going to forget that day.

That's propensity. It comes from moments of awe. Apaches over the surf. Jets ripping over a stadium on a Friday night. A kid climbing into the hatch of a tank at the county fair. No ad campaign can do what those moments do. They make a kid want to be one of us.

NAVY SAYS NO REPRIMANDS OR FIRINGS AFTER BLUE ANGELS LOW PASS OVER BEACHGOERS

That's why this administration has approved more flyovers than any administration before i