Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax on Thursday that the U.S. military is undergoing a “renaissance,” citing a recruitment surge and a renewed focus on lethality over politics.
“The recruitment numbers speak for themselves,” Shaffer said on “The Chris Salcedo Show.”
“We’ve already met the numbers for this year, and we’re going to meet them for next year rapidly. I think what we are seeing right now is a renaissance.
“It’s much like the buildup that came in the ’80s after President Reagan came in. It’s very similar.”
The Department of War, recently renamed from the Department of Defense under an executive order from President Donald Trump, reported that the armed services recruited 12.5% more people in fiscal 2024 than in the previous year.
Katie Helland, director of military accession policy, said at a Pentagon panel on recruiting that the armed services increased their intake from 200,000 in fiscal 2023 to 225,000 in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30, 2024.
She added that written contracts rose by 35%, and the delayed entry program began fiscal 2025 with a 10% larger pool of recruits.
Every branch of the armed services met or exceeded its recruiting goals for fiscal 2025, ending years of recruitment struggles. This was a significant turnaround, driven by a combination of new policy and incentives, targeted programs, and broader economic factors.
Shaffer added that the revival is also tied to a renewed emphasis on the military’s primary function.
“The idea here is to reestablish lethality as the primary lead of our capability,” he said. “Pete [Hegseth, the secretary of war] even said at the beginning of his talk, the military’s job is to kill people, break things, hold terrain and domains.
“That’s it. To be a social petri dish is not in our nature. And that’s why it’s important that we’re going back to the basics.”
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