Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) claimed that not only are more men and women enlisting in the U.S. Armed Forces since President Donald Trump took office, but more are staying on to continue their military service.
The Army reported “the most productive December in 15 years,” with 346 soldiers enlisted every day. Each military branch met its respective recruitment goal for the previous fiscal year, then the Army reached its recruitment goal for the 2025 fiscal year four months early. This came at a critical moment for the military, which had a recruitment deficit of about 42,000.
“Well, if you’re a young man and you’re a patriot, you want to serve underneath this president,” Mullin said on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.
“He brings pride back to our military and that’s why you’re seeing recruiting numbers go through the roof. And not only recruiting numbers — retention,” Mullin went on. “People that were on their way out have decided, ‘Wait a second, I want to serve underneath President Trump. I want this as my commander-in-chief. I want to do great things and have generational changes inside DoD.’ President Trump and Secretary Hegseth [are] delivering that.”
Every military branch reported a retention rate of 100% or higher through the fifth month of the fiscal year.
This also comes at the end of an era that changed the names of nine military bases. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has restored the former names of military bases that cost roughly $62.4 million, according to retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, who was the vice chairman of the Naming Commission.
It cost the government $6 billion to recruit and retain military enlistees since 2022. Until the end of fiscal year 2024, the branches had fallen short of their respective recruitment goals in previous years.
