Vice President JD Vance reaffirmed the Trump administration’s full confidence in Defense Secretary Pete Hegses on Wednesday, highlighting the aggressive recruitment of the military.
Vance’s comments came when a reporter asked if he was confident in Hegus in a gag outside of Air Force II in Agra, India.
See, I’m 100% confident in my secretary. I know the president will do that, and really the whole team is doing that. That’s one of the strangest things about Hegus’ nomination. It appears the media wanted to tank it from the start, and when they failed and he was confirmed, they decided they wanted to continue their efforts to destroy Pete Hegses as Secretary of Defense. I think he’s doing a great job. I think he’s returned a certain spirit to the Department of Defense.
Vance then pointed out that he would adopt numbers under the Secretary of Defense as evidence of his strong performance.
“If you look at the number of recruits in our military, the best testimony of his military leadership, my view, it means that for a very long time there have been no terrible recruitment issues in the Army, Navy and Air Force,” he said.
“And I hope that, frankly, the press has spoken more about it, not about anonymous procurement from random staff,” he added.
The Army had received 51,837 recruitments as of last week, tracking the easy reach of its recruitment target for 2025 on October 1st. Report:
As of last week, the Army had enlisted 51,837 recruits, or 85% of its 61,000 target for fiscal year 2025. A significant portion of that total (approximately 14,000) comes from the DEP, or the service’s delay entry program, consisting of recruits who signed up last year but ship to current basic training. The Army has the remaining years of the fiscal year ending September 30th, reaching recruitment quota.
Despite the DEP, the numbers show an upward trend compared to last year. At this point in 2024, the Army reached just 63% of its target, drawing in 34,512 recruits. This year’s surge in delayed entries is largely attributed to the Army’s aggressive recruitment pace in 2024. Arranged the top Available training abilities.
Additionally, recruitment for the Air Force’s delayed entry program for December, January and February It was The highest percentage per outlet in over 15 years, US Navy Institute news It has been reported The Navy had adjusted its pace in February to meet its fiscal year recruitment targets.
