Military recruitment is surging under President Donald Trump and one Republican senator is attempting to build on that momentum.
Senator Joni Ernst (R., Iowa), a military veteran with 23 years of service, secured provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2026 to sustain the gains in military recruitment seen during the Trump administration, National Review has learned.
The provisions would expand military recruiter access to high schools and the opportunities for students to get involved in the Junior Reserve Officers’s Training Corps, a leadership program for high school students.
For students without a JROTC program at their school, Ernst’s legislation would allow them to join one at another school. It also makes JROTC officially a part of the military to allow recruiters to directly reach out to JROTC members.
In addition, Ernst’s legislation creates a “National Week of Military Recruitment” to promote the benefits of military service. All of the provisions Ernst secured in the NDAA come from her bipartisan bill, the Service Enlistment and Recruitment of Valuable Engagement (SERVE) Act, introduced earlier this year.
“For me, choosing to serve our country opened the door for the American Dream, allowed me to afford college, and paved the way for a life of service,” Ernst said in a statement to NR.
“After years of slumping numbers under Biden, we have seen a resurgence under President Trump, but we cannot allow this to be a temporary victory. While patriotism plays an undeniable role in recruiting, boosting outreach efforts to young people and sharing the benefits of service will ensure that the momentum we have seen under President Trump continues, so our armed forces remain the most lethal fighting force the world has ever seen.”
Across every branch of the armed forces, military recruitment has significantly increased since President Trump took office. During former President Biden’s tenure, all of the branches struggled to meet recruiting goals, leading to concerns about a crisis of military readiness.
Now, the U.S. military is seeing a recruiting resurgence, with the Army hitting its goal four months early and the Navy doing so three months early. The Air Force and Space Force have both achieved their recruiting goals three months ahead of schedule. Military recruitment numbers increased in fiscal year 2024 after dismal showings in 2022 and 2023, and that trend has continued in fiscal year 2025.
The fiscal year 2025 numbers began a month before Trump was elected for a second term, but the election does appear to be a major factor driving an increase in recruitment. Improved outreach efforts and the removal of Covid-19 restrictions are among the other factors driving the recruiting rebound.
“It’s historic. Of course it’s a morale shift. It shifts back to the day President Trump was elected and then inaugurated,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News’s Fox and Friends last month.
“Across the board, the spirit of our country, [there’s a] willingness and desire to serve, because they see leadership that believes in the country that’s going to have their back, that says, ‘We want you to be warriors. We’re not doing this politically correct garbage anymore. We’re doing war fighting,'” Hegseth added.
Hegseth has emphasized the need for the U.S. military to remove progressive ideology from its ranks and re-emphasize the needs of the rank-and-file.