The Air Force and Space Force reported this week that they've joined the Army and Navy in meeting their 2025 recruiting goals earlier than expected.
"The U.S. Army hit its recruiting goals four months early. The Navy hit its recruiting goals three months early," said Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson, during the Weekly Sitrep video. "And this week, it was announced that the Air Force and the Space Force both hit their recruiting expectations three months early. Leadership matters, and under President [Donald J.] Trump and Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, enthusiasm to serve our nation has never been higher."
The department recently established a task force to sustain the recent spike in recruiting efforts well into the future.
The 12-month effort, established by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is cochaired by Chief Pentagon Spokesman and Senior Advisor Sean Parnell and Jules W. Hurst III, performing the duties of undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. The task force will translate this year's recruiting momentum into an enduring advantage.
"One of the things that we're trying to achieve with this recruiting task force is answering the tough question about how do we set the conditions here, culturally, in this country, to have more kids want to serve the country, and see it as a viable career path," Parnell said during a press briefing at the Pentagon this week.
Getting service members out into communities not typically exposed to the military could be a big help, he added.
"One of the interesting things about that is the ... intersection between propensity and proximity and the idea that when people are exposed to and see somebody in uniform on a day-to-day basis, their desire to serve this country skyrockets," Parnell said.
This week, Hegseth hosted leaders from two partner nations to further military cooperation and partnerships. On July 1, 2025, the secretary met with India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and the next day, he hosted Argentine Defense Minister Luis Petri.
"We are grateful for our partners and committed to our shared vision for a safe and secure free world," Wilson said.
Hegseth stated that the U.S. and India share a mutual awareness of the security concerns in the Indo-Pacific region, and both nations have the ability to counter that threat together. He also touched on U.S. efforts to provide India with the tools needed to counter threats in the region.
"The United States is very pleased with the successful integration of many U.S. defense items into India's inventory," Hegseth said. "And building on this progress, we hope we can complete several major pending U.S. defense sales to India, expand our shared defense industrial cooperation and coproduction efforts, [and] strengthen interoperability ... between our forces."
With Argentina, the secretary acknowledged that China poses a threat to both nations and to Central America as a whole.
"Regional peace demands the utmost will and tenacity, and I think we can face these shared security challenges together, and I know we will," Hegseth said.
The defense secretary also applauded Argentina's efforts to bolster its defense relationship with the United States, noting its decision to acquire U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, as well as Stryker fighting vehicles.
The president today signed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" into law, which, among other things, provides funding for the Defense Department.
"The department wants to applaud the House [of Representatives] and the Senate on passing the president's 'One Big Beautiful Bill,'" Wilson said. "This bill's necessary investments in military ships, aircraft, icebreakers, unmanned systems, artificial intelligence and $25 billion for the development of 'Golden Dome' will directly help achieve the president's 'peace through strength' agenda and equip our warfighters to protect the homeland against 21st-century threats."
Today also marks the 249th birthday of the United States.
"It's our nation's 249th anniversary of independence," Wilson said. "Today, we celebrate our incredible heritage and are reminded that freedom is not free. We will never forget the sacrifice our forefathers made and that our warfighters and their families continue to make every day for our country."