Trump surge: Army recruitment at 15-year high as ads promise warfighting, not woke agenda

Woke Army recruitment advertisements featuring LGBT parades are out. Army recruitment ads featuring gun-toting warriors rejecting the limits suffered by other mortal men are in.

The shift in messaging was swift and dramatic — and may prove to be part of a winning combination that will continue to drive up recruitment.

When Gen. Lloyd Austin, Biden's secretary of defense, was running the show, the Army released a recruitment ad on May 4, 2021, about a female University of California, Berkeley, graduate's decision to find herself in the Army. The controversial ad featured an LGBT activist parade, a lesbian "wedding," and the suggestion that supporting non-straight couples was somehow comparable to defending the nation.

Things did not improve a great deal in messaging in the years that followed.

For instance, the Army published a makeup tutorial on its YouTube page, showing the world how a soldier moisturizes her face; applies concealer, blush, and bronzer; how she properly sets her ponytail; and how she completes her warrior look with mascara and lip liner.

The Army failed to hit its recruitment targets in fiscal years 2023 and 2022. While it hit its lowered goal of 57,500 for the Regular Army in 2021, it hit only 73.6% of its target for the Army Reserve.

Things have evidently changed, not just for messaging but for recruitment numbers.

Rather than try to appeal to LGBT activists or to those prospects anxious about how they might manage their skin-care routine behind enemy lines, the Army has recently shared a number of promotional posts to social media emphasizing lethality, the "warrior ethos," and strength.

A Feb. 5 Army video captioned, "We fight to WIN," shows men firing different kinds of guns while rock and roll blares in the background. The ad appears devoid of ideological message — just the suggestion that recruits will be transformed into warriors capable of hitting soft and hard targets at range.

— (@)

'Hear what FREEDOM sounds like.'

Other ads released in the days since are similarly clean-cut and to the point.

A post with a graphic that depicts one soldier taking aim at a potential threat off-screen while another progresses with gun at the ready was shared to X on Feb. 7 with the caption, "The Warrior Ethos is a set of principals [sic] by which every Soldier lives, it shapes our character, and is a way of life. The Warrior Ethos defines how a Soldier trains, lives, and fights."

An Army video shared to X on Feb. 8 and captioned, "Strong Soldiers = Effective Warfighters," features a hulking soldier handily dead-lifting 450 pounds before telling the camera, "Stronger people are harder to kill."

— (@)

Another video shared the same day showed a soldier firing what appears to be an M240 machine gun in a desert setting, with no mention of race, sexual preference, or political activism. The caption reads, "Sound on to hear what FREEDOM sounds like."

A Feb. 9 post emphasizing the need for persistence and the warrior ethos shows a soldier firing above text that reads, "I WILL NEVER ACCEPT DEFEAT."

— (@)

While this simplified and unwoke style of Army ad may do a better job of moving the needle on recruitment than LGBT agitprop and makeup tutorials, the big catalyst so far appears to have been President Donald Trump's re-election.

Army recruiters recently revealed that during the month of December, they were enlisting 346 soldiers a day. This recruitment surge led into a month that saw what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth indicated was the Army's best recruiting number in 15 years.

The defense secretary, who suggested during his confirmation hearing that Trump's re-election got the ball rolling on a renewed interest in the military, stated on Feb. 4 that "America's youth want to serve under the bold & strong 'America First' Leadership" of the 47th president.

After all, Trump promised to eliminate woke ideologues from the military; to take an axe to racist DEI initiatives in the federal government; to reinstate thousands of service members discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccines; and to pick a defense secretary who prioritizes efficacy over diversity — promises he has largely made good on already.

Before hitting the bricks, former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth attempted to pour cold water on the notion that Trump's election and "concerns about the Army being, quote, woke," were significant factors when it came to recruitment in either direction.

Wormuth suggested instead to the Associated Press last month that the Future Soldier Preparatory Course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina — a remedial program launched in 2022 with the aim of helping recruits who previously failed to meet the Army's physical or academic requirements squeak by to basic training — has been a major driver of the Army's recruitment success and will account for roughly 30% of this year's recruits.

Time will tell to what extent this fiscal year's recruitment numbers eclipse those seen during Biden's tenure.

During a Pentagon town hall last week, Hegseth stated, "I think we've seen an enthusiasm and excitement from young men and women who want to join the military actively because they are interested in being a part of the finest fighting force the world has to offer."

He further underscored the attractiveness of the military as a meritocratic institution, noting, "Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!