WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After falling short of its recruiting goal last year, the U.S. Navy exceeded its target in fiscal year 2024 with 40,978 new sailors joining the ranks, the Pentagon reported.
Year 2024 also recorded strong retention figures across the enlisted force, according to Chief of Naval Operations Adm.Lisa M. Franchetti.
Aiding this year's success were efforts to tap into the key motivations that drive the nation's young people to serve, Franchetti said during a discussion hosted by the Stimson Center, a foreign affairs think tank, in Washington.
Franchetti noted that with nearly 150 career specializations, including a recently created robotics rating, the Navy offers ample opportunity for new recruits to apply their talents and expand their interests.
She said Navy leaders have focused on ways to expose more young people to those opportunities, including making sure recruiting stations are fully manned and using community events such as Navy fleet weeks to 'introduce the American people to their Navy.'
The Navy also made key changes to improve recruiting process efficiencies and introduced a future sailor prep course to help potential recruits improve academically and physically in order to join.
Keeping those sailors in the Navy once they have made it to the fleet has also been a major focus of leaders across the service.
Franchetti noted several initiatives aimed at improving sailors' quality of life ranging from 24/7 fitness centers to improving access to parking.
The Navy has also focused on unaccompanied housing options for sailors stationed aboard ships to ensure 'people have an opportunity to separate their work life from their home life, especially in shipyards,' Franchetti said.
She noted the progress the Navy has made in offering unaccompanied housing options starting at the Newport News Shipyard and said the service plans to scale those options to other fleet concentrations in the future.
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