After a year when the Army met its recruiting goal four months early, the service honored 30 top recruiters for fiscal year 2025 during a ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, Virginia.

“The diligent work of our recruiters nationwide is instrumental in mitigating challenges in the recruiting market and ensuring sustained success for the development of our force," said Brig. Gen. Sara Dudley, commanding general of the U.S. Army Recruiting Division.

During fiscal year 2025, the Army met its recruiting goal of 61,000 new soldiers in June—months before the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year. It ultimately recruited 62,050 new soldiers.

As the service evolves, recruiters “are focused on evolving how we recruit,” Dudley said. “We’re moving from a practice that was once more of an art to one that is a science.”

The most effective recruiters form deep, authentic connections with their recruits, said Staff Sgt. Victoria Ortiz, a recruiter with the Jacksonville Recruiting Station in North Carolina. “One of the most rewarding aspects of my role is the opportunity to connect with the next generation,” Ortiz told the Army. “My goal is to create a space where future soldiers feel empowered to be themselves, where authenticity is valued, and connection transcends age or background. At the end of the day, we all serve one mission: to support and protect the people.”

In addition to being authentic, social media presence can also assist recruiters, said Sgt. 1st Class Brenda Kunde, a recruiter at the Largo Recruiting Station in Maryland who was also recognized during the ceremony.

“The conception out there is that soldiers, you don’t have a life when you join the Army,” Kunde told Stars and Stripes. “So when you post … it gives the applicant a different perspective about the Army, and they want to know more. They contact you, and those that do not even have the intention to join now they change their minds to join.”

Army recruiting efforts are focused on matching talented recruits with a career path that best fits them, said Command Sgt. Maj. Danny Basham, senior enlisted leader for U.S. Army Recruiting Division. “By using better tools and structured information, we can understand who is best suited for the Army and what career path is right for them,” he said. “It’s about putting the right people in the right places from the very start.”