Even the elite aren’t immune to the challenges posed by a pandemic and a red-hot job market.
Applicants to the incoming freshmen classes at West Point and Annapolis were down sharply this year as the country’s prestigious service academies struggle with the same recruiting crisis hobbling the rest of the U.S. military.
The Air Force Academy said it received 8,393 applications for the Class of 2026, compared to 11,599 for the Class of 2025, a 28% decline. Officials blame decisions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic as the main culprit for the drop.
“The Academy believes the cancellation of in-person recruiting and information events across the nation and at the Academy during the height of the pandemic, while a prudent health and safety concern, impacted the overall number of applications for the Class of 2026,” Col. Arthur Primas Jr., the Air Force Academy’s admissions director, said in a statement to The Washington Times.
Officials at the U.S. Military Academy also point the finger at COVID-19 for a drop in the numbers of those applying for West Point. They received 12,589 applications for the Class of 2026 — the current freshman class — as compared to 13,984 for 2025, off 10%.
“The downturn in applications is more of a result of pandemic issues associated with higher education across the board and an increase in taking a ‘gap year’ amongst high school graduates,” West Point officials said.
But, more potential cadets applied for the Class of 2026 than the Class of 2022 — 12,294 — and the Class of 2023 — 11,674. West Point officials said they weren’t concerned about what they called a “nominal drop-off” in applications.
“Although we did have a recent decrease in overall applications, the quality still remains strong,” officials said.
The U.S. Naval Academy didn’t respond to questions about the number of applications for their Class of 2026 but told the website military.com they had seen a 20% decrease from 16,265 who had applied for the Class of 2025. Annapolis officials joined with the other service academies in blaming COVID-19 restrictions that prevented potential midshipmen from visiting the campus.
“Due to our unique mission, the Naval Academy relies heavily on in-person outreach, whether hosting potential candidates at the Naval Academy or our many in-person outreach events across the nation,” a spokesperson told military.com.
Air Force Academy officials said they may have turned the corner with the gradual easing of COVID-19 restrictions across the country.
“With the return of in-person recruiting and information events, as of August 30, we are already up 29%, nearly 1,600 applications, from this point last year,” Col. Primas said. “In addition to our vast online resources, in-person communications and Academy visits are the time-proven key to generating robust awareness, interest, and completed applications from young people.”
The drop in the numbers of young Americans interested in the military has occurred even as both Republican and Democratic administrations have expanded military operations across the board.
Washington’s growing demands mean longer deployments and fewer units are required to cover larger territories.
A bigger problem
While service academy officials believe their decline in applications is a temporary concern, the issue is more complicated for filling the enlisted ranks.
Secretary of the Army Christine E. Wormuth and Gen. James C. McConville, the Army Chief of Staff, released a joint memo in July acknowledging that the U.S. military is facing the most challenging recruiting environment since the draft was abolished in 1973. They said only 23% of 17-to-24-year-old potential recruits are even qualified to serve in the military.
“Pandemic-driven constraints like virtual learning have further limited access to the recruiting population in high schools and exacerbated a decline in academic and physical fitness levels,” according to the memo.
Remote schooling during COVID-19 may have lowered the scores for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) — the test taken before recruits enter the military — as much as 9%, Army officials said.
“These conditions have negatively affected the Army’s ability to meet its recruiting targets,” according to the memo.
The military historically has an easier time meeting recruiting targets at times when the private sector offers fewer alternatives for young people just entering the job market. But recruiters this year are facing a minuscule U.S. unemployment rate of just 3.7% and reports of employers raising pay and hiring bonuses just to attract entry-level workers.
Stars and Stripes reported last month that the Army, which traditionally has had the hardest time filling its large manpower needs, is expected to reach barely over 50% or its recruiting target for the year.
“It’s just really hard to recruit people right now,” said Jeff Wenger, a senior policy researcher on recruitment issues with the RAND Corp., told the military publication. “We’re really in uncharted territory here. … It’s hard to make predictions in this market as to what a return to normalcy will be.”
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute released a survey last year that revealed a decline in trust and confidence in the U.S. military and uncertainty about whether America should lead in the world.
The Reagan National Defense Survey indicated a growing sense of pessimism in the country, with 59% of the respondents saying the country is heading in the wrong direction.
The number of Americans who say they have a “great deal” of trust and confidence in the military fell from 70% to 45% in the last three years, according to the survey.
“Perhaps most troubling for recruitment in the all-volunteer force, only one-third of adults under the age of 30 have high confidence in the military, which is down 20 points since 2018,” according to the survey.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.