More soldiers chose to stay in the Army than the service expected this fiscal year, so much so that the Army has narrowed options for reenlistment or service extensions.
In fiscal year 2025, the Army retained 15,600 soldiers, which is 800 more than its original goal. The “retention success” is also compounded by the service exceeding 90% of its recruiting goals in May, Lt. Col. Orlandon Howard, an Army spokesperson, said in a statement.
In April, the Army announced that the current retention success meant it would limit reenlistment incentives offered to soldiers like picking their station of choice, certain training opportunities and overseas assignments. Now, the service is changing additional retention policies like suspending contract extensions for most soldiers and changing the time window for others who want to reenlist.
The policy changes come amid an upswing in the service’s retention of current soldiers and its recruitment of new ones — something that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has credited to President Donald Trump’s Administration, despite the surge beginning nearly a year ago.
In October 2023, the Army announced an overhaul of its nearly $2 billion recruiting enterprise. In fiscal year 2024, the Army met its goal of recruiting 55,000 active-duty soldiers after missing targets the previous two years, and in October 2024 the service said it increased its recruiting target by 6,000 new soldiers for this fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025.
“With reenlistment and recruiting exceeding expectations, the Army is in a good position to maintain its end strength and force requirements for the foreseeable future,” Master Sgt. Kindra Ford, Senior Army Retention Operations NCO, said in a statement.
Starting June 1, soldiers with an Expiration Term of Service, or ETS, date before Oct. 1, 2025, and who are not deployed or about to deploy will have until May 31 to get an extension from their command to continue their service.
Soldiers with an ETS date after Oct. 1, can extend their contract under specific conditions outlined in an Army regulation. Some of those conditions include those who qualify without a waiver, are in certain high-priority career fields and staff sergeants on the promotion list.
For soldiers looking to reenlist, starting July 1, they will only have 90 days before their ETS date to do so.
The window for soldiers to reenlist has changed over the years depending on the geopolitical events at the time, like the COVID-19 pandemic and then the troop surge in Iraq during 2007 and 2008. Before this most recent policy change, soldiers had 12 months to reenlist.
Sometimes reenlistments also mean changing jobs, and that can depend on the needs of the Army. In fiscal year 2023, 6% of soldiers who reenlisted reclassified into a new MOS. In fiscal year 2024, that increased to 10%, according to statistics provided by the Army.
Currently, the service is prioritizing reenlistment for positions in field artillery, air defense artillery, armor, and cyber and electronic warfare.
Earlier this week, the Air Force announced it would end its selective retention bonus program more than four months early because the service ran out of funding for it. The Air Force cited a retention rate of 89.3% since the fiscal year’s start in October, which created more demand than the service expected for the money it allocated for those bonuses.
Howard said the Army’s policy changes “are not a result of reduced or completed funding” and that it does not impact soldiers who applied for the current Selective Retention Bonus, which is open to soldiers serving in certain military occupational specialties.
“As the Army adapts to evolving needs and conditions, we have to make sure our retention policies keep pace,” Ford said. “We’re working hard to keep career counselors, soldiers, and leaders up to date to help them make informed decisions about their careers.”
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