'It's Sort Of Stunning': Jim Banks Praises Trump's Election For Driving Up Military Recruitment

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During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last month, Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) asked Navy Secretary John Phelan about recruiting.

Transcript

00:00I recognize Senator Banks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks for sticking around for me.

00:05Mr. Secretary, prior to President Trump's election, the military was struggling

00:09with the worst recruitment crisis in half a century. Now the Navy's on pace for its

00:15best recruitment in two decades, and I wonder if you can give us a good explanation about why.

00:22Thank you, Senator, for the question. I think that there's been a big morale boost,

00:29both from the President's commitment to defense, the fact that we are changing the ethos and the

00:40culture of the military to more of its roots in warfighting. And I think in general, people,

00:50we've done a better job of explaining what it means to serve. We've done a better job of the

00:59skills you will get. And I think we've also helped in this committee's been helpful in increasing

01:05compensation and closing the gap between the private sector and the public sector, which has

01:10made it better. I do think we do need to improve on housing and our barracks in order to maintain

01:16that. But I think both the Navy and the Marine Corps are set to exceed numbers and do better.

01:24And I directly, at least right now, try to associate that with, from what we've seen in the data, the

01:31President's election and the focus. And to be honest, you know, we've done a much better job of what the

01:37mission is and the importance of the mission.

01:40Is it safe to say, Mr. Secretary, that recruitment improved after the election, after President Trump was

01:46elected? I mean, the numbers bear that out. It's sort of stunning to look at the last four years

01:51compared to the last six months. We definitely saw a bump after the election. And Admiral, what does

01:56that mean to the Navy for better recruitment and retention? I mean, how important is that? What

02:01does that mean to the whole United States Navy and your ability to do your job? We absolutely have

02:08to recruit really beyond our goal to buy down our gaps at sea. I spoke earlier about we had last month

02:16at 23,200 gaps at sea. Now we're at 22,900 gaps at sea. So we've come back 300. But that only comes

02:24when you exceed your goal. If not, you're just made to treading water. So my view, sir, is that the Navy

02:30really turned around our focus on this area, as Secretary indicated, in the way we manage our

02:37recruiting machine and really try to incentivize our recruiters to not have monthly quotas, but to just

02:43bring everybody in we could. So we really took an all-hands deck on approach on this. And as I've

02:49said before, I'll take any, I'll ride any wave to get in someone who wants to serve in our country's Navy

02:55and do our work for our nation. How do we keep it up? Well, I think we have to keep looking at it every

03:02day. We cannot take our eye off the ball. The demographics are not in our favor here. One, we have a

03:08country that has less propensity to serve. And two, we're approaching a cliff where we're going to have a

03:13smaller population that we're all competing for. So we've got to make the value proposition that

03:20the Secretary talked about on why it's important to serve, why you will be fulfilled by a career

03:26in uniform, and then do the quality of service things the Secretary indicated to make them feel

03:32valued. General, I mean, the last four years, the last eight years, I served on the House Armed

03:38Services Committee, and I chaired the Military Personnel Subcommittee on HASC. Now I'm very

03:43proud to be a part of this institution and this committee. The one anomaly over the last four

03:48years was the Marine Corps. I mean, the Army, the Air Force, the Navy all fell way short of recruitment,

03:53the worst recruitment crisis since an all-volunteer force. But the Marine Corps held steady. I think

03:59it's because you all were selling something that was unique, what young men and women were looking

04:04forward to being a part of. What lessons can the other branches learn from the Marine Corps

04:09when it comes to recruitment? Well, Senator, thanks for that question. What I would say

04:14that we put our recruiters out there and we offer the opportunity to earn the title Marine.

04:20We don't promise you anything. We offer you the opportunity to earn the title U.S. Marine.

04:25We place our best and our brightest on recruiting duty. We hold them accountable for their mission,

04:30and we reward them when they successfully complete it. I'm a former recruiter. My son is a current

04:36officer recruiter. We have multiple general officers, multiple, who are prior recruiters.

04:41General Turner, General Glenn, General Garcia. We have multiple officers who have done successfully

04:48on recruiting, and then we promote them. And so I think you have to do a combination of all

04:53of the above. Yeah, I'd just offer one final thought. I mean, Secretary Hex said, President Trump,

04:58this administration's focus on lethality and fighting and winning wars and preparing for that

05:03rather than politics and political causes. The recruitment numbers show that that that's what

05:09works. That's what young men and women are looking forward and inspired to be a part of. And

05:13I give I give this administration a lot of credit for that. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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