Army Secretary pick says pay boost isn’t enough to fix recruiting woes

Army Secretary nominee Daniel Driscoll said he’ll push service leaders for more non-monetary incentives to boost service soldier recruiting and retention, noting that he believes better pay and benefits alone won’t solve personnel problems.

“We have the fewest number of active soldiers that we’ve had since World War II, even as conflict is erupting around the world,” Driscoll told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing on Thursday. “We need to fix that.

“I actually don’t think the answer is throwing more money at the problem. I think it’s nice to get things like GI Bill benefits. But I didn’t join for that. I enlisted to serve the country.”

The comments come just a few weeks after lawmakers approved a major pay boost for junior enlisted troops, set to go into effect in April. The 10% boost was designed in part to ease financial pressures on young military families and make the service more attractive to potential recruits.

Driscoll, 38, spent nearly four years in the Army as a cavalry scout platoon leader, including a deployment to Iraq in 2009. At the hearing, he described his time in the service as transformational to his life, “opening the way for opportunities I could scarcely have imagined when I enlisted.”

He said those kinds of testimonials and an appeal to public service must be a bigger part of Army recruiting efforts.

“I think there is a story to tell of the United States Army that young people want to hear,” he said.

Army officials met their recruiting goal of 55,000 new enlistees in fiscal 2024 after bringing in fewer than 51,000 recruits each of the previous two years. But Driscoll downplayed the success of meeting that mark, saying he believes the recruiting target was picked because it was an achievable goal, and not the number needed to properly staff the service.

He promised a review of future recruiting goals and end strength needs. In background material provided to the committee ahead of the hearing, he also suggested a review of the Army’s recruiting strategy “to ensure it effectively conveys a strong value proposition to young people” across America.

“The best qualified soldiers are likely to have strong alternative employment options, including monetarily, so the Army must compete in other areas to retain them,” he wrote. “I believe that soldiers are inclined to remain in the Army when they and their families have been treated well, when they have been given chances to develop and succeed, and when they feel like they are using their abilities to make meaningful contributions to high-performing teams.”

Driscoll said he wants to look at ways to maximize dwell time and predictability of assignments, offer alternative career routes or sabbaticals to qualified troops, and increase direct commissions for certain job specialties.

The ideas drew support from several members of the Senate panel, which appears poised to advance his nomination in coming days. Both Republicans and Democrats offered support for his confirmation.

Driscoll was the first of President Donald Trump’s service secretary picks to appear before the armed services committee. Trump’s defense secretary choice, Pete Hegseth, was confirmed by a 51-50 vote, with three Republicans and all Senate Democrats opposed to him.