The U.S. Navy failed to properly log new recruiting processes that helped the service reach its enlistment goals in fiscal 2024, according to a government watchdog report.
The Navy Recruiting Command, or NRC, exceeded its objective of 40,600 recruits in 2024 by streamlining the medical waiver process and modernizing the operational recruitment process.
But an improper chronicling of updates to these systems threatened to derail future successes, the Defense Department Office of Inspector General said.
“Without documented guidance, the NRC does not have assurance that it can consistently meet future recruitment goals,” the report said.
In 2024, the commander of the Navy Recruiting Command addressed a backlog of 8,600 medical waivers by bringing in 37 personnel to solve the issue. During two separate three-day paperwork blitzes in May and June 2024, staff approved 10,917 medical waivers, recruiting 5,845 sailors in the process.
The NRC eliminated the backlog and increased staff in the Medical Waivers Division from 10 to 26 personnel, boosting the amount of waivers processed daily from 50 to between 200 and 400.
The backlog resulted from lengthy medical waiver reviews — an average of 40 days per case — that got bogged down in requests for more information, which led to a logjam of “no-decision” results on applications, the IG report said.
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The Navy Recruiting Command did not chronicle and publish formal guidance regarding the new processes, however, despite their resounding success and despite requirements for documentation of those processes.
“Chapter 3 of the Navy Recruiting Command Organization Manual states that one of the responsibilities of the Director of Operations is to ensure the existence and maintenance of standards and metrics needed to effectively and efficiently execute the assigned mission,” the report stated.
In addition to bolstering its work on medical waivers, Navy Recruiting Command revamped its operational recruitment process. It established the Recruiting Operations Center to supply the commander with a daily operations brief that communicates the efficacy of daily recruitment efforts.
The command also implemented Decision Guidance Memorandums to communicate policy changes and cut down on paperwork, enabling recruiters more time to recruit, the report said.
NRC told the watchdog during a March 19, 2025, interview that the process to published guidance about the new medical waiver procedures would begin in two months.
The command pledged to document guidance for new operational recruitment procedures, as well, the report said.
The NRC addressed the inspector general’s recommendations as of June 12, 2025, according to the report.
The Navy recently announced that it met its enlistment goal of 40,600 sailors for fiscal 2025 three months early.
The accomplishment comes two years after the service failed to reach its recruitment objective in 2023 for the first time ever, falling short of its 37,700 target by more than 7,450 accessions.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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