The U.S. Army placed its recruitment focus on younger individuals and has now exceeded the enlistment record of last year's first quarter through the use of digital methods. The service branch said Monday that it employed digital advertising, esports events and virtual recruiting methods to engage younger potential soldiers.
Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, who leads Army Recruiting Command, said the digital recruiting approach allowed the service branch to beat 2019 Q1's record by almost 2,300 successful applications.
"This year we are on track to exceed anything we did last year," Muth told reporters.
Army Recruiting Command established 43 virtual recruiting facilities in 2019 to attract individuals via messaging and social media. The Army also trains recruiters to personally meet potential applicants across the U.S., in addition to digital approaches. The Army aims to have a total of 485,000 active-duty warfighters by the end of the fiscal year in September.