This Week in DOW: Exceeding Guard Recruiting Goals, Breaking Social Media Engagement Records, Strengthening Ties With Northern Neighbor

This year, all five military services maxed out their recruiting goals early, and now, the National Guard has also achieved a victory by surpassing its own recruiting goals for 2025.

"The United States National Guard announced that it has exceeded its 2025 recruitment goals, reflecting an extraordinary trend of robust enlistment across the entire U.S. military," said Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson during the War Department's Weekly Sitrep video.

Wilson said both the Army and Air National Guard have enlisted nearly 50,000 new members in fiscal year 2025, bringing the total end strength of the guard to more than 433,000.

"Young Americans are eager to serve," said Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, National Guard Bureau chief. "Today's recruits are seeking long-term value, and the National Guard delivers through career training and hands-on, practical experience in more than 200 career specialties."

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth met with his Canadian counterpart, National Defense Minister David McGuinty, for a bilateral discussion at the Pentagon, Sept. 22.

"Canada is one of the United States' closest defense partners as both nations share responsibility for defense of North America through NORAD," Wilson said.

During the bilateral meeting, Hegseth said the shared work at the North American Aerospace Defense Command is important for the defense of North America, but also that there's much that can be done between the U.S. and Canada to modernize its operations.

"The threats to North America require a strong U.S.-Canada defense relationship - there's no doubt," Hegseth said. "And I know Canada has committed at the [NATO] summit to increasing defense spending to 5% of [gross domestic product] by 2035, which is incredible to see. A very strong step."

As part of a push toward transparency, the War Department has embarked on an extensive social media campaign to ensure Americans always know what's going on inside the department. Over the last eight months, that effort has proven to be successful, Wilson said.

"The Department of War has put the previous administration's social media strategy to shame," she said. "We've surpassed every social media benchmark set by the previous administration. We're breaking records, setting a new standard for engagement, and we've only just begun."

According to numbers from the War Department's digital media office, total social media engagements for the Secretary of War's page are 987% higher in 2025 than they were a year ago, and total impressions are 993% higher than a year ago.

Also this week, Hegseth disbanded the Defense Advisory Committee for Women in the Services. Wilson said the committee's work had become a distraction from readiness.

While some critics said eliminating the committee could discourage women from joining the military, she said the opposite has been the case, citing recent increases in female recruitment. She added that disbanding the committee aligns with Hegseth's priority of restoring the warrior ethos and maintaining a gender-neutral force.

Last week, outside Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed, killing four soldiers.

"We here at the War Department are devastated to share that four of our brave warriors perished last week while conducting routine flight training near Joint Base Lewis-McChord," Wilson said. "Our hearts are with our fallen service members, their families, and the entire JBLM community."

The four soldiers killed in the helicopter crash were Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew Cully, 35, from Sparta, Missouri; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew Kraus, 39, from Sanibel, Florida; Sgt. Donavon Scott, 24, from Tacoma, Washington; and Sgt. Jadalyn Good, 23, from Mount Vernon, Washington.

"They were elite warriors who embodied the highest values of the Army and the Army Special Operations, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten," said Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.