Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell promoted an extended cut of a military recruitment video declaring that enlistment has reached an all-time high, continuing a messaging campaign the department has run since the U.S. Army first released the ad in late July.
“ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS, EXTENDED CUT,” Parnell wrote on X. “The next generation is stepping forward, recruitment is at an ALL-TIME HIGH. THE TIME IS NOW // WAR.GOV/JOINTHEFIGHT.”
The video Parnell shared is an extended version of a spot the Army first posted on X, titled “We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants.” The narration frames military service as a continuation of American tradition. “America, a people bound by faith, freedom, and opportunity, a nation worth defending,” the narrator says, according to the official version of the video hosted on DVIDS, the Defense Department’s public visual information platform. “This country owes its prosperity to a long line of warriors, brave enough to stand between the land of the free and its enemies. That relentless warrior ethos is unwavering. It remains unmistakable in our sailors, our soldiers, airmen, guardians, and marines who stand tall on the shoulders of giants. Their service has taught us not to seek war, but to prepare, to fight, and win. Peace through strength. America’s War Department continues to build the most lethal fighting force on the planet. And now is the time to take up our nation’s colors, to secure its future, to earn a place in the fight for the American cause.”
Parnell’s characterization of recruitment as an “all-time high” goes beyond what Pentagon data itself supports and beyond claims department officials have made in their own official releases. The Defense Department’s own December 2025 release, titled “FY25 Sees Best Recruiting Numbers in 15 Years,” quoted Parnell describing fiscal year 2025 as the highest recruiting percentage of mission achieved “in more than 15 years,” not an all-time high. By April 2026, Parnell’s own public claims had escalated further. “Since Nov. 5, 2024, the U.S. military has seen the highest recruiting percentage of mission achieved in 30 years,” Parnell said at the time, according to CBS News reporting that fact-checked the claim.
Official Department of War recruiting and retention press releases show the pace continuing into fiscal year 2026, though not without service-level shortfalls. Through end of month January 2026, official figures show the Army had attained 17,886 recruits against a goal of 16,000, or nearly 112 percent, while the Air Force attained 9,906 against a goal of 9,923, or just under 100 percent, according to the official January 2026 press release. The same release noted the Army Reserve had attained only 90.26 percent of its recruiting goal for the fiscal year to date, and that Army career counselors were still working to close a retention gap tied to a government shutdown earlier in the fiscal year.
CBS News’ fact-checking team found the underlying data did not support the “all-time” framing. Publicly available Defense Department monthly reports show enlistments remain well below levels achieved decades ago. In 1990, more than 220,000 people enlisted in the active military in a single year, according to historical Pentagon data, a figure current recruiting totals do not approach. The fact-check also found that monthly recruit intake figures early in Trump’s second term trailed some months recorded under the Biden administration, including August 2024, and that the military’s own target goals are frequently adjusted year to year, complicating direct historical comparisons.
Independent recruitment experts and multiple fact-checking organizations have also noted that the recruiting turnaround predates Trump’s return to office. Military enlistment was already 12.5 percent higher in fiscal year 2024 than fiscal year 2023, according to Pentagon data cited in reporting from the Associated Press, with then-Army Secretary Christine Wormuth saying in January 2025, before Trump’s inauguration, that the Army was on pace to meet its recruiting goals for a second consecutive year. Katherine Kuzminski, director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, told the AP that expanded prep courses, increased bonuses and improved recruiting strategies predating the 2024 election likely explain most of the increase, though she said Trump’s election may have played some role in improving perceptions of military service among prospective recruits and their parents.
Official Pentagon figures for fiscal year 2025 show the Army signed 62,050 recruits, or roughly 102 percent of its goal; the Navy brought in 44,096, exceeding its target by more than 8 percent; the Air Force recruited 30,166; the Space Force brought in 819; and the Marine Corps met its goal of 26,600. Collectively, the five services achieved 103 percent of their active-duty recruiting mission for the year.
Recruiting has remained strong into fiscal year 2026 even as the U.S. remains engaged in the war with Iran, with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and Marine Corps each reporting they met their annual goals months ahead of schedule.
Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata, who co-chairs the department’s Recruitment Task Force alongside Parnell, has credited the trend to leadership. “Why? Because we have a commander in chief and a secretary of war who are focused on our troops and our mission, and on ensuring that we remain the most lethal fighting force on the planet,” Tata said. “Our nation’s young people are responding.”
The recruitment campaign features imagery of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Trump interspersed with archival footage of past American service members, part of a broader effort under Hegseth to link recruiting messaging to the department’s rebranding as the “Department of War.”
Trump has separately made related claims about the state of recruiting under the prior administration that fact-checkers have also disputed, including a statement that “nobody wanted to enlist” during President Biden’s final year in office, a characterization CBS News found to be false based on the same historical enlistment data.
Neither Parnell nor the Pentagon has issued additional public comment addressing fact-checks of the “all-time high” characterization.