Reserve recruiting split in fiscal 2026. The Army Reserve met its goal of 14,322 recruits for the first time in a decade, after standing at 91.12 percent of its year-to-date goal in February. The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve ended the Department of War's June report at 92.35 and 87.38 percent, and EPR found no published year-end figure for either.
Updated October 20, 2026.
Summary
- The Army Reserve turned a 673-recruit gap in April into a 260-recruit lead by June.
- The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve fell further behind in every report.
- Army Reserve recruiting is hard because it has almost no combat arms jobs and recruits near drill sites.
- The Army Reserve credits an ambassador program built on awareness.
How did reserve components compare from February to June?
Only two of six reserve components gained ground on their goals between February and June 2026, the Army Reserve and the Air Force Reserve, according to the Department of War's February recruiting report and June recruiting report.
| Component | Percent of goal, February | Percent of goal, June | Change in points |
|---|
| Army Reserve | 91.12% | 102.44% | +11.32 |
| Air Force Reserve | 84.99% | 87.38% | +2.39 |
| Marine Corps Reserve | 112.39% | 108.70% | -3.69 |
| Navy Reserve | 117.19% | 113.05% | -4.14 |
| Air National Guard | 97.45% | 92.35% | -5.10 |
| Army National Guard | 109.51% | 102.78% | -6.73 |
Percentages shrink as the base grows, so the slide of the Army National Guard, Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve is partly arithmetic, and all three still finished June above 100 percent. The comparison that matters is the three components that were below 100 percent at some point: the Army Reserve, the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve.
How did the Army Reserve reach its goal?
The Army Reserve reached its fiscal 2026 goal of 14,322 recruits in September, two weeks ahead of schedule, according to a post by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth that Military Times reported.
| Reporting period | Goal to date | Recruited | Percent of goal | Gap |
|---|
| Through February 2026 | 5,836 | 5,318 | 91.12% | -518 |
| Through April 2026 | 8,277 | 7,604 | 91.87% | -673 |
| Through June 2026 | 10,665 | 10,925 | 102.44% | +260 |
The gap widened to 673 recruits in April, then reversed. By EPR's calculation from the Department of War's April report and June report, the Army Reserve recruited 3,321 between them against a goal of 2,388.
Capt. Jaxon Lewandowski, spokesman for the Army Recruiting Division, said recruiters adapted their approach to applicants' interests and qualifications, Stars and Stripes reported. The Reserve Recruiting Partnership Council also credited the Army Reserve Ambassador program, in which influential civilians volunteer to promote awareness of the Army Reserve.
The result reverses fiscal 2025, when the Army Reserve met 75 percent of its goal, Military Times reported. The Department of War's reports also named the Army Reserve and Army National Guard as the two reserve components that missed its quality benchmarks.
Why is reserve recruiting harder than active-duty recruiting?
Reserve recruiting is harder because the Army Reserve holds almost no combat arms jobs and recruits from a small area around each drill site. Lt. Gen. Robert Harter, chief of the Army Reserve, said, "It's hard to recruit an Army Reserve soldier, we have no combat arms formations," as AUSA reported.
The geography problem is older. In 2016, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, then commander of Army Recruiting Command, said Reserve positions were harder to fill because recruiters draw new soldiers from a relatively small area near an Army Reserve drilling site, Federal News Network reported. The Reserve met only 77 percent of its goal in 2013, the same report said.
Where did the air reserve components stand?
The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve were behind goal in each Department of War report EPR reviewed from February through June 2026, and both gaps widened.
| Component | Gap, February | Gap, April | Gap, June |
|---|
| Air National Guard | -96 | -232 | -568 |
| Air Force Reserve | -413 | -491 | -626 |
For the Air National Guard's August bonus and manning changes, see Air National Guard recruiting. Neither component's year-end figure appeared in the sources EPR reviewed, while the Army Reserve's did.
What should reserve recruiters communicate?
Reserve recruiters should publish monthly gaps by component, because the Army Reserve's turnaround shows a gap can reverse within two months when the approach changes. Because the Army Reserve credited an ambassador program built on awareness, EPR reads part of its earlier gap as an awareness problem, not only an eligibility problem, and the air components can test the same approach.
See the military recruiting scorecard for every component's result, the Army National Guard's 2026 finish for the largest reserve component, and U.S. Army recruiting PR for the active force.
