Senior Airman Chris Bowser helps Thomas Gottwald, 19, try on equipment used by Air Force Special Warfare troops at the Great Texas Air Show at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force Base in Texas on April 6, 2024. Gottwald said he plans to join the Air National Guard after college. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas — A 33-year-old mother pushing a baby stroller stopped Saturday at the Air Force recruiting tent of the Great Texas Air Show to ask about the differences in the military services. What could the Air Force offer her?, she asked.
A father pulled his young adult sons into the shade of the tent and asked the recruiter to please explain to his kids the benefits of military service. The father said he’s tried but they just won’t listen.
A man in his 30s joked with recruiters that he is past his enlistment window. He’s not, the recruiter told him. People can enlist through age 42. He seemed interested and bantered with the recruiter for several minutes about what it would take to enlist and what his options could be. However, a tattoo on his hand is a little big to meet even the new relaxed tattoo policy.
These interactions — intertwined with children and adults eager to do pushups to earn free Air Force-branded swag — are just one piece of how the service has pulled itself out of a recruiting slump that left it short on its enlistment goal last year.
“It’s planting a seed,” said Master Sgt. Erica Jones, a recruiter in San Antonio who worked the air show in khaki pants and blue collared shirt. “It does work.”
Each of the military services has found the recruiting environment to be one of the most difficult in U.S. history, with only about 23% of Americans between ages 17 to 24 qualified to serve and less than 10% with an interest in doing so.
People line up April 6, 2024, to try a virtual reality simulation of Air Force Special Warfare troops at the Great Texas Air Show at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
In fiscal 2023, which ended in September, the Air Force reached only 89% of its active-duty recruiting goal of 26,977 enlistments, according to Defense Department data. The Army and Navy also fell short at 77% and 80%, respectively.
Data for fiscal 2024 recruitment shows the Army and Navy are still behind schedule, while the Air Force is on track to succeed. By the end of September, Air Force recruiters need to have enlisted 25,900 new airmen.
“While we are cautiously optimistic that we can make our enlisted accessions goal for [fiscal] 2024, we cannot take our foot off the gas,” Brig. Gen. Christopher Amrhein, Air Force Recruiting Service commander, said in a statement. “We need to continue to provide training to our key front-line force -- the flight chief and recruiters. We need to continue to look at policy revisions which may still be barriers to service, as well as shorten the medical processing timeline and seek additional strategic marketing opportunities.”
At the air show at Randolph, each of the Amrhein’s lines of effort were on display. Two men already committed to attend Air Force Special Warfare training helped the public try their best at pullups. Both said they have spent months waiting for their medical records to process so they can ship out to boot camp.
Meanwhile, Jones — the recruiter — politely dispelled anyone’s excuses that countered the service’s policy changes, such as the loosened policies on tattoos, age restrictions, the body fat standards for new recruits and retaking a failed drug test during the enlistment process.
Collectively, these changes have allowed more than 3,200 people to enlist, said Leslie Brown, spokeswoman for Air Force Recruiting Service. That’s slightly more than the number of recruits that the Air Force fell short of enlisting last year.
Of those, more than 2,600 enlisted by permitting a higher percentage of body fat. Only one person has failed to adapt and meet the physical standards required to complete basic military training, Brown said.
While the Air Force seeks out recruits at all sorts of events and locations, air shows are the second-most effective for enlistments, with high school visits the most valuable. Air shows tend to attract people who are interested in the service and are also likely to influence others to join, Brown said.
“These events provide the opportunity to make our bases, equipment, and our people more accessible, allowing for more engagement and increasing the public’s familiarity with the Air Force,” she said.
At Randolph’s air show, the public had an opportunity to see aircraft performing overhead, people could climb into airplanes and ground vehicles, try on a parachute pack, test their strength and agility on a physical fitness course, and go inside a trailer tricked out with a virtual reality simulation of a firefight.
Senior Airman Jennifer Farias, a recruiter, discusses enlistment options with Arianna Garcia, 17, left, and her mother, Jessica Garcia, right, on April 6, 2024, at the Great Texas Air Show at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. Arianna said she is considering joining the Air Force after high school. (Rose L. Thayer/Stars and Stripes)
Senior Airman Chris Bowser helped people try on Special Warfare equipment and answered endless questions about how it worked. Several people came by curious about what happens when the parachute doesn’t deploy. There is a backup, he explained, holding up the additional pack.
Many visitors to the recruiting tent had already decided on an Air Force career, they just needed help weighing their options. A college student with her mother pulled out a piece of notebook paper with her military assessment test scores handwritten across it. She’d been talking to the Army but wondered whether she should consider the Air Force instead.
A group of teenagers who are years from eligibility asked Senior Airman Jennifer Farias, a recruiter, about her pay, her housing, if she makes enough money to buy what she wants. Farias answered yes, she makes a decent living and does not have to pay her own rent.
They each asked to take a free Air Force pen, then a cup, and then a brochure before leaving the tent.
A 17-year-old girl stopped at the recruiting tent with her parents, quite certain she’s ready to enlist after high school graduation. Her mother said she’s eager for the good opportunities that military service could give her.
“I have lots of family in the military,” the 17-year-old said. “I don’t want to be stuck at home doing nothing.”
