Inside the Navy’s quest to fix its recruiting crisis

Last year, the Navy hit a grim milestone for the first time in its history, one that leaders hoped they would never see.

It missed its recruiting targets by thousands of new sailors, as each military branch – with the exception of the Marine Corps – struggled to bring young Americans into the enlisted ranks.

Navy brass and other service leaders have attributed today’s unprecedented recruiting crisis to a variety of factors, but one thing remains clear for sea service leaders: This cannot continue, and the Navy must chart a different course.

“I think we can absorb one year of missing mission,” Vice Adm. Brendan McLane, commander of Naval Surface Forces, said at the Surface Navy Association’s annual conference in January. “Two years — that’s going to be a problem, that’s going to have an effect.”