A broken system is undermining military recruitment

OPINION:

The U.S. Army recently announced that it had met its fiscal year 2025 recruiting mission. This is welcome news and may signal a shift after years of shortfalls.

However, beneath the surface lies a systemic issue that continues to cripple enlistment efforts across all branches of the armed forces.

As a former recruiting commander who served under three presidential administrations, I have witnessed firsthand the complexities of military recruiting. It has never been easy.

The recruiting environment has been shaped by various factors, including shifting political climates, prolonged overseas conflicts and the allure of a strong civilian job market. Yet one of the most damaging blows to the recruiting pipeline in recent years hasn’t come from politics, war or economic competition. It is a broken medical screening process that delays enlistment and discourages thousands of qualified applicants from ever wearing a military uniform.

In 2021, the Defense Department introduced a new medical screening process under a system known as MHS Genesis. The system’s purpose was sound: to identify preexisting physical and mental health issues more effectively by accessing an applicant’s full electronic medical history.

Under the legacy system, applicants disclosed their conditions during screening and Military Entrance Processing Station physicians conducted in-person exams. Although it was not perfect, the process was timely and allowed recruiters to keep qualified applicants moving forward.

MHS Genesis changed everything.

Initially launched to review only pharmaceutical records, it immediately created chaos. Recruiters saw enlistment timelines stretch from weeks to months. Applicants were disqualified for minor past issues, often because of missing documentation or incomplete records. Many applicants grew frustrated and walked away. December 2021 became one of the worst recruiting months in modern history.

Yet the rollout continued.

By the summer of 2022, MHS Genesis was fully implemented and its impact was deeply felt. Recruiters across the country were working harder than ever to overcome the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but their efforts were undercut by a system that appeared focused more on disqualifying applicants than evaluating them efficiently.

To its credit, the Army responded creatively. It loosened some enlistment restrictions, launched the Future Soldier Preparatory Course to help applicants who would not otherwise be qualified and introduced new enlistment incentives. Let’s be clear: These are little more than tourniquets on a gaping wound.

What’s truly needed is a complete reassessment of how we screen applicants for military service. The core flaw of MHS Genesis isn’t that it identifies medical risks; it’s that it does so in a bureaucratic manner that fails to keep pace with the operational needs of the recruiting enterprise. The result is a system that drains recruiters’ time and energy while discouraging thousands of qualified applicants from joining the armed forces.

To build a military worthy of the challenges ahead, we must do more than celebrate a single year’s mission success. We must address the systemic issues that make sustained success nearly impossible. That starts with fixing the enlistment process, particularly the medical screening system, which remains its most significant obstacle.

I call on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior Pentagon leadership to initiate a full review of MHS Genesis and its implementation. Provide Military Entrance Processing Station locations with additional staffing and resources. Empower recruiting commanders with expanded waiver authority where appropriate. We must restore the recruiter’s ability to shepherd motivated, qualified Americans into the military without bureaucratic sabotage.

Our recruiters are among the hardest-working people in uniform. However, no amount of outreach or enlistment bonuses can overcome a process that grinds down the very people trying to serve. With the right tools, our recruiters will fill the ranks of our military with the very best this nation has to offer, so long as bureaucracy doesn’t stand in their way.

• Col. James W. Welch (retired) served in U.S. Army Recruiting Command as a commander at the company, battalion and brigade level. He is the author of “The Art of Military Recruiting: Lessons Learned From the Recruiting Battlefield.”