MARCH 5, 2025 – During his first address to a joint session of Congress, March 4, 2025, President Donald J. Trump said that the changes he’s made since his inauguration in January have enhanced recruiting within the U.S. military in ways that haven’t been seen in years.
On his first day in office, the president signed an executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. Less than a week later, newly sworn-in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth drafted a message to the force that mirrored the president’s words, saying he would rebuild the U.S. military with a focus on lethality, meritocracy, accountability, standards and readiness.
“Our service members won’t be activists and ideologues,” Trump said. “They will be fighters and warriors. They will fight for our country.”
The president said the result of his executive order has filtered down into the armed forces, putting a new focus on merit and spurring renewed interest in serving.
“I am pleased to report that in January, the U.S. Army had its single best recruiting month in 15 years and that all armed services are having among the best recruiting results ever in the history of our services,” Trump said. “What a tremendous turnaround. It’s really a beautiful thing to see people love our country again … they love our country, and they love being in our military again.”
The president also said the United States will pursue a “Golden Dome,” similar to Israel’s own “Iron Dome” defense system, which is designed to protect against inbound missile attacks.
“My focus is on building the most powerful military of the future,” Trump said. “As a first step, I’m asking Congress to fund a state-of-the-art, ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense shield to protect our homeland — all made in the USA.”
The president said that President Ronald Reagan had wanted to build a similar system during his term, but the technology wasn’t available at the time to bring that project to fruition. But now, he said, that technology exists.
“Israel has it, other places have it, and the United States should have it, too,” he said. “This is a very dangerous world. We should have it. We want to be protected. And we’re going to protect our citizens like never before.”
Trump also promised an expansion of American shipbuilding in order to support both the U.S. military and the commercial sector. American shipbuilding is at a low point today, but the president promised new efforts to increase America’s shipbuilding efforts.
“We are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry, including commercial shipbuilding and military shipbuilding,” Trump said. “I am announcing tonight that we will create a new Office of Shipbuilding in the White House and offer special tax incentives to bring this industry home to America, where it belongs.”
The president said the U.S. once had a great domestic shipbuilding industry, which has largely died down now. That will change, he promised.
“We used to make so many ships. We don’t make them anymore, very much,” he said. “But we’re going to make them very fast, very soon.”
The president also said he planned to take action to expand domestic production of rare earth elements, which are critical to U.S. defense.
“Later this week, I will also take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rare earths here in the USA,” he said.
Rare earth permanent magnets, for instance, are not only essential components in a range of defense capabilities, including the F-35 Lightning II aircraft, Virginia and Columbia class submarines and unmanned aerial vehicles, but are also a critical part of commercial applications in the United States. They are also used to generate electricity for electronic systems in aircraft and focus microwave energy in radar systems.
Finally, Trump said that the mastermind behind the terrorist attack at Abbey Gate during the August 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan has been captured. Some 13 American service members were killed during that attack.
“I am pleased to announce that we have just apprehended the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity, and he is right now on his way here to face the swift sword of American justice,” Trump said.
By C. Todd Lopez, DOD News