The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has grown to its largest size in 25 years with the total headcount of full-time and permanent members surging past 64,000.
Hear about the growth by clicking play.
Last financial year (2025-26) the ADF enlisted more than 8,100 personnel, the highest intake in 16 years – nearly 4,000 joined the army and just over 2,000 joined the air force.
Dr Glenn Kolomeitz, an army veteran and defence analyst, told Youth Jam’s Isaac Mulcrone the surge partly comes down to “patriotism”.
“There must be an element of patriotism for this, because in the past… big enlistments has been when the employment situation has been pretty bad outside, so high unemployment and low jobs growth rate but now we’ve got low unemployment and good jobs growth rate yet people are joining in increased numbers,” he told Newsflash listeners.
“That’s a very good thing.”
Dr Kolomeitz said the “threats” to the country have motivated people to enlist.
“I think these sort of situations, where there’s a bit of a threat to our country, to our way of life, that motivates some people,” he said.
The growth comes at the same time as the federal government faces mounting criticism over its decision to pursue an allied healthcare cap for veterans. Dr Kolomeitz said young recruits may not give a second thought to the possibility of being injured.
“I think [new recruits] think for the moment and for the future, but not that far into the future when they’re out. Telling themselves I’ll be looked after when that happens,” he said.
It wasn’t too long ago that veterans faced little to no help mentally when returning from active duty, but psychosocial supports have had to evolve as more emphasis is put on mental wellbeing.
“For a long time the psych support wasn’t particularly good outside because veterans affairs wasn’t addressing it very well, but that’s improved now too I have to say,” he said.
