Soldiers are leaving the Army National Guard at a faster rate than they are enlisting.

Thousands of members of the Army National Guard were deployed to areas hit hardest by Hurricane Ian.

The Army fell about 15,000 soldiers — or 25% — short of its recruitment goal this year, despite a frantic effort to make up the widely expected gap in a year when all the military services struggled in a tight jobs market to find young people willing and fit to enlist.

A group of 25 Florida National Guard soldiers will make for the horn of Africa early Friday morning as part of the 54th Security Force Assistance Brigade.