Active Components Meet April Recruiting Goals (What's that Mullah Murtha?)

American Forces Press Service ^

[SandRat]

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2007 – All active-duty components of the military met or exceeded recruiting goals for April, Defense Department officials announced today.

The Army recruited 5,804 troops, which was 107 percent of its goal; the Marine Corps recruited 1,899, which was 141 percent of its goal; the Navy recruited 2,718, 100 percent of its goal; and the Air Force recruited 2,040, 100 percent of its goal.

Retention among the active ranks also remained strong, with the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy all meeting or exceeding their goals.

In the reserve forces, two of the six components, the Marine Corps Reserve and Air Force Reserve, met or exceeded recruiting goals. The Army National Guard achieved 89 percent of its goal, the Army Reserve 81 percent, the Navy Reserve 94 percent, and the Air National Guard 84 percent.

Also for April, Army National Guard retention was 107 percent of its goal of 20,069, and Air National Guard retention was 102 percent of its goal of 936. The Army National Guard is at 100 percent of its target end strength, while the Air National Guard is at 96 percent.

Losses in all reserve components for March were well within acceptable limits, officials said, and indications are that that trend will continue into April.

[Loyal Buckeye]

According to the Dems, we emptied our prisons and homeless shelters just to scrounge up enough bodies to meet our quota.

[LADY J]

God bless our troops and keep them in His care!!

[Tulsa Ramjet]

i’d like to see the retention numbers of those after their first tour in iraq.

[AuH2O-1980]

This is much needed good news, but an incredibly powerful reminder that we must start building a larger military for the long-term. We consistently hit our monthly targets despite the MSM hounds, which speaks volumes about the strength and perseverance of our enlisted ranks — but if you go back and look at the numbers even 12 months ago, you’ll notice that the goals have been lowered by more than half.

Army goals:
May 05 — 8,050
March 06 — 5,994
March 07 — 5,192

We must freeze the goal numbers.

[AlphaOneAlpha]

If the Dems win the White House in ‘08, the re-up’s in the military branches will plunge. No one wants to work for a boss who loathes them, particularly those who will, by that time, have been centrally involved in making their mission fail and put their colleagues in harms way with their actions.

[dufekin]

Try again. Everyone in the Democrat Party and at The New York Times (”those empowered to discern the Truth”) knows that Americans join the military only because of utter desperation and destitution in this deeply depressed economy. The Army provides food for its soldiers, a commodity deeply desired by a severely underfed and malnourished, chronically hungry populace; widespread obesity testifies to the extent of this scourge on American society.

[AuH2O-1980]

Try again.

If you're talking about my math, I'd be happy to -- because I screwed it up. The Army figures aren't cut by more than half -- but the Nat'l Guard numbers are 30% of what they were two years ago. What I'm saying is that the situation is no worse than we expected, since we're still meeting monthly goals -- but we're going to need a bigger military in the long-term. For that reason, we can't continue to adjust the goals downward. Whether it's in the form of signing bonuses, scholarship funds, or guaranteed dwell time, we must concentrate on maintaining the status of military service as an attractive option to high-school graduates.