Defense Department Announces Latest Recruiting and Retention Numbers

The United States Department of Defense has announced its military recruiting and retention statistics for June.

According to the press release, the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps all reached their active duty recruiting goals. The Navy signed 3,999 new recruits, or 102 percent of their goal of 3,924. The Marine Corps signed up 4,113 new recruits, or 110 percent of its goal of 3,742 new enlistees. The Air Force, which had a goal of 2,233 new recruits, is reported to have met that number.

The Army, meanwhile, was the only one of the four services to fall short in its recruiting efforts. The Army was able to enlist 7,031 new soldiers, or 84 percent of its stated goal of 8,400 new enlistees.

The press release also detailed active duty retention statistics, which represents the number of current service members who elect to stay on active duty, or re-enlist. According to the release, all four service, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force, either met or exceeded their overall retention goals. The release did not contain specific numbers for active duty military retention.

For the reserve forces, the press release noted that five of the six reserve components either met or exceeded their recruiting goals in June. The Army National Guard is reported to have recruited 5,342 soldiers, exceeding its goal of 5,338 new reserve enlistees. The Army and Navy Reserve components each ended the period with 108 percent of their goals. That number translates to 5,255 new soldiers for the Army Reserve and 1,013 new sailors for the Navy Reserve. The Marine Corps Reserve is reported to have enlisted 1,078 new marines, exceeding the goal of 986. The nearly 1,100 new reserve marines put the Marine Corps Reserve at 109 percent for the period. According to the press release, the Air National Guard was the only reserve component that did not meet its stated recruiting goal. The Air Guard recruited 779 new airmen, or 75 percent of its target of 1,036. The Air Force Reserve, on the other hand, did meet its target of 597 new airmen.