Armed Forces Meet or Exceed Recruiting Numbers

The United States Department of Defense has announced the latest armed forces recruiting and retention numbers. The numbers released in press announcement number 991-07 are for July 2007. Statistics contained in the press announcement are for both active duty forces and reserve component forces. The reserve component of the military consists of both national guard and reserve forces.

For active duty enlisted forces, the Defense Department announced that all four branches of military service, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force, either met or exceeded the recruiting goals that had been set for each service for July 2007.

The recruiting goal for the active duty Army for July was 9,750, a figure that was surpassed by the Army which had 9,972 new enlistees. The overage means the Army exceeded its recruiting goal by signing up 102 percent of its target number of new soldiers. The active duty Marine Corps also exceeded its recruiting goal of 4,613 new Marines by signing up 4,793 new troops, representing 104 percent of the Marine Corps target for July. The active duty Navy and the active duty Air Force each met their respective targets for July, with the Navy signing up 4,173 new sailors and the Air Force enlisting 2,078 new airmen.

For reenlistments, no specific data for active duty forces for the month of July was provided in the press release. However, the announcement noted that "Retention remains strong in the active force with all Services meeting or exceeding their aggregate year-to-date targets." The Department of Defense does expect that each of the four services will successfully meet their fiscal year reenlistment goals.

For reserve component forces, accessions data is represented by adding new recruits, active duty to reserve component transitions, and individual ready reserve to unit transfers. According to the press release, five of the six reserve components either met or exceeded their goals for July 2007.