Who’s Up, Who’s Still Down: According to data from January, the Air National Guard did not post the lowest recruiting effort of the reserve components. That position went again to the Navy Reserve, which met only 88 percent of its monthly goal. However, ANG dropped another percentage point from December, reaching just 90 percent of its January goal. The Air Guard retention rate of 98 percent is up slightly from December and is still strong enough to offset the low recruiting number, officials say. All the active components exceeded their monthly recruiting goals.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff touted his highly unusual background for the job as an asset and reaffirmed his commitment to stay apolitical during a confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.