All They Want

The military services are getting all the prospective recruits they want, as all but one—the Army National Guard—met or exceeded, far exceeded in the case of the Marine Corps Reserve (click on photo for the numbers), their June recruiting goals for June, according to a July 10 Pentagon release. Even the Army Guard says that it has gone into a “contraction mode” to reduce its end strength by nearly 4,300 soldiers by Sept. 30, so it doesn’t appear concerned that it came up short in June, making only 84 percent of its overall goal. An Army Guard official said, according to a July 10 National Guard Bureau release, that the Guard is in the midst of changing its recruiting policies to reflect the need to reduce end strength. The Air National Guard exceeded its goal of 810 accessions by 57 recruits, while the Air Force Reserve met its goal of 836 recruits. The active duty Air Force brought in 11 over its goal of 2,835. (For comparison, see the May data.)