The 
Defense Department continues to attract new recruits to its ranks to the extent that it is meeting and, in some cases, exceeding its accession goals thus far in Fiscal 2011. Above all, the Army enjoys a wave of strong recruiting, with its active force and reserve components all surpassing their accession goals for the fiscal year to date through May, based on the Pentagon’s newest recruiting numbers, issued Tuesday. USAF’s active component is exactly meeting its year-to-date goal, attracting 18,444 accessions so far. The Air National Guard finished May with 4,529 accessions, six above its year-to-date goal. The Air Force Reserve is alone among all of the active and reserve components in standing a little bit behind its goal. It has brought in 6,079 new recruits through May, 98 percent of its target of 6,194. (See also the previous month’s numbers.)
A provision in the fiscal 2025 defense policy bill will require the Defense Department to include the military occupational specialty of service members who die by suicide in its annual report on suicide deaths, though it remains to be seen how much data the department will actually disclose.