May’s Recruiting and Retention Numbers
The Department of Defense today released statistics for all the services in recruiting and retention. The numbers make it clear that the services are meeting or exceeding their recruiting goals for active duty, but the reserve forces aren’t doing as well.
The Navy and the Air Force both made 100% of their recruiting goals for the month of May. The Army brought in over 140 more Soldiers than their goal. The Marine Corps did much better, recruiting 142% of their goal to bring in 1,516 new Marines. They recruited 2,146!
Retention continues to be very strong as all four active component services met or exceeded their May retention goals. The Marine Corps has met its year-end first and subsequent goals and Army has met its year-end initial, mid-career and career goals.
Three of the six reserve components met or exceeded their accession goals for the month of May. While the Army National Guard, Army Reserve, and Air National Guard figures were less than their planned monthly goal, all three are well above their fiscal 2009 annual recruiting goals to date.
Army National Guard – 3,026 accessions with a goal of 3,649; 83 percent
Army Reserve – 3,178 accessions with a goal of 3,326; 96 percent
Navy Reserve – 574 accessions with a goal of 574; 100 percent
Marine Corps Reserve – 1,196 accessions with a goal of 565; 212 percent
Air National Guard – 766 accessions with a goal of 805; 95 percent
Air Force Reserve – 770 accessions with a goal of 718; 107 percent
Attrition losses in all reserve components were within acceptable limits.
I think the reason that the Reserve forces aren’t doing as well as the active forces has a lot to do with the economy. Americans are looking for more than a one weekend a month income. The military is being seen as a safe place to find job security. I have a feeling that with the influx of people who aren’t necessarily as dedicated to the military lifestyle, but merely looking for a steady paycheck, we’ll start seeing more “conscientious objectors” and war refusers. We’ll also start seeing more disciplinary problems.
David Johnson
June 11th, 2009 at 8:09 pmI agree on your assessment about looming problems for the military as a whole. We’ve seen that in the past. When the younger generations see their only way out they turn to the military with out knownig what is in store for them. It is too bad that the training isn’t what it used to be. The ysure could weed out the personel.