Excellent overall news for the start of the U.S. armed forces’ 2006 recruiting year.
The Army, which missed its recruiting goal for 2005 by a wide margin, got off to a strong start in the new budget year by exceeding its October targets for the active-duty Army as well as the National Guard and Reserve.
The other military services also met their goals for active-duty enlistments in October, the first month of the budget year. The Air National Guard got barely half the recruits it wanted and the Navy Reserve met 89% of its goal.
The Army said it signed up 4,925 for active duty, or 105% of its goal. It was the fifth straight month of meeting or exceeding its goal, following a severe slump last spring that prevented the Army from reaching its full-year goal for 2005.
The Army ended the budget year Sept. 30 with an 8% shortfall — the first since 1999 and the largest in more than two decades.
The Army National Guard signed up 102% of its October goal and the Army Reserve got 103%.
Hooah and much thanks to the new troops. Still, this doesn’t seem to be getting quite the attention that recruiting shortfalls received over the last year. Maybe that’s just me, but this story carries no talk of wartime deployments and a strong economy, as has been the case for coverage of past recruiting problems.