Services Meet 2004 Active Duty Recruiting Goals

The Army enlisted 77,587 soldiers through September, besting the year's goal by 587 soldiers.

Through Sept. 29, the Navy reported that it enlisted 39,874 sailors, bettering its goal by 254 sailors.

The Air Force said it enlisted 34,362 service members for the year, topping its recruiting goal by 282 people.

The Marine Corps reported it had enlisted 36,794 service members for the fiscal 2004, which topped its goal by 21 enlistees.

The Army, concerned by fewer enlistees enrolled in its delayed-entry program for fiscal 2005, has recently fielded more recruiters and made more aggressive use of bonuses in order to attract and sign up more recruits.

Delayed entry provides eligible people the opportunity to enlist for military service while allowing them extended reporting dates for initial and follow-on training. For example, the services often use the program to sign up students before they graduate from high school.

In other recruiting news, the Army and the Air National Guard reported that they'd missed their 2004 enlisted recruiting objectives. However, the Army Reserve said it'd likely meet its 2004 recruiting mission.

The Naval, Marine Corps and Air Force Reserve also said they'd met their recruiting goals.

Reserve-component enlisted retention among the services remains strong, according to DoD, noting that nothing indicates mobilization is causing servicemembers to leave in large numbers.

Attrition among Army Reserve units continues to be affected by the stop-loss policy, a wartime measure that prevents service members from leaving the military when their contracted time is up, according to DoD.