Army exceeds recruiting goals

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday that the Army exceeded its recruiting goals for July.

The announcement comes at a positive sign to military officials after missing recruiting goals for May and June. The DoD says all active-duty components hit their mark or better. The reserve components also did fairly well. All but the Air National Guard made their goals.

The Army exceeded its goal of 9,750 recruits and enlisted 9,972. The Marine Corps also exceeded its goals with 180 additional enlistments. The Navy and Air Force both achieve 100 percent of what they set out to enlist.

“We’re putting everything we have into the recruiting effort over the next two months to make our goals,” said Douglas Smith, public affairs officer for Army Recruiting Command, based at Fort Knox, Ky., in a statement.

Smith said the recently announced $20,000 bonus recruits who enlist and ship within a month did not factor in to the announced July numbers. But he said the Army is sending recent basic training and advanced individual training graduates back to their hometowns to aid in the recruiting effort and also to tell their stories.

Defense Department officials say despite the positive news coming from July numbers, overall enlistment figures for individuals in the 18 to 24 age bracket has dropped.