November Recruiting Goals Surpassed

The US military exceeded its recruiting goals in November, with the Army and Marine Corps each surpassing their monthly targets by five percent, the Pentagon said.The monthly recruitment figures mark an improvement for the army and Marines after struggles over last fiscal year to attract prospective soldiers and marines. Lawrence DiRita said it was hard to tell what accounted for the upswing in November but noted efforts by the services to persuade parents, teachers and other "influencers" of the value of military service. "There will be bad months. There will be months when won't meet all our goals. But in this case in the recruiting area we met all the goals, and exceeded them," he said. The army failed to reach its recruiting goal for fiscal 2005, but has exceeded its goals for each of the past six months for the active duty force, and for the past three months for the reserves. Despite good news on the recruiting front, the army fell short eight percent short of its goal for re-enlisting active duty soldiers, the Pentagon said.