The Department of Defense announced today its recruiting and retention statistics for the active and reserve components for the month of October.

- Active duty recruiting. All services met or exceeded their recruiting goals in October.

	Accessions	Goal	Percent
Army	5,560	5,150	108
Navy	2,476	2,476	100
Marine Corps	2,642	2,617	101
Air Force	2,279	2,279	100

- Active duty retention. Army, Marine Corps, and Air Force exceeded October retention missions. The Navy retention goals are in the process of being set.

- Reserve forces recruiting. Four of six reserve components met or exceeded their recruiting goals for October 2006.

	Accessions	Goal	Percent
Army National Guard	5,270	4,287	123
Army Reserve	2,137	2,172	98
Navy Reserve	650	745	87
Marine Corps Reserve	788	776	102
Air National Guard	803	687	117
Air Force Reserve	651	648	100

- Reserve forces retention. For October, Army National Guard retention was 143 percent of the cumulative goal of 2,107, and Air National Guard retention was 106 percent of its cumulative goal of 837. Both the Army and Air Guard are currently at 99 percent of their end strength. Losses in all reserve components for September are well within acceptable limits. Indications are that trend will continue into October.

To view a fact sheet on who is volunteering for the military, click here.

Detailed information on specific recruiting data can be obtained by contacting the individual military recruiting commands at (502) 626-0164 for Army, (210) 565-4678 for Air Force, (703) 784-9455 for Marine Corps and (901) 874-9048 for Navy. The reserve components can be reached at the following numbers: National Guard Bureau (703) 607-2586; Army Reserve (404) 464-8490; Air Force Reserve (703) 697-1761; Navy Reserve (504) 678-1240; and Marine Corps Reserve (504) 678-6535.