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

• Active duty recruiting. All services met or exceeded their recruiting goals in December.

• Active duty retention. Retention in the services remains solid. The Army, Marine Corps and Air Force are meeting or exceeding overall retention missions. Navy met 96 percent of its year-to-date mission.

• Reserve forces recruiting. Five of the six reserve components met or exceeded their recruiting goals in December.

· Reserve forces retention. For August, Army National Guard retention was 127 percent of the cumulative goal of 8,885, and Air National Guard retention was 96 percent of its cumulative goal of 2,297. Both the Army and Air Guard are currently at 99 percent of their end strength. Losses in all reserve components for November are well within acceptable limits. Indications are that trend will continue into December.

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.