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Release
Immediate Release

Department of Defense Announces Fiscal Year 2018 Recruiting and Retention Numbers -- End of Year Report

Nov. 15, 2018

The Department of Defense today announced recruiting and retention statistics for the Active and Reserve Components for fiscal year 2018.

  • Active Component. 
    • Recruiting. The data below represents the services’ cumulative monthly goals and monthly accessions/gains for FY 2018. 

      • Army Accessions: Goal 76,500; Attained 69,972 (91.47 percent/-6,528). 
      • Navy Accessions: Goal 39,000; Attained 39,018 (100.05 percent/+18). 
      • Marine Corps Accessions: Goal 31,556; Attained 31,567 (100.03 percent/+11). 
      • Air Force Accessions: Goal 29,450; Attained 30,343 (103.03 percent/+893). 

    • Quality. All components met their quality goals. 

    • Retention. All services exhibited strong retention for FY 2018. 

  • Reserve Component. 

    • Recruiting. The service data below represents the Reserve Components’ cumulative monthly goals and monthly gains for FY 2018. Two of the six Reserve Components met or exceeded their accession goals for FY 2018. 

      • Army NG Gains: Goal 44,342; Attained 34,629 (78.10 percent/-9,713). 
      • Army Reserve Gains: Goal 15,600; Attained 11,327 (72.61 percent/-4,273). 
      • Navy Reserve Gains: Goal 7,518; Attained 7,097 (94.40 percent/-421). 
      • Marine Corps Reserve Gains: Goal 8,990; 8,990 (100.00/+ 0). 
      • Air NG Gains: Goal 10,529; Attained 9,659 (91.74 percent/-870).
      • Air Force Reserve Gains: Goal 5,282; Attained 7,193 (136.18 percent/+1,911). 

    • Quality. All Reserve Components met or exceeded the DOD quality benchmarks. 

    • Attrition. The Army National Guard and Army Reserves experienced lower attrition rates than projected while the Navy Reserves experienced higher than projected attrition rates for the eleventh month (August) of fiscal year (FY) 2018. The Army National Guard, Army Reserves and Navy Reserves may finish the FY below 2018 end strength authorizations. These data lag by one month.

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, 703-784-9454 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 910-570-8330, Air Force Reserve 703-697-1761, Navy Reserve 757-322-5652, and Marine Corps Reserve 504-678-6535.