The active duty recruiting picture for the month of April was rosy, with all four services reaching 100 percent or more of their goals. The Marine Corps achieved a whopping 141 percent. However, data shows four out of six of the service’s reserve components made their April goals. The Air Force Reserve brought in 100 percent and Marine Corps Reserve 124 percent. Only the Army Reserve turned in a lower percentage (81) than the Air National Guard, which reached just 84 percent of its goal of 844 accessions. As with the March data, retention remains fairly strong across the board. ANG’s three-month recruiting slump is offset by retaining 102 percent of its current force.
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…