Likely due to the still shaky economy, the military services are continuing to reap recruiting dividends following a banner year in 2009. In the first month of the new fiscal year, according to the latest statistics released by the Pentagon last week, all the services and their reserve components achieved a hundred percent or better toward their enlisted recruiting goals for the month of October. And active duty retention remains on target; there was no corresponding information on reserve retention.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.