According to the year-end statistics released Tuesday by the Pentagon, all the services and their reserve components met or exceeded their enlisted recruiting goals for Fiscal 2009. The Pentagon’s end-of-year numbers vary from that reported earlier by Air Force Reserve Command, but AFRC still ended the year early and well ahead of its goal. Each USAF component had a higher goal than in 2008. The active Air Force, trying to restore personnel after aborting an attempt to shed people to pay for recapitalization, sought more than 4,000 enlistees over last year’s goal. The Air National Guard upped its goal by nearly a thousand, as did AFRC. While the numbers are encouraging, Air Force officials are on record saying they believe that recruiting and retaining the right skill mix as the active force reaches toward an end strength of some 332,000 next year will not be easy.
The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades.
