The Army announced that it had surpassed its June recruiting goal of 5,650, taking in 6,150 recruits for the month.

What makes this less than stellar news is that the original goal for May had been 8,050, which they reduced to 6,700 half way through the month. They ended up taking in just over 5,000 in May claiming that it made more sense to shift some of that quota to the summer months, traditionally a better season for recruiters to attract new high school graduates.

So June’s numbers did represent a gain over May but did not even make May’s reduced target. The Army apparantly set a goal for June so low that they couldn’t miss it. The Army must now add about 31,500 recruits in the next three months, an average of 10,500 each month, to meet the annual goal of shipping 80,000 new recruits to boot camp., a number they have not reached all year.