The Georgia Army National Guard announced this week that it met recruiting and retention goals for FY 2003 with room to spare. Georgia finished the year with an end strength of 8,925 soldiers, which is 225 more than the goal set by the National Guard Bureau. 

"This is great news" said Brig. Gen Terry Nesbitt, commander of the Georgia Army National Guard when announcing the successes. "Congratulations to everyone. This is proof positive that our personnel readiness policies are working."

Nationally there is good news as well. The Army and Air National Guard met their end strength goals for fiscal year (FY) 2003. 

"This is what sets us apart … the ability to recruit and retain good people," said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau.

The Army National Guard’s programmed end strength for the fiscal year was 350,000. As of today, they have 350,835 members.

The Army National Guard has achieved its end-strength mission for seven consecutive years.

The Air National Guard’s programmed end strength for the fiscal year was 106,600. They started the fiscal year at 112,070, and they currently have 108,332 members for an overall manning of 101.6 percent.

Their recruiting goal was 6,909 and as of the end of August, they had signed up 8,669 achieving 125.47 percent of their goal.

With the exception of FY97 and FY99, the ANG has met or exceeded its recruiting goal over the past seven years.

"The National Guard Bureau sees no indications that the homeland security mission or the war on terrorism are having any serious impact on recruiting," Blum said.