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All services meet March recruiting goals

Recruiting was strong across all military branches and reserve components in March, according to numbers released by the Defense Department.

All four active-duty branches met or exceeded their recruiting goals, with the Marine Corps making the biggest splash by bringing in 2,234 recruits against a goal of 1,632, thus making 137 percent of the goal.

All reserve components met their goals as well. The Army Reserve and Air National Guard each hit 121 percent of their respective goals.

The Air Guard’s boost in recruits may have been connected to the redesign of their Web site, GoANG.com, which relaunched March 17 with improved visuals and functionality. Technical problems forced Air Guard officials to pull the site down near the end of the month, but they were able to re-relaunch it April 4.

Traffic to the site is up slightly over the old site, according to Master Sgt. Bob Hall, noncommissioned officer in charge of advertising for the Air Guard. The site is also doing better on search engines, he said.

The Air Guard’s new recruiting campaign will continue with a direct-mailing effort in mid-May, to be followed by a mainstream media ad series, reaching “full force” in June, Hall said.

Here’s how each component fared:

* The Army hit 101 percent of its goal of 6,000 accessions with 6,066.

* The Navy hit 100 percent of its goal of 2,909 accessions with 2,909.

* The Marine Corps hit 137 percent of its goal of 1,632 accessions with 2,234.

* The Air Force hit 100 percent of its goal of 2,093 accessions with 2,093.

* The Army National Guard hit 100 percent of its goal of 6,040 accessions with 6,048.

* The Army Reserve hit 121 percent of its goal of 3,543 accessions with 4,304.

* The Navy Reserve hit 100 percent of its goal of 865 accessions with 865.

* The Marine Corps Reserve hit 100 percent of its goal of 553 accessions with 553.

* The Air National Guard hit 121 percent of its goal of 784 accessions with 946.

* The Air Force Reserve hit 100 percent of its goal of 719 accessions with 720.