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Army expects rosy recruiting numbers for June

Gen. Myers: 'There's a bit of good news'

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Joint Chiefs of Staff
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Richard Myers

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Army is expected to exceed its active-duty recruiting goal in June after significant shortfalls in the last four months, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.

"There's a bit of good news in here. We'll see how it works out the rest of the year," Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told troops at a Pentagon forum with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Myers did not disclose the June goal. Reuters reports that the official numbers will be released July 11.

He is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill Thursday morning about Army and Marine readiness.

From February through May enlistments for the regular Army, which provides the bulk of U.S. forces in Iraq, fell short of recruiters' goals.

Even after the service lowered its target for May from 8,050 to 6,700 enlistments, the final figure was 1,700 short.

Also falling behind their goals are the National Guard and Reserve components.

By contrast, the Navy, Marines and Air Force all met or exceeded their recruiting quotas in May.

Army officials blame the war in Iraq and an improving economy for their shortfall and say they hope to make up ground later in the summer, when more young people are expected to be looking for work.

They say they expect to reach their goal of 80,000 new recruits for the fiscal year, which ends September 30.

Myers said senior leaders should spend more time talking about "the nobility of wearing this uniform and serving your country," as President Bush did Tuesday night in a speech aimed at bolstering public support for the Iraq war. (Read transcript)

"There have always been people who are willing to stand up and defend those freedoms ... and it's a noble thing that we do," Myers said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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