The National Guard is still thousands of troops short of meeting its end-strength personnel requirements for this fiscal year, Guard officials revealed in late June. The Air National Guard still needs roughly 3,500 troops to fulfill its 108,400 authorized end-strength by Sept 30. Data provided to Military Times indicates that the Army National Guard has actually surpassed its 2023 personnel goal (by 699), though it has inducted 1,298 fewer recruits than it planned to. This year's enlistment numbers mark an improvement from 2022 when the Guard ended the fiscal year with 9,000 fewer soldiers in its ranks. Still, a confluence of factors - a competitive labor market, strict eligibility requirements, and disinterest in military service among eligible recruits - continue to hamper the service's recruitment efforts.
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