Air Force recruiting meeting its goal for 7th year

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  The Air Force is on track to make its recruiting goal this year, marking the seventh consecutive year the service has brought in the right number and mix of new Airmen.

To date, 25,645 people have enlisted in the Air Force and entered active duty in fiscal 2006. That puts the Air Force on pace to send 30,750 men and women to basic training and technical schools to fill jobs in more than 150 areas.

In response to the Air Force's force shaping, fiscal 2007 recruiting goals have been reduced by 9 percent compared to fiscal 2006 goals, but the drive is still on to bring in quality Airmen.

"The Air Force is still hiring a mix of people in all of its career fields," said Chief Master Sgt. Edward Vargas, Air Force Recruiting Service Operations Division superintendent.

From October through September 2007, the Air Force will seek 27,760 high school graduates or the equivalent, ages 17 to 28, to join its enlisted ranks and 482 college graduates to join the officer corps.

There are more than 200 enlisted career field openings from which to choose. Security forces, mechanics, administration and electronics are the most plentiful career opportunities for 2007, with about 10,200 available positions. Hard-to-fill enlisted career fields include air and ground linguists and special tactics, such as combat controller, survival instructor and pararescueman.

"These career fields are doing extremely well," Chief Vargas said. "We're finding the right mix at the right time."

The officer career fields with the most available positions are pilot, combat systems officer (navigator), air battle management and electrical engineering. Chaplain and medical fields remain hard to fill.

For more information about Air Force careers, visit www.airforce.com. The interactive Web site offers links to enlisted and officer career information, a chat line and a recruiter locator service.