RAPID CITY, S.D. - The South Dakota Army National Guard announced today that it has not only exceeded its yearly recruiting goal for 2006 but has seen the highest number of new recruits in the past 10 years.

"This year has been a tremendous success!" exclaimed said Maj. John Weber, recruiting and retention commander for the South Dakota Army National Guard.

Weber said the South Dakota Army National Guard finished the recruiting year with 534 enlisted and 38 officer accessions, which was an improvement over last year of 194 accessions. "This last year was not only successful but also historical," said Weber.

He said South Dakota has not seen this many accessions in 10 years and has only topped what was accomplished in 2006 twice in the last 15 years.

Contributing to the successful recruiting year was the Guard Recruiting Assistant Program. This grassroots incentive program, open to all National Guardsmen and Guard retirees, challenges Soldiers to help maintain the Army National Guard's readiness by identifying well-qualified men and women within the local communities for service in the National Guard. G-Rap has paid over $314,000 to South Dakota Army Guardsmen. South Dakota was one of 17 pilot states to originally test this program.

"This has been a gigantic effort on the part of our recruiters," said Maj. Gen. Michael Gorman, adjutant general. "They truly are the best and I am proud of each and every one of them." When the 2006 recruiting year ended, the South Dakota Army National Guard counted 3,255 Soldiers among its force. This is an increase in strength from 3,161 at the start of fiscal year 2006 and way up from the low point of 3,108 in January of 2006, according to Weber. "This last years success put us back on track for our glide path to our 3,400 mission for 2007," said Weber.

-30-