Pentagon defends quality of U.S. military recruits

WASHINGTON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Tuesday defended the quality of recruits entering the military even as the Army accepted older enlistees and more with past criminal problems, no high school diplomas and lower aptitude marks.

"I don't think they're lesser-quality recruits," David Chu, U.S. under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told a Pentagon briefing.

The active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines all made their recruiting goals in fiscal 2006, which ended Sept. 30, in a year when the ongoing Iraq war helped make recruiting for the ground forces especially difficult.

Four of the six reserve components of the military -- the Army Reserve, the Army National Guard, the Navy Reserve and the Air National Guard -- missed their 2006 goals. The Army Reserve and National Guard, which have sent tens of thousands of their part-time soldiers into the 3-1/2-year-old Iraq war, also missed their goals last year.

This year, the Army Reserve missed its goal by 5 percentage points and the Army National Guard by 1 percentage point.

There have been 2,745 U.S. military deaths in the Iraq war, the Pentagon said.

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