Closer look: teams of female Marines are working directly with Afghan women to build their trust. Plus, the Joint Chiefs Chairman meets with Israeli military leaders.

Marines and Iraqis patrol the waterways surrounding the city of Basra, looking for illegal weapons.

U.S. Marines in Japan conducted a live-fire training exercise in Hokkaido.

U.S. Marines engaged in a firefight with insurgents Monday near the town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

Coalition efforts are forcing Somali pirates farther out to sea and away from their home waters.

The North Dakota National Guard is wrapping up its flood operations across the state.

The Department of Defense announced today its recruiting and retention statistics for the active and reserve components for January 2010:

• Active Component.
  • Recruiting.  All four active services met or exceeded their accession goals for January 2010.
    • Army:  8,513 accessions with a goal of 8,393; 101 percent
    • Navy:  3,012 accessions with a goal of 3,012; 100 percent
    • Marine Corps:  3,035 accessions with a goal of 3,024; 100 percent
    • Air Force:  2,593 accessions with a goal of 2,593; 100 percent
    • Retention.  The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force retained near or above mission goals through the first four months of fiscal 2010.
• Reserve Component.
  • Recruiting.  All six reserve components met or exceeded their accession goals for January 2010.
  • Army National Guard:  4,402 accessions with a goal of 4,100; 107 percent
  • Army Reserve – 2,272 accessions with a goal of 2,229; 102 percent
  • Navy Reserve – 511 accessions with a goal of 511; 100 percent
  • Marine Corps Reserve – 1,130 accessions with a goal of 819; 138 percent
  • Air National Guard – 563 accessions with a goal of 470; 120 percent
  • Air Force Reserve – 772 accessions with a goal of 772; 100 percent
  • Attrition.  Losses in all reserve components are within acceptable limits.

When Operation Moshtarak kicked off here Feb. 13, Army helicopter crews from the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade inserted nearly 300 Marines and Afghan security forces into Marja, Afghanistan, under cover of darkness.

UH-60 Black Hawks, CH-47F Chinooks and AH-64 Apaches from Task Force Pegasus facilitated the air assault of Kilo Company, 3/6 Marines, in seizing their objective area, according to AFPS’ Army Staff Sgt. Aubree Clute.

“Protected by Apache air weapons teams, the Marines and their partnered Afghan security forces quickly began moving to their initial objective, seizing key terrain and preparing to link up with their parent headquarters scheduled to begin a ground assault into Marja,” said Army Col. Paul Bricker, 82nd CAB commander.

Shortly after the Marine insertion, additional Task Force Pegasus aviation assets assisted a coalition air assault into nearby objective areas in Nad Ali. Task Force Pegasus’s 1st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment — Task Force Wolfpack — was one of three helicopter units involved in the operation in support of the British Task Force Jaguar.

“Their air assault was equally effective in seizing key terrain in the city of Nad Ali, located adjacent and northeast of Marja,” Bricker said. “Their operation was even more complex, as it included over 20 rotary-wing aircraft from the U.S., Britain and Canada.”

Task Force Pegasus continues to provide support to operation Moshtarak, but the focus has turned from aerial security to medical evacuation. Casualty evacuation teams are standing by to transport wounded coalition and Afghan forces to appropriate field hospitals as necessary.

“[The CH-47F Chinook] has been specially configured with helicopter cabin litter support systems and manned with TF Pegasus surgeons and medics to conduct critical patient transfers from less-capable combat surgical wards within Helmand province to southern Afghanistan’s largest and most advanced hospital on Kandahar Air Base,” Bricker said.

The 82nd CAB has completed more than 120 air-assault operations throughout southern Afghanistan over the last 10 months in support of operations by the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan forces.

This week the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard announced an increase in activated reservists, while the Army announced a decrease.  The net collective result is 317 fewer reservists activated than last week.

At any given time, services may activate some units and individuals while deactivating others, making it possible for these figures to either increase or decrease.  The total number currently on active duty from the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 111,478; Navy Reserve, 6,978; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 16,846; Marine Corps Reserve, 6,435; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 780.  This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 142,517, including both units and individual augmentees.

A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated may be found at: http://www.defense.gov/news/d20100209ngr.pdf.