Yesterday, when I was blogging at Michelle Malkin's site, I linked to this column by Ralph Peters about how army reenlistment and recruiting was up for the year. Several people e-mailed me to say that Fox and Washington Post were reporting that we hadn't met our goals for the year. So, I didn't know what was up.

Fortunately for my state of confusion, Stephen Spruiell at Media Blog did some calling and figured out what the problem was.

I spoke with Peters, and it turns out he was most likely the victim of a bureaucratic mix-up. The year-to-date numbers are here. According to a Pentagon spokesman, Peters apparently got the overall Army, Army Reserve and Army National Guard re-enlistment numbers instead of the first-time enlistment numbers. In other words, the re-enlistment rates for those three organizations are 108 percent, 102 percent, and 106 percent respectively.

This is the good news that gets lost in the media coverage of Army recruitment: Re-enlistment rates are exceeding expectations — especially among combat divisions, where faith in the mission remains strong. So far, media focus remains on the first-time enlistment goals, and all too often the shortfall is attributed to a lack of faith in the President rather than the economy or higher Army goals. The media should be doing a better job of reporting on the patriotism of the soldiers who are re-enlisting at rates that are exceeding expectations. Far from being "war victims," as Cindy Sheehan calls them, they are soldiers who believe in their mission.

And remember, if more soldiers are reenlisting - that leaves fewer to join the Reserves which might explain part of the shortfall for the numbers in the Reserves.

I'm glad that someone sorted this out. That's the great thing about the Internet; eventually someone finds out the information you want to know.