I received an excited voicemail yesterday from Marie Campanoli. She’s the director of marketing and communications for Skookum, a nonprofit that provides jobs for people with disabilities. The company has contracts to provide fleet maintenance at Fort Lewis, and Campanoli was calling to tell me the company was named the sixth-best government fleet in North America by an industry trade magazine.

Of the company’s 560 employees, 206 work fleet maintenance at Fort Lewis. Of those workers, 133 are veterans and 80 are disabled veterans.

Skookum also has contracts for the central issue facility and sanitation services. As Campanoli points out, there are about 38,000 public fleets across the United States. So it’s quite an accomplishment.

The Associated Press is reporting the Department of Defense is reporting its strongest recruiting year in four years. The Army's retention rate is 20 percent higher than it was in fiscal 2004. One driving concern is the economy, the AP reports; there aren't a ton of open jobs out there.

I'm asking our readers: Have you or someone you know recently re-enlisted? Did the economy play a role? If so, e-mail me at scott.fontaine@thenewstribune.com