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 NEWS
 A banner year for Guard recruiting and retention By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
                National Guard Bureau
 ARLINGTON, Va. - The National Guard recruited 19,000 more Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen in 2006 than it did during the previous year and exceeded its retention goals by record numbers, Guard officials reported in early October. Concerted efforts to recruit new people into the Army and Air National Guard during the Global War on Terrorism and to retain people already in uniform made it possible for both components to attain 98.9 percent of their combined authorized strength of 456,800 men and women. The retention rate among units that have been mobilized for duty in such places as Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo has also surpassed all expectations. That was the good news reported by Guard officials shortly after fiscal year 2006 ended on Sept. 30. The Army Guard’s end strength was 346,288. The Air Guard’s end strength was 105,660. Those numbers were just 1.1 percent below each of those forces’ authorized strength of 350,000 Citizen-Soldiers and 106,800 Citizen-Airmen. “The National Guard continues to demonstrate its ability to recruit and retain a quality force despite the demands of simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as unprecedented missions at home such as support for border security and response to natural disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires,” said LTG H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau. 2006 reflects the best recruiting and retention year since Blum became the Guard Bureau’s chief in April 2003, when the force had fallen short of its recruiting goals by 20 percent. Both the Army Guard, for the first time since May 2004, and the Air Guard are within 2 percent of their end-strength goals mandated by Congress. The Army Guard experienced a net growth of 13,111 Soldiers during the last fiscal year. That was hailed as unprecedented growth for the all-volunteer force since the end of the military draft nearly 34 years ago. It surpassed its reenlistment goal of 34,875 by reenlisting 41,083 Citizen-Soldiers. The Army and Air Guard also exceeded their attrition rate goals of 18 percent. The Air Guard lost just under 11 percent of its force because people retired or did not reenlist. The Army Guard’s attrition was 17.6 percent. Increased bonuses for new recruits and for people who stay in the Guard, more robust recruiting efforts and marketing campaigns, and an effort to place people in jobs in which they are already experienced have been cited as keys to success. Bonuses have been beefed up, for example, from $10,000 to $20,000 for non-prior service people and from $5,000 to $15,000 for prior service personnel in the Army Guard since 2005. Retention bonuses have also been increased from $5,000 to $15,000, and $20,000 bonuses, plus 100 percent tuition assistance, are available for college students. The Army Guard trained an additional 2,400 noncommissioned officers for its recruiting and retention force from August 2004 to August 2006. Many of the new recruiting and retention NCOs have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and can speak firsthand about the experiences Army Guard Soldiers face today, it was pointed out. “They are finding their legs and beginning to pay off in big ways,” said Randy Noller, a Guard Bureau spokesman. The Air Guard, meanwhile, has added 79 administrative positions to its recruiting force so that recruiters have more time to seek out new prospects, and it has opened 25 new store-front recruiting offices during the past year to “put the face of the Air National Guard closer to the community,” explained Noller, who formally served in both the Army and Air Guard. Each component has started a program that gives bonuses to Guard members who persuade people they know to sign up and complete their initial training. The Guard Recruiting Assistance Program, G-RAP, has produced 39,902 potential Army Guard Soldiers, officials said. The Air Guard launched the program last April. The Air Guard has also improved its bonus system and now offers retention bonuses that at more comparable to those offered by the active Air Force. And the Air Guard in 2005 began a new force development structure intended “to get the right people in the right jobs, at the right time, with the right skills, knowledge and experience.” Guard marketers, meanwhile, are appealing to young people by advertising in movie theaters and tailoring their Web sites to the technologically savvy audience of today.
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