Posted on: Monday, December 27, 2004

MILITARY UPDATE

By Tom Philpott

To reverse a sharp drop in recruiting since citizen soldiers became 40 percent of U.S. ground forces in Iraq, the Army National Guard and Army Reserve this month announced increases in enlistment and re-enlistment bonuses.

But Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the Army "probably is two years away" from moving to shorter tours for members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Yearlong combat tours, he conceded, aggravate the recruiting problem.

"I would like to get to a rotation where we do nine months active-duty tour time with six months 'boots-on-the-ground,' " said Blum. That would cut current rotations by half. "But we are not ready to go there yet."

The chief of Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, told The Dallas Morning News in mid-December that Reserve recruiting is in a "precipitous decline" that, if not stemmed, could reopen debate over a military draft.

Blum said National Guard recruiting also has dropped sharply, particularly from among the pool of members leaving active duty. Before fiscal 2004, the Army Guard got 50 percent of recruits from the prior-service pool.

That has plummeted to 35 percent, he said, leaving the Guard short more than 8,000 members through September. The gap has widened since then to 12,600. Army Guard recruiters in October and November, the first two months of fiscal 2005, signed only 70 percent of their monthly goals.

Thirty-six percent of U.S. soldiers in Iraq in the current rotation are Guard members. Counting reservists, too, citizen soldiers are 40 percent of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Guard will expand its recruiting force by 50 percent, training 1,400 more in a few months to reach 4,100 total recruiters.

"They'll hit the street around the 1st of February," Blum said.

The Army Guard and Reserve also raised bonuses this month. Recruits entering without previous service but having critical skills will get $10,000 for a six-year hitch, half paid on completing individual training and half after four years' service. Guard recruits electing specialties critical to states will get $6,000.

Also, a $2,000 bonus is available to new Guard enlistees who enter service in "off-peak" months of October through May.

To attract members with past service, the Army Guard and reserve are offering up to $15,000 for a six-year hitch, half paid upon enlistment and half after four years. The previous maximum was $8,000.

Blum, in pressing for shorter combat tours, points out that a yearlong stint in Iraq or Afghanistan means far more than a year away from family and civilian job for reserve component members.

"The active (duty) guy goes back to his job — at Fort Campbell, Fort Lewis, wherever — and gets assimilated right back into his life. The National Guard (member) has already spent three or four months in a MOB (mobilization) station before a year boots-on-the-ground. So it's not really a year. It's 16 months. Then, it's another two months from the time they leave theater until they leave active duty."

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