Recruiters mistakenly pressure Army veterans

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Army recruiters in Hawai'i and Mainland cities incorrectly told military veterans that they could be forced to active duty by the end of this month and deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan unless they quickly joined the National Guard or Army Reserve.

"It's intimidation," said Robert Nacario, a local veteran who said a Hawai'i National Guard recruiter told him the activation letters would arrive this week. "It's a scare tactic of some kind."

It wasn't a tactic, according to officials of the Hawai'i National Guard and at top levels of the Army Reserve. The recruiters weren't being dishonest or inflating the threat of deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan — they were operating under the information they had at hand.

And the information was incorrect.

"It's a misunderstanding," said Steve Stromvall, a Headquarters Army Reserve spokesman in Atlanta. "I know it started at this level and went out all over."

Stromvall and Julia Collins, a spokeswoman for the Army Human Resources Command in St. Louis, said memos, e-mails and telephone communications from Army Reserve headquarters indicated that veterans in the Individual Ready Reserve program would be involuntarily recalled beginning May 18.

The memos circulated throughout the Army Reserve in early May and were picked up by the Army National Guard.

"Unfortunately," Collins said, "the information wasn't accurate."

On inactive status

Veterans on the Individual Ready Reserve program have served their time in the military but are under contract to remain on inactive status for various periods.

An enlisted person who served four years in the Army, Army Guard or Army Reserve may be retained in the Ready Reserve for another four years.

Depending on the circumstances, an officer could be retained until what would have been the officer's mandatory retirement date.

Veterans in the Ready Reserve can be called back to active duty in times of extreme need.

As the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world continue to drain the military's ready supply of soldiers, the chances of a Ready Reserve recall increase.

The Army last week confirmed that it pulled the files of about 17,000 people to screen them for critically needed specialists. Under the current authorization from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Army could call as many as 6,500 back to active duty involuntarily.

Collins said the Human Resource Command has been pulling files, updating contact information, and examining contract obligations of those veterans.

They are looking hard at 22,011 veterans, she said, still considering an activation. She said 198 of those veterans are in Hawai'i.

"We don't know if we'll go forward at this point," she said. "We're hoping that at the end of the month we'll have a final decision, but it could be June."

Not necessarily prudent

Some veterans are getting nervous and calling the Guard on their own to discuss signing up, Hickman said.

But, military officials say, signing up for the Guard or Reserve to avoid combat isn't necessarily a good plan. More and more members of the Reserve and Guard are being called upon to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan with each passing month.

"It's less a question of 'if' than it is of 'when'," Stromvall said.

Recruiters at the Hawai'i National Guard didn't know that the information they had about a May activation was not accurate, said 1st Lt. Jeff Hickman, a spokesman for the Guard.

The National Guard Bureau in Washington told them on May 13 that the Army Reserve was planning to call the veterans back to active duty for the next rotations into Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

It included a sample activation order: "A review of your records indicates that you have an unfulfilled statutory obligation. As a result, you are being involuntarily assigned to a troop program unit in your area. You have 30 days from the date of this order to report to that unit."

According to a bureau memo, many of the thousands of veterans who could be recalled were former guardsmen "who have contacted a number of states requesting to be transferred back to the (National Guard)."

The memo said the method for transferring the veterans into the Guard before they are activated is "straightforward" and went on to detail the procedure.

Hickman said the Hawai'i National Guard recruiters got out their list of 1,000 Hawai'i veterans who could be included on the recall and started making contact.

Guard and Reserve recruiters in others states did the same.

By voluntarily joining their local Guard or Reserve units, the recruiters said, the veterans could avoid being involuntarily activated.

"They were offering them a choice," Hickman said.

Nacario said he considered meeting with a recruiter, but changed his mind. "The way I was approached bothered me. It appeared deliberately measured to scare you to rejoin," he said.

Recruiting levels rose

Collins, in the St. Louis headquarters, said recruiting levels went up nationwide once recruiters started making the calls. She did not respond to requests for specific figures, but did say 1,300 veterans had moved from "inactive" status to Army Reserve units since the recall information went out.

Stromvall said he thought it was more like 2,000.

Maj. Orville Jennings of the Army Reserve in Hawai'i declined to say whether higher numbers of veterans have been joining the Army Reserve in Hawai'i in recent weeks. He said reservists have been told to refer all media questions about recruiting and retention to the national headquarters.

Hickman said the Hawai'i Guard's projected recruiting levels for May appeared to increase by "three or four people" over the same period last year.

Recruiters in the Oregon National Guard had better luck. Recruiting levels increased there by nearly 1,000 percent.

The Army is allowing the Oregon soldiers who believed they signed up under false pretenses to get out of their contracts.

"At least two people have asked to have their transfers rescinded," Stromvall said.

Stromvall said he was getting calls about similar problems arising in Texas, Louisiana, Denver, the Pacific Northwest, and Chicago and other cities in the Great Lakes area.

Directives have gone out to Army Reserve recruiters and retention officials across the country, telling them to stop giving out the information about the activation orders when trying to recruit veterans, Stromvall said.

But the National Guard apparently hasn't gotten the word — at least through official channels.

Aware of some complaints

In Washington, Lt. Col. Richard Guzzetta, head of the National Guard Bureau section that oversees recruiting and retention, said yesterday that although he was aware some veterans had complained about overly aggressive recruiting tactics, he was not aware that the Army Reserve had rescinded the information about a May activation.

"I'm learning more from you guys — you reporters," he said, "than I am from the soldiers."

He said yesterday that he intended to look into the matter.

Hickman said National Guard recruiters have recently received memos from the National Guard Bureau advising them to make sure they are honest and ethical in their pursuit of recruits. They have received no memos, he said, telling them that the activation dates in May are not factual.

Meanwhile, he said, they are also toning down their regular recruitment pitches to veterans, hoping to make sure there are no misunderstandings. "These people are always a little apprehensive," Hickman said. "They thought they were done, and then here we come, back into their lives."

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.