Recruiting and Retention in the Army National Guard: Back to the Basics and Back to the Future

Recruiting and retention in the Army National Guard ARNG represent the lifeblood of our component. Our budget and most importantly, our relevance in The Army are inextricably tied to our ability to maintain and manage personnel strength. As singularly important as this fact is, the Army National Guard has let attrition driven by leadership shortcomings denigrate the force to levels which provide credibility to a Quadrennial Defense Review Report recommendation to reduce overall strength. It is not my contention that the majority of the Army National Guards leaders are incompetent, uncaring individuals who have fiddled while our strength burned. Just the opposite. I am constantly heartened to meet and work with a vast majority of dedicated and hard-working officers and non-commissioned officers NCOs with whom I am proud to be associated. In retention of soldiers, I postulate junior leaders need the training and framework to build cohesion within their units to stop the hemorrhage of good soldiers. The myriad of taskers, requirements, reports, and briefings we as leaders are responsible for, have caused some to lose the basics of leadership our soldiers expect. When leaders are forced to deal with the minutia and paperwork of command instead of the personal aspects of leadership, some soldiers lose faith in us and take a silent vote with their feet. In recruiting, I propose a revolution in the way we currently access soldiers into our units. The ARNG should treat recruiting as more of a science than an art. Recruiting is currently considered an art with the main artists being the recruiters, who are inadequately trained in some instances. A marketingadvertising strategy coupled with development of a community identity with its population base and a focused approach to prospecting for new recruits will pay dividends--even in periods of a strong economy.