Army, Air Guard miss recruiting goals

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy
National Guard Bureau

(12/15/09) - Both the Army and Air National Guard missed their recruiting goals for November, but Guard officials said the smaller numbers were intentional. Recruiting activities throughout the two services were adjusted to keep end-strength numbers within the congressionally mandated limits of 358,200 for the Army Guard and 106,756 for the Air Guard, said Randy Noller, a spokesman for the National Guard Bureau.

"We're allowed by Congress to be up to 3 percent above our authorized end strength," said Noller. "But, we still have to pay those Soldiers and Airmen, train them and equip them and we don't get additional funding for that. That money comes out of hide, meaning that funding for other programs gets cut."

Both the Army and Air Guard finished fiscal year 2009, which ended in October, over strength with 358,391 in the Army Guard and 109,196 in the Air Guard.

In order to stay within authorized end-strength numbers, the Guard has tightened enlistment waivers and has tweaked some enlistment bonuses.

"They haven't gone away," said Noller, referring to the bonuses. "But they have been adjusted to meet current needs and skill sets."

To enable the Army Guard to maintain its 358, 200 end-strength goal, it needs to recruit about 60,000 Soldiers throughout fiscal year 2010 while the Air Guard needs 9,000 recruits.

But that isn't a fixed number and month-to-month recruiting goals may fluctuate based on end-strength needs, said Noller.