General: Iraq war taking toll on state National Guard
By Samira Jafari
Associated Press Writer
MONTGOMERY -- The turmoil in Iraq is keeping an increasing number of Alabamians from joining the Army National Guard, and it will take several years before recruitment and retention numbers will bounce back for the nation's biggest per-capita Guard, Maj. Gen. Mark Bowen said Friday.
"We won't get back to normal for another four, five years,'' Bowen told The Associated Press after speaking to legislators at a budget hearing.
"Until the world is a safer place, it's going to be tough getting people to want to join,'' he said.
Nationally, what's supposed to be a 350,000-member organization has fallen short by more than 7,000 soldiers. Similarly, the Alabama National Guard is losing more than it's recruiting, Bowen said.
The state is authorized to employ 14,500 Army National Guard members but has only about 79 percent of those positions filled, with 11,849 personnel. The Guard lost 2,161 soldiers in 2004, while filling only 1,595 of the vacated positions in a drive with a goal of 1,600.
The Alabama Guard, long a leader nationally, still is the sixth
largest -- trailing only the far more populous states of California, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, in that order.
But the likelihood of deployment to a combat area, especially since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has changed the Guard's image in recent years, including in Alabama. Bowen said several factors are behind the declining numbers, though Iraq is clearly the largest. He said the war shattered the longstanding idea that Guard members only have to "show up just one weekend a month,'' which is partly how the program used to sell itself.
"They know the odds are pretty good they're going to be deployed,'' either to Iraq or one of the operation's overseas support sites, he said.
The Alabama National Guard is trying to improve its recruitment and retention numbers by joining a national campaign that offers signing bonuses for prior-service recruits.
A Guard member with prior military service will now receive $15,000 as a bonus -- tax-free if the member signs up while deployed overseas. Alabama has also added 11 more recruiters since December to its previous 102 to attract recruits young and old.
Despite new incentives, fewer Army personnel are joining the Guard after completing active duty. In 2004, the Alabama Guard enlisted only 605 prior-service personnel, down from the 911 recruited in 2000.
Bowen said he still believes that the Guard can attract more high school graduates and 20-somethings.
"What's amazed me is the number of young people who want to join,'' Bowen said.
But therein lies another challenge -- parents. The number of fatalities in Iraq has passed 1,000 and the number wounded has passed 10,000 since the war began. The figures don't sit well with moms and dads, who may have viewed the Guard previously as a sure way to pay for college. "The parents just don't want them to join anymore,'' Bowen said.
Some of those who are interested are having difficulties passing the entrance exam, which was recently changed by the Army to be more challenging to prospective troops, Bowen said. Alabama's passing rate is about 47 percent.
Plus, Alabama's 127 armories are far from attractive, with peeling paint, moldy walls and poor ventilation endangering the health of current personnel and warding off young recruits, Bowen told legislators. He asked lawmakers to set aside $1.5 million for maintenance alone.
The Guard is also struggling to retain older Guard members, some serving for more than 30 years. The Guard used to be appealing as a second income, with a slight chance of deployment. Now some members who are returning are opting to retire sooner than they initially anticipated, especially if they've served in Iraq, Bowen said.
"It used to be people would stay in until they were 50, 60 years old -- sometimes life,'' he said. "There's too much turbulence out there, too much cross-training ... and people don't like change.''
Bowen said the Guard is placing a lot of weight on its recruiters and the signup bonuses, but it's uncertain when it will reach its strength in numbers.
He believes the sooner Iraq begins governing itself again, fewer soldiers will be needed there and will return to their duties in the state.
"It'll be years before we get back to normal,'' he said. "It's not going to be an overnight fix.''
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