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The Army National Guard's 330,000 citizen-soldiers can help reduce the organization's current 19,000-person recruiting shortfall, Lt. Gen. Clyde A. Vaughn said today.
Under a proposed new "community-based" recruiting system, the Army Guard director said, Guard members not only would canvass people to join their Guard units, but would also seek to sign up potential enlistees for a "2-4-2" contracted term of service.
This approach, he told Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters at his headquarters here, would assist the Army Guard in achieving its 350,000-soldier end strength, as well as to boost Army active-duty ranks. Vaughn became the Army's 18th National Guard director June 23 and received his third star June 15.
"If our soldiers would recruit for the active force," he explained, "that would be two years on active duty, four years in the National Guard or Reserve, and two years in the (Individual Ready Reserve)."
IRR members are not assigned to active, Guard or reserve units serve, but remain "on call" until they've completed their eight-year military service obligation.
Under the proposed new recruiting system, a bonus would be paid to citizen-soldier recruiters and to the enlistees, Vaughn said.
If a soldier joins the Army Guard after two years' active duty, then he or she has already been trained and qualified in a specialty, he pointed out.
And if a soldier stays on active duty, then that's good too, Vaughn said, noting that such servicemembers would be "still in the Army."
He described the proposed recruiting system, which is undergoing scrutiny and fine-tuning in Congress, as a "win-win" situation that would augment the efforts of 5,100 current field recruiters.
"All we want to do is increase our recruiting force," the general explained, noting, "We want 300,000 recruiters in the field."
Story by Gerry J. Gilmore, American Forces Press Service
| Date Taken: | 07.22.2005 |
| Date Posted: | 07.04.2025 04:48 |
| Story ID: | 537902 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 3 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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