Photo By Peter Chang | Soldiers from the Washington Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion...... read more read more
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The Washington National Guard is celebrating strong recruitment — marking the second-consecutive year the organization has surpassed benchmarks established by the National Guard Bureau (NGB).
“Our Recruiting and Retention Battalion has performed like never before,” said Brig. Gen. Paul Sellars, commanding general, Washington Army National Guard. “These are the only two years we’ve met our recruiting mission in the Washington Army National Guard, at least in the modern era.”
Data compiled from the Washington Army and Air National Guard recruiting offices shows a positive trend since late 2023. In all, 615 Soldiers enlisted in the Washington Army National Guard in fiscal year 2025 (Oct. 1, 2024 – Sept. 30, 2025). That exceeded the federally designated goal of 572 new enlisted recruits (107.5%) and continues the trend from 2024 when 512 soldiers enlisted, exceeding the goal of 487 new enlisted recruits (104.9%).
During the past two years, more than 1,100 enlisted soldiers, 259 officers, and nearly 500 active-duty to National Guard transfers have joined the Washington Army National Guard.
“These aren’t just numbers,” Sellars added. “These are soldiers. These are our future leaders, medics, mechanics, aviators, and infantrymen. These are men and women who will carry the Guard forward because our team found them, worked with them, and brought them into our team.”
The Washington Army National Guard is made up of 5,500 uniformed soldiers. The Washington Air National Guard includes 1,900 airmen. The vast majority work one weekend each month and two weeks of annual training each year, fulfilling a dual mission in support of the state of Washington for emergency response and for the federal government during deployments.
The Washington Air National Guard had an even bigger boost in recruiting. It brought in 225 new members, far above the goal of 146 (154%) and 23 more than they recruited last year. For comparison, in 2024 they brought in 202 new airmen, surpassing their goal of 168 (120%), which at the time was a record for the office.
“The entire recruiting team did a phenomenal job this year,” said SMSgt Roman Watson, Recruiting & Retention senior enlisted leader for the Washington Air National Guard. “We had one individual alone recruit 50 members and had the highest non-prior service enlistment rate in the state’s history.”
Watson has been tracking the trends for the past few years and says his team has seen a heavy wave of general interest in the Air National Guard that really started right at the end of 2024 and continued to grow into 2025, from both non-prior service and prior service members.
“This momentum is continuing as we head into 2026,” said Watson. “We are seeing a significant interest in our cyber and communications related fields enlisting a total of 36 and commissioning eight officers during this time.”
| Date Taken: | 10.26.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 12.05.2025 09:03 |
| Story ID: | 550469 |
| Location: | CAMP MURRAY, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 137 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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