Photo By Eric Durr | New York Army National Guard recruiters talk with students attending the Orange-Ulster...... read more read more
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LATHAM, New York --For the fourth year in a row, New York’s Army National Guard is number one in the nation when it comes to recruiting and retaining Citizen Soldiers.
During federal fiscal year 2025, which ended on Sept. 30, the New York Army Guard recruited and retained a larger percentage of Soldiers –relative to its assigned strength—than the 53 other state and territorial National Guards.
The New York Army Guard’s assigned strength, reflecting 2025 recruiting success, was 11,700. This is 113 percent of the force’s authorized strength of 10,342 Soldiers.
Authorized strength is based on the number and type of units in a military force.
The Army National Guard assigns annual recruiting success scores based on recruiting of enlisted and officer personnel, retaining Soldiers in the ranks, and the number of Soldiers who leave each state’s Army Guard.
For 2025 the New York Army Guard’s score was 134.29. The next highest score was 132.73 for the Rhode Island Army National Guard.
“Recruiting and retention is central to the culture of the New York Army National Guard,” said Major General Michel Natali, the New York National Guard’s assistant adjutant general, Army.
“Recruiting and retaining our Soldiers is a commonly understood priority at every echelon of our organization. In order to perform the wide variety of state and federal missions we respond to, we would be unable to do so without our most essential resource-our people,” Natali explained.
During federal fiscal year 2025 the New York Army National Guard recruited 1,878 enlisted Soldiers, 32 warrant officers and 155 officers for a total of 2,065 personnel. This number also includes Soldiers who transferred into the New York Army Guard from other states.
At the same time, New York Army Guard reenlisted 1,819 Soldiers whose enlistments were expiring.
The New York Army National Guard has been consistently increasing its strength.
The New York Army Guard’s assigned strength at the end of fiscal 2024, was 11,339 Soldiers. That was 109 percent of the authorized strength of 10,340 troops in September 2024.
At the end of federal fiscal year 2023, the New York Army National Guard was authorized a strength of 10,209 Soldiers and had 10,969 personnel assigned. This was 107.4 percent of authorized strength.
This is also the fifth year that New York was the top recruiting and retention state for the National Guard’s 10 largest state Army Guard’s.
The New York Army National Guard is currently the fourth largest in the United States.
Lt. Col. John Harder, the commander of New York’s 303 Soldier-strong recruiting and retention battalion, credited the 130 production recruiters for the battalion’s success.
“Our partnerships with local high schools, colleges and organizations along with the professionalism of our recruiting force truly make the difference,” Harder said.
“The Army National Guard is just as much a part of the community as your local fire department or high school. Our recruiters are typically from the towns or cities they recruit from and personify the ‘Citizen-Soldier’ in all they do. This allows them to connect at level that other services cannot,” Harder added.
The New York Army National Guard’s units include an Army division headquarters, a combat aviation brigade, an infantry brigade, a logistics support sustainment brigade, and a brigade-sized troop command which encompasses many combat support and military police elements.
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 10.28.2025 11:26 |
| Story ID: | 550498 |
| Location: | LATHAM, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 52 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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