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Cash-strapped Guard cuts re-up, enlistment bonuses

The Army National Guard has cut enlistment and retention bonuses for everyone except soldiers deploying in 2008 or 2009, and the component’s recruiting efforts will be shut off at the end of August if Congress doesn’t come through soon with funding.

That’s a problem because Congress is in recess for the summer. Meanwhile, it’s unclear what options, if any, are available for Guard members whose re-up window closes before legislative action is taken.

“We ran out of money in marketing and advertising in March,” said Col. Mike Jones, chief of recruiting and retention for the component. “We are literally hoping every day to get the omnibus reprogramming action kicked into law so we can get the momentum kicked up again.”

The lack of money has curbed the Guard’s ability to recruit like it did during the first quarter of the year, when the component was bringing in 113 percent to 123 percent of its monthly goals.

That success and a strong showing last year brought the Guard’s end strength to 351,919.

But the Guard missed its recruiting goals for two straight months, in April and May, only to come back in June by recruiting 5,342 soldiers, slightly more than the goal of 5,338. In July, 4,908 soldiers joined the Guard, 100 percent of its mission of 4,900.

The Guard is now at 100 percent of its year-to-date goal, with 55,264 soldiers. The goal is 55,239. The fiscal 2007 mission for the Guard is 70,000.

Essentially since the beginning of the war in Iraq, the components have relied on supplemental funds to pay for recruiting, Jones said.

In fiscal 2006, the Guard received about $240 million in supplemental funds in its operation and maintenance account, and part of that money was used for recruiting and retention, marketing and advertising.

This year, the Guard asked for $249 million in supplemental funds for operation and maintenance, but it received only $22 million, 9 percent of its request, Jones said.

“The supplemental was small pennies on the dollar to what we needed,” he said. “We had to go to the Army and we asked, ‘Can you reprogram some money to help us out?’ They said yes. The Army reprogrammed the money but to do that you need an omnibus reprogramming action.”

The action has to be voted on and approved by the Senate and House Appropriations committees and authorization committees, Jones said.

“We needed this in June and we still don’t have that approved today,” Jones said.

The Guard needs $540 million for recruiting to get through the rest of the year, he said. About $112 million of that money would be for new spending; the rest would pay for what the Guard has already spent in advance of getting the money, Jones said.

Right now, only soldiers who are deployed or those who are deploying in 2008 or 2009 are getting re-enlistment bonuses, Jones said. He believes this has affected the Guard’s retention numbers.

The Guard is at 103 percent of its year-to-date retention goal, but in July, retention dropped to 75 percent of the goal.

“We’re normally 100 percent every month,” he said. “We’ve missed retention four out of 10 months but never by that much. You can’t underestimate the retention bonus impact. That’s a killer.”

Also, the Guard hasn’t cut a new advertising contract in two months.

“We’ve really had to curtail everything we do,” he said.

In addition, the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program, which pays qualified soldiers up to $2,000 for every person they bring into the Guard, will run out of money at the end of August. G-RAP has been highly successful for the Guard, bringing in about 42 percent of the Guard’s accessions.

Jones predicts that the soonest the Guard will receive its money is early September, and the Guard has contracts ready to go so they can be awarded as soon as the cash flows in.

“The money’s there, the Army’s going to help us, but it’s timing now, getting it approved in time to have it still make a difference,” Jones said.

The rest of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, will be tough, Jones said.

“It’ll be a dogfight for the rest of the year,” he said. “We’re trying to get some money moved around internally, but here we are 10 months into the year. Everyone’s pretty much spent their money.”