Help Your Buddy to a Future Filled with WAR

Guard entices ranks to recruit

By Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAYFri Dec 2, 7:16 AM ET

The Army National Guard, battling a falloff in recruiting, is offering troops a finder's fee for lining up new soldiers.

The Guard Recruiter Assistant Program, launched this week in five states, offers National Guard members $1,000 for enlisting a recruit and another $1,000 when the prospect shows up for basic training.

"Bring in 10 people and you can earn $20,000," says Lt. Col. Mike Jones, deputy division chief for recruiting and retention at the National Guard Bureau.

The Army Guard and Reserve have struggled with recruiting as the Pentagon has leaned heavily on their soldiers to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Before 9/11, Guard troops counted on drilling one weekend a month and two weeks each summer - not on overseas deployments as long as 18 months and the risk of death. As of Wednesday, 123,000 Guard and Reserve troops were on active duty.

The Guard recruited 50,219 troops - 20% short of its goal - in fiscal year 2005, which ended Sept. 30.

The National Guard has nearly doubled its recruiting force to 5,100 and tripled cash bonuses for some recruits. Those efforts are beginning to pay off, Jones says, noting that the National Guard had 4,050 new recruits in October, 102% of its goal.

But, he says, the Guard can't maintain a large, expensive recruiting force indefinitely. Enter the recruiter assistant program.

Nobody's in a better position to convince a potential recruit than a National Guard member, Jones says. National Guard members have always produced some of the best leads on recruits from family, co-workers or church, he says.

The program is open to part-time Guard members in good standing. They must complete an online training program that covers ethics, values of the National Guard and what qualifies someone to join the military.

They'll receive a kit to help market the Guard. Once they find a potential recruit, they enter the name on a website and full-time recruiters take it from there.

"This is not just a lead program," Jones said. "It's not just, 'Hey, I met Johnny, give him a call.' "

An assistant recruiter is expected to serve as a mentor and sponsor to ensure that the new soldier succeeds.

For now, the program is a pilot project in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota and West Virginia. It could go nationwide by September 2006, Jones says.

It could be opened further to military retirees or spouses, he says.

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