Filling the ranks
It had been 16 years since Jim Priest last put on a uniform, but his heart never left the military. So four months back, the cleaning- His goal: deployment. He went to the 20th Special Forces Group based on the outer limits of Birmingham and requested a single-channel radio operator job. But the group is already in Iraq, and cannot fill its empty posts until its soldiers return next January. So Priest bides time in the 2025th Transportation Company, training and waiting “to be a part of the sand.” He’s been waiting a long time. In the mid-1970s, he joined the Army at 17, dropping out of high school so he could get to Vietnam. By the time he finished boot camp, the war was over.
Priest kept his dream of re-enlistment to himself. Then last Christmas, his chaplain asked: Why not you? “I thought I was too old,” he said. But his chaplain had been to Iraq and said it wasn’t so. “I thought it would be selfish,” he said. But instead he found his wife, Melody, running next to him, pushing him the two-mile stretch to build his strength. For many Alabamians, conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq means time to step up, not step back. Enlistments are up “Last year was the first time since 1993 that the state’s force increased instead of dropping,” said Col. Glenn Cottles, commander of the 22nd Recruitment and Retention Battalion, based in Montgomery. The increase for the Alabama Army National Guard was small, but important. The state gained about 50 soldiers in net strength, although it still fell short of its annual goal of 12,575. But a trend reversed. For 14 straight years, the Guard had been shrinking, from about 20,000 troops in the early 1990s to a force of around 11,000 today. “The real key is it wasn’t just the best year — it was the best year by far,” Cottles said of the Army National Guard’s numbers. “We exceeded the five-year average by 40 percent.” More than 2,100 new soldiers enlisted, and 38 new officers were commissioned in 2006. Six months into fiscal 2007, the Guard had already passed its end-strength goal by 34 soldiers. Nationwide, trends are similar. The Guard took in 69,042 new soldiers in 2006, according to Defense Department statistics — just short of its 70,000 mission, but a high since 1992. And the total — or end strength – of the Guard is about 346,000 soldiers nationally — a high since 2003. Part of the turnaround is people like Jim Priest ¬— and the family and friends who gather behind him. Then there is boosted federal funding — which pays for the national effort to employ more full-time recruiters and sweeten the pot of incentives. Yet the true story of the Guard’s force strength is more complex than numbers. Veterans and rookies sign up Sgt. Jason Brooks is a recruiter for Alabama’s 20th Special Forces Group — one of only six such commands in the country. Brooks sees re-enlistments of prior service people like Priest as a lifeline for Alabama’s Guard — they are the majority of his recruits. “Since 9/11, we have people in their late 50s trying to get back in,” he said. Recruits must enlist before their 42nd birthday — a limit raised in 2006 and another sign that the Guard is flexing with the times. But Brooks sees a drop in young recruits, who he says do not show the same commitment and who fear deployment. “Even if the kid says ‘yes,’ we go in for parental consent, and these are going to be the first words you hear: ‘Oh, heck no. My son or daughter is not going to war.’ ” Priest assists Brooks with recruitment. “They are hearing negative reports, Congress de-funding the troops — so there’s a sense of ‘Don’t send me — I don’t want to be a part of something no one supports,’ ” he said. Yet the perception that recruiters and other Guardsmen have of enlistees doesn’t match the demographics of those signing up to serve. Cottles’ numbers challenge the idea that older veterans are shouldering the weight. Last year, 70 percent of Alabama’s soldiers were new recruits — prior service recruits were just 30 percent. The year before, the force was split 60-40. Most are not older than 25— an age group that now makes up a third of the force, he said. Over the past 18 months, they made up “99 percent of the increase” statewide, according to Cottles. Prior service recruits remained level. “The kids are so energetic, so patriotic,” he said. “They have a sense of service we often don’t give our younger generation credit for.” Four young recruits are across a boardroom table from Lt. Col. Chip Hester, professor of military science for Jacksonville State University’s ROTC program. Dickson, Stewart, Bunt and Matthews sit with straight backs, unless they lean in to the conversation. Four sets of eyes are focused — although one pair is blue and smirking, one black and alert, one shadowed in long and light-red lashes, one soft brown. Their reasons for enlisting are as different: money for college, a break from life around the house, flight school, next in line after granddad and dad, a reality check realizing that the NFL isn’t going to call. Cadet Christopher Bunt, 20, always knew he would join the Guard at 17 — “no matter what was going on.” The feeling of brotherhood makes it worthwhile, to know you can count on the person beside you. “My younger sister looks to me as a leader, so every day I must set an example,” said Reginald Stewart, a 22-year-old Anniston native and a fourth-year Guardsman. “That’s what pushed me to get where I am now.” Stewart is preparing for commission as an officer before shipping to a field artillery assignment at Fort Carson, Colo., with the Army’s 4th Infantry Division. Who they are “Besides, it’s a young man’s game,” says Capt. Shannon Suggs, training officer and Headquarters Company Commander with the 167th Infantry Battalion — and not so old himself. His assessment comes with a laugh. The infantry may be a special case, since those who sign on as frontline fighters are more likely to be young men. The infantry’s 1st Sgt. Shannon Cryer sees a similar trend among his men to the one Cottles sees in the numbers on his spreadsheets: Recruitment is up, but older soldiers are leaving. “The old Guard is going away, and there’s a new breed coming in,” he said. Cottles’ numbers say first-term re-enlistments statewide are at 125 percent of the goal. But the re-up rate for careerists is just 75 percent – especially for soldiers with more than 20 years of service. Cottles reads the numbers this way: Older soldiers eligible for retirement are getting out after deployment. “That’s a significant trend,” said Cottles. “I think we’re going to see a lot of that in the current environment.” Ten years ago, if somebody made it 20 years, they stayed until 60, if health allowed it, he said. “Now they are deploying for 15 months. One tour may be OK, but even that is a lot to endure.” Among the soldiers who took the Knight Fellows survey, about 65 percent of those eligible to retire plan to leave. So far, the shift is not dramatic. In 2001, the average age in the Alabama Guard was 36. Today it has dropped by just two years. But the traditional 40-year Guard veteran may become harder to find in the years ahead — and war may be changing the force’s composition. Experienced leaders When veteran soldiers leave, they take their expertise with them — a loss that worries Blackhawk helicopter pilot Kevin Ledbetter as he watches skilled aviators retire. “Who do I want backing me up? I want the guy that has been in there, who understands what the helicopter is telling him. “We have to look at skill sets, net strength – not just numbers.” Ledbetter is a 20-year Alabama Guard veteran serving with the 151st Aviation Service and Support Brigade, and an EMT helicopter pilot stationed at Regional Medical Center in Anniston. Cryer’s experiences leading infantrymen in Iraq confirm Ledbetter’s point: Skilled leadership is critical in combat. When the 167th Infantry’s Alpha Company got its deployment orders, 34 of Cryer’s young soldiers from Charlie Company were pulled in. “He’d been leading down there as long as some of them have been in the Guard. They trust him,” explained Cryer’s wife, Ann. He couldn’t let them go alone, so he suited up, too. He commanded one of the Alpha Company’s three platoons, all stationed in what became known as “the triangle of death” – a territory marked by the cities of Lutefia, Al Mamadia and Yusefia south of Baghdad. Yet Cryer and other leaders in the 167th managed to bring every soldier in their company home. |
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“I probably had the youngest platoon – but I had the oldest squad leaders. They were some of the best squad leaders in the world, who truly took care of their men,” Cryer said. Cryer believes several layers of experienced, caring leadership let him bring young soldiers out alive. “Nowhere on an officer’s evaluation form is he measured by how he took care of his men,” said Ledbetter, a warrant officer himself. “What has a commander done to improve his own skills and his unit, to make it the best place for his soldiers to be? This should determine his success and advancement – not if he is a superstar on paper.” Bonuses of recruitment Then, of course, there are perks. College money is a big draw, especially a new program that allows recruits in school to remain un-deployable for two years after enlisting. This program is part of a fattened incentives package built between 2005-06. The bump in recruitment included a jump in enlistment bonuses – a $2,000 increase for new recruits and $10,000 for prior-service people. The number of recruiters in Alabama jumped from 100 to 136 on its way toward a goal of 150. Nationwide, the recruiter force has more than doubled since 2004, jumping to 5,700 people. A nationwide program called the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program – or GRAP – began in January 2006. It awards $1,000 per recruit, plus another $1,000 once they ship to basic training. Then there is “One-for-One,” an Alabama program that adds another $1,000 once a soldier’s recruit completes basic training. Gov. Bob Riley approved the program six months before GRAP, and it was consulted as the model for the national program. Between the two, a soldier can earn $3,000 for each qualified recruit she brings in and successfully mentors through basic training. Between the two, Alabama’s Guard members have earned an extra $2.7 million. New enlistment bonuses and programs were a response to two years of sharp decline. In 2004, Alabama’s Guard fell short of its goal of 63,000 soldiers by 19 percent, almost 12,000 soldiers. At one point late that same year, it lagged its benchmark by almost 30 percent. Poor numbers in 2004 and 2005 went along with the truth that the Guard has been stretched beyond its traditional role. The Guard put in almost half the frontline fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan during those years. Its portion of the death count rose. Long deployments taxed families and finances. Doing a job Though the price has shifted in wartime, the pitch is basically the same. “We are selling the Guard,” said said Master Sgt. Robert O’Day, the recruiting and retention non-commissioned officer for the 666th Ordnance Company. “Not the Guard in peacetime or otherwise.” For the past two years, O’Day has been Alabama’s No. 1 recruiter. He is not convinced that recruitment is any more difficult now than it ever has been. New soldiers are never “just knocking down the doors.” Even in a time of conflict, the job is more than fighting – and so is the decision to get on board. “You’re not going to put this (uniform) on without the possibility of being shot at or having to do shooting …but the people coming in just to shoot are the recruits you want to avoid,” he said. Recruiters in wartime still focus on building a diverse society of writers, mechanics, medics, truck drivers, engineers and administrators. All are an equal part of building a military that can manage complex duties at home or wars abroad. Yet the cost of the work can be devastating – especially when it comes to family or civilian jobs left at home. 1st Lt. Valerie Wilder of the 131st Forward Support Battalion saw “probably 20 divorces” among her transportation platoon during a year in Kuwait. Cryer, self-employed as a farrier – a shoer of horses – lost more than half his business – a long-term sacrifice for a man with six children to support. If he goes again, he’ll bury his livelihood. Ledbetter lost his job as a corporate pilot when he returned from Kosovo. Yet most say they would do it again if they were called. “We don’t avoid it,” said Cottles. “If you enlist with the Alabama National Guard, you are most likely going to be mobilized and deployed. With the patriotism of Alabama – for every one that runs off, there are two more who want in.” Why the joined% of 420 surveyed by Knight Fellows 68 — Patriotism • Will re-enlist: |
