ARLINGTON, Va., The National Guard was on track to reach its recruiting and retention goals for 2008 with the military fiscal year's best recruiting months ahead, said officials here July 11 following the release of recruiting and retention statistics for all service components in June.
Recruiting and retention goals for the military run Oct. 1 - Sept. 30, and progress reports are released monthly by the Department of Defense.
The Air Guard was 400 Airmen short of its authorized end strength for the month of June, which was reported at 106,300 Airmen of an authorized 106,700 or 99.6 percent of its goal. The Air Guard also exceeded its retention goal by more than 10 percent by retaining 13,251 Airmen of an authorized 12,019.
"We fully expect to make end strength this year," said Air Force Lt. Col. Randy Johnson, chief of Air Guard recruiting and retention, who added that recent Air Guard figures show a vast improvement over end strength goals one year ago.
"Last year ... we were 1,600 [Airmen] short of our end strength," said Johnson on the Air Guard's progress.
The Army Guard reported its June end strength at 360,313 Soldiers. That surpasses its end strength goal of 350,610. It also surpassed its recruiting and retention goals.
The June report also showed the Air Guard exceeded its recruiting goal by more than 18 percent by recruiting 910 Airmen. That's another improvement for the Air Guard compared to June 2007 accessions which missed the mark by 25 percent.
Johnson attributed the Air Guard improvements to several factors, including the hard work of recruiters and retainers, progress in manpower and mission resets, and the growth of advertising campaigns and recruiting initiatives.
"All of those things have put us in the position we are in right now," said Johnson.
Johnson said Air Guard recruiters and retainers accomplished this in spite of changing missions and positions.
The Missouri Air Guard exceeded its goals in enlisted end strength, recruiting and retention and reported 103 percent in overall end strength in the face of new and busy missions.
"There are numerous, numerous challenges all the time," said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Rich McConnell, recruiting and retention superintendent for the Missouri Guard. McConnell said challenges remain in recruiting officers into the state's engineering, medical and operations-center positions. Other challenges include recruiting and retaining Airmen as they work with the active duty Air Force in an associate, B-2 Spirit bomber wing at Whiteman Air Force Base and ramp down their F-15 Eagle fighter mission at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis.
"We're up for it," he said. "We're hoping there will be some relief as we go farther down the road, but we keep a positive attitude and energy, and we make it happen."
Among the things McConnell attributed to Missouri's recruiting and retention success: the ability to double-slot some positions; having recruiters work directly under their state headquarters; having recruitment vision years down the line; and retention-geared programs like family and employer support services.
Among the Army Guard's new recruiting programs announced in June are the launch of sponsored Indy Car No. 4 race car and driver Vitor Meira and a mobile marketing campaign next month that will let potential recruits discover their inner "Rock Star" at popular fairs and music festivals throughout the country.
"Rock Star Hero Challenge" features a tour bus with seven large touch screen displays that allow visitors to make the calls in a virtual domestic emergency.
This interactive game will present a natural disaster or other crisis and offer the participant different logistical and operational choices to support the event.
"It really gives them a feel for what we do in our domestic missions," said Army Lt. Col. Joseph Day, chief of strategic actions and marketing for the Army Guard.
Outside the buses, potential recruits will have a chance to accumulate as many points as they can in a guitar-based video game competition, which is complete with concert-style lighting and sound.
After their guitar battle, they will have a choice of eight different "Green Screen" backgrounds for a photograph that they can later download from a Web site.
"We're hoping that once they are there, they will associate the rock star hero with a Guard hero," said Day.
The 12-week tour includes: Musikfest in Bethlehem, Penn., Aug. 8-10; the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis Aug. 16-17; the Great New York State Fair in Syracuse Aug. 23-24; On the Waterfront in Rockford, Ill., Aug. 30-31; Hampton Bay Days in Hampton, Va., Sept. 6-7; the Old Pecan Street Festival in Austin, Texas, Sept. 20-21; the Mid-South Fair in Memphis, Tenn., Sept. 27-28; the Georgia State Fair in Perry, Ga., Oct. 3-5; and the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh Oct. 18-19.
Day said he hopes to include NASCAR races and bass fishing tournaments in next year's schedule.
Day said he targeted venues that would draw 15,000-20,000 attendees with about 1,000 visiting the Army Guard site. "We will have to push hard to get that many through [the exhibit], but we can do it," he said.
Recruiting in the Army Guard is conducted at the grassroots level, said Day, so local recruiters will be invited to participate in the events in their area.
Day said he believes this new exhibit will appeal to potential recruits because of its interactive nature. "It will appeal to our demographics thirst for technology."