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Army meets end-strength for fourth straight year

Army News Service

Release Date: 10/21/2003

By Jennifer Gunn

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Oct. 21, 2003) - The Army has met its end-strength goal for fiscal year 2003 for the fourth consecutive year within its active-duty, Army Reserve and National Guard.

Actual active-duty new accessions were 74,132, exceeding the fiscal goal of 73,800, while the Army Reserve recruited 27,365 Soldiers, surpassing its mission of 26,400.

Recruiting, although the most well known tactic the used to meet end-strength goals, is a function based on the end-strength of the Army.

And the more Soldiers that stay in the Army, the less new ones are needed, said Douglas Smith, spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

Recruiting Command not only provides the number of Soldiers we need, but we are also concerned with recruiting the right kind of Soldiers, Smith said.

And once the Army gets the right Soldiers, it must focus on keeping them.

Despite reports from a Stars and Stripes poll stating some 49 percent of Soldiers in Iraq are "not likely" or are "very unlikely" to reenlist after their current obligations, the active Army exceeded its retention goal this year with 54,151 Soldiers retained against a goal of 51,000.

Soldiers are deciding to stay in the Army because they like their jobs and they have good leadership, said Sgt. Maj. James A. Vales, senior career counselor at the Pentagon.

This is also true of the Army National Guard. The Guard had an end-strength of 350,835, just over its goal of 350,000.

According to an Army National Guard spokesman, units returning from deployments had only a 10 percent attrition rate as opposed to a 17.4 percent attrition rate within the entire Army National Guard.

"This tells us these people feel what they are doing is important," said Mark Allen, Guard Bureau Public Affairs Officer.

While there is concern about retention based on the affect extended deployments and back-to-back deployments are having on Soldiers, Vales said that retention is something that is monitored on a daily basis.

"It's just like somebody who works at the water works of a town," said Lt. Col. Franklin F. Childress, G1 Public Affairs Officer. "If they see a problem you can tweak the system to fix the problem right then.

"It's not like we're going to wait until Sept. 30 and then say, 'Oh, the sky is falling!' They're able to turn different knobs and things to make sure nothing is going to cause the Army to not make mission."

Managing Soldier retention and end-strength is something the Army has become extremely talented at, Childress said, and 49 percent attrition may not be a bad thing.

Army retention goals are based on the eligible population. According to Vales, that includes only about 30 percent of the large number of initial term Soldiers.

"We actually retain probably around 40 to 50 percent of that population," said Vales, "so if you ask an initial term population are you going to stay, and 49 percent said no, that's about right. That's about the way it always works out whether we're in a conflict or not. We don't expect to keep everyone in the Army."

Because the Army is aware these deployment conditions may have an affect on retention, it is planning some things to offset any problems, Vales said.

In most cases deployments can show up as more money in the bank. Among these incentives are the combat zone income tax exclusion, family separation allowance, imminent danger pay, hardship duty pay and hazardous duty incentive pay.

Soldiers that did re-up in theater in 2003 earned a $5,000 bonus.

The Army established this type of targeted reenlistment bonus three years ago with Soldiers stationed in certain areas. Soldiers with critical skills have been receiving bonuses almost since the Army began, Vales said.

"We consider all the skills in the areas of operation to be critical," Vales said, "because all the skills are being equally stressed out. So we're trying to balance the force, as far as making sure we have the right mix and the right skills."

The Army only pays one type of bonus at a time to any individual, but it is also exploring non-monetary incentives that will help keep Soldiers in. These include childcare programs, family support groups, making sure the families are taken care of while Soldiers are deployed.

"The Army in the past seven or eight years has really focused hard on the retention aspect and keeping the right Soldiers in the Army," Childress said. "It was evidenced by the success in the Iraq war . and we're very proud of that fact."

But at the end of the day, Soldiers are proud of what they do, and enjoy working with the Army leadership, said Vales.

"Based on 22 years of being a retention NCO, leadership is what keeps Soldiers in the Army," Vales said. "The Army has great leadership, and as long as we continue with great leadership, I don't see us ever having a problem with our retention goals."