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Army changes enlistment lengths to support Stabilization

Army News Service

Release Date: 2/9/2004

By Sgt. 1st Class Marcia Triggs

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Feb. 9, 2004) - Basic and Advanced Individual Training will be in addition to the number of years a new recruit enlists for under a new Force Stabilization initiative.

There are 19 jobs, mainly combat-arm specialties, which fall under the recently implemented Variable Enlistment Length program. Under VEL, Soldiers can enlist for three- to five-year VEL options. After arriving at their first unit, they are stabilized for at least three years.

Since its implementation in December more than 2,000 Soldiers have enlisted under VEL.

A smaller number of troops have enlisted under the congressionally mandated 15-month pilot program, "National Call to Service." Since it was approved Oct. 1, about 125 Soldiers have enlisted in the Army under the program. Similarly to VEL, the program doesn't include training as part of the time-in-service contract and only a limited number of specialties fall under it.

National Call to Service was adopted by each of the other services. The 15-month pilot program coincides with VEL because they both kicked off about the same time, said Lt. Col. Harry Garner, chief of Enlisted Accessions Division. They both keep initial-term Soldiers stabilized at their first duty station, but the National Call to Service is not a part of the Army's stabilization plans, Garner said.

The mission of Force Stabilization is to provide ready, deployable, combat forces, and to do that units have to first be manned, said Col. Michael Harris, the deputy director of Directorate of Military Personnel Policy, G1. However, VEL isn't just about manning units, it's also about stabilizing Soldiers, he said, referring to the fact that Soldiers under VEL would stay at their first unit for at least three years.

The Soldiers who fall under the selected job specialties will initially be assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Fort Polk, La., which is scheduled to begin converting to a Stryker Brigade Combat Team in October.

The 2nd Cavalry Regiment is a combat unit, which is why Human Resources Command selected specialties such as infantry, cannon crewmember and cavalry scout, Garner said. Some of the non-combat-arms jobs that fall under VEL are human resources specialist, 42A; administration specialist, 42L; and supply specialist, 92Y.

"VEL will be used to man all of the maneuver brigade combat teams, to include one of the brigades in the the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. It will transform into a Stryker unit by 2005," Harris said. "Under Force Stabilization, we will synchronize Soldiers' assignment cycles with units' operational cycles."

Most units' operational cycles are on a 36-month schedule, Harris said. Before VEL, many Soldiers already enlisted for only 36 months, but their initial-entry training took from three months to a year. So when they arrived at their unit, they were not there for a full 36 months.

"But if you synchronize the schedules, and all the Soldiers come in together, train, deploy, fight, win and return together, you will get a more deployable and ready force," Harris said.

Another example Harris cited to reinforce the push for stabilization was that Soldiers could get more familiar with their weapons. "If you're assigned an M16 at an installation, and you're there for three years, and you take that same M16 to the range . you're going to be more proficient with your weapon.

"In contrast, if you go to 2.3 installations over a three-year period . and touch three different weapons, you'll probably be less proficient with your weapon."

Force Stabilization is one of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker's 16 focus areas. "How the Army mans its force was an immediate area that the chief of staff wanted us to look at," Harris said. "We've developed two programs under Force Stabilization. One is 'Home-basing' and the other is 'Unit Focused Stability,' previously known as 'unit manning.'"

Home-basing would require initial-term officers and enlisted Soldiers to stay at their first duty station for an extended tour of up to six or seven years, Harris said.

He said VEL directly supports Stabilization because intitial-entry Soldiers report to their unit at the same time and spend at least three years at that unit.

While some Force Stabilization initiatives will likely begin this summer, the specific units and installations to be affected will not be announced until next month after a review of the current VEL is done by the Army, officials said.

(Editor's note: This article was written to run as a sidebar to one on Force Stabilization increases readiness, predictability.)