The Courier-Journal August 6, 2005
Recruits eager to serve in the Kentucky Guard
State is likely to reach goal again this year
By Michael A. Lindenberger
A year after graduating from college in 2003, Gina Vaile grew tired of freelance journalism jobs, day-care work and her mother's worries about her lack of health insurance.
While searching the Internet for a career, she answered a questionnaire on an Army National Guard recruiting Web site.
"And literally as I was disconnecting from the 'Net my phone was ringing. It was my recruiter calling to see if I had any questions," Vaile said.
The Guard's friendly atmosphere, pay -- and the chance to serve her country -- convinced her to join last year, she said.
Vaile said such opportunities and the recruiter's quick action and patient wooing may help explain why Kentucky was one of only 14 states to meet its Guard recruiting goal last year and maintain a pace to do so again this year, even with the war in Iraq.
About 1,300 of the Kentucky Guard's 7,505 personnel are deployed in Iraq. Seven have been killed.
The war actually is part of what brings in recruits, especially former soldiers, said Lt. Col. Mike Farley, a Guard battalion commander based in Bowling Green.
"I've had a number of guys come back in and tell me they were keeping up with the war and just had this feeling that 'those are my boys over there fighting. I need to get back in,' " Farley said.
So far this year, nearly 350 of the 782 Kentucky Guard recruits had prior military service -- a sharp increase from 2004.
So far this year, Kentucky ranks sixth among states, meeting 99.9 percent -- or all but one recruit -- of its goal of 783 recruits, with almost two months left before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30
The top five states -- Minnesota, West Virginia, Mississippi, Georgia and Iowa -- have exceeded their goals, and 33 states have reached at least 70 percent.
Indiana ranks 12th, recruiting 1,374 troops, or 87.7 percent of its goal.
Top officers in the Guard, as well as junior members and new recruits, said Kentucky's recruiting success can't be pinned to any one factor.
They said the Guard has added about 10 recruiters and directed them and others in the Guard to spend more time out in public, including in schools and through a new storefront recruiting station in Florence.
But perhaps most important, they said, the Guard has emphasized that joining means helping America and the state.
"It used to be that we talked a lot about college money or other incentives. Now we talk about being part of all this, helping your country, doing something with real meaning," said Lt. Col. Rondal Turner, the top recruiting commander for the Kentucky Guard.
Vaile, now 23, is a specialist, a rank between private first-class and sergeant but with an E-4 pay grade that is shared with corporal. The monthly base pay range is $1,612 to $1,957, depending on time in service.
Vaile works full-time as a personnel clerk for the Kentucky Guard, which helped pay her student loans and gave her a $3,000 enlistment bonus.
"It's a phenomenal feeling," Vaile said. "It's just so amazing to be part of something that is so needed and to be part of the military. … I am incredibly happy that I finally found something I can be part of."
Struggles elsewhereKentucky's success comes as the regular Army, Army Reserve and National Guard have each fallen short of their goals nationally while fighting an extended war with an all-volunteer force, a first since before the Civil War.
The Army's strength stands at 489,000, compared to the Army National Guard's 351,000 and the Army Reserve's 205,000, according to the Pentagon.
In Louisville, the recruiting office for the regular Army, like the Kentucky Guard, is doing better in signing up soldiers than much of the country.
Steve Lawson, a spokesman for the Indianapolis Recruiting Battalion that oversees Louisville's efforts, said its company had reached 96 percent of its goal as of last month.
"I was very impressed by those numbers," Lawson said.
Indiana's Army recruiters aren't doing as well -- having reached 77.5 percent of their goal for the year.
Mary Auer, public affairs officer for the Indianapolis battalion, said the shortfall should be viewed in context of recent approval to temporarily grow that branch by 30,000 soldiers, setting higher goals for local recruiters than in the past year.
"We haven't see a change in focus, but in the last year or two, we've seen our mission grow," she said.
Patriotism, civic dutySecond Lt. William Brian Mattingly of Lily, Ky., said he joined the Guard after regular Army service in part to serve his country during wartime, but also for college money.
In an e-mail written during a break from duties in Kuwait and Iraq, Mattingly said the Guard also gives soldiers something the regular Army rarely does -- a chance to serve their local communities in emergencies.
"I really like having the job help protecting our own soil," said Mattingly, 30. "I don't mind going to other countries to help out, but it's really something when you get to see the smiles on local citizens when you help them."
Turner said the Kentucky Guard tries to sell recruits on the chance to serve their country -- and often in a unit with soldiers who grew up in the same town.
"There is a lot of people who want to serve, who want to be part of something bigger than themselves," said Turner, who commands the 90-member staff of recruiters and support personnel.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based think tank, said patriotism seems to work in other military branches.
The Marine Corps has recruited successfully during wartime because, unlike the Army, its message has never focused on pay or benefits, he said.
"Historically, the Marines were recruiting warriors, and the Army was recruiting people looking for a good career move," Pike said. "Well, if you are recruiting warriors, Iraq is what you have been waiting for. But right now, Iraq doesn't look like such a good career move."
Guard on frontlinesGuard members deployed to Iraq this year have been in some of the heaviest fighting.
The 617th Military Police Company based in Richmond, Ky., earned rare honors and national headlines in March after eight men and two women led a counterattack against 50 insurgents who ambushed a convoy the unit had been guarding.
Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of Bowling Green became the first female soldier to win the Silver Star for valor in combat since World War II. The Army said the unit killed 27 insurgents, and Hester's citation credited her with saving the lives of numerous members of the convoy.
Spc. Chris Steffen said he joined knowing he will likely go to war sooner or later.
"I had it in my heart that this was something I wanted to do," he said, taking a break from a tank training exercise at the Guard's Greenville training compound.
Steffen, 24, had been a factory worker in Garrard County. "I went down to the armory and told them I wanted to sign up," he said.
Three weeks later, he said, he was at basic training at Fort Knox.
Vaile said she knew she could be sent to Iraq, and her recruiter did not play down that possibility.
"But from the beginning, even before I had been to basic training, the unit took me in right away and showed me the ropes and told me what I needed to do before the training began," she said.
New focusIn 2003, the Kentucky Guard missed its goal, signing up 77 percent. But no state made its goal that year, although Indiana was tops in the country with more than 95 percent.
Last year, Indiana met 83.8 percent of its target.
Lt. Col. Ivan Denton, recruiting commander for the Indiana National Guard, said the war in Iraq has prompted him to adopt a strategy similar to Kentucky's.
"We still hit them with the (financial) incentives, but we now bring that in after we've already talked about the opportunity to serve," he said.
Indiana, with more than 13,000 Guard members, has about 2,700 on active duty, including about 1,000 in and near Iraq.
No Indiana Guard soldiers have died in combat-related deaths there, but four were killed in Afghanistan in 2003 in the accidental explosion of an old land mine, said Capt. Lisa Kopczynski, a public affairs officer for the Indiana Guard.
Douglas Smith, spokesman for the Army recruiting headquarters at Fort Knox, said the regular Army still touts its benefits, but has re-emphasized the idea of service.
"The Army has moved its advertising away from a focus on dollar amounts and benefits toward a more service-to-country orientation, and we've also put emphasis to speaking to the influencers, such as parents, who can play a role in a young man or woman's decision to enlist," Smith said.
The benefitsMoney for college and other incentives still are important.
Just ask Michael Bloodworth, 19, of Murray, who joined Farley's 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor Regiment only a month ago. He received a $10,000 signing bonus and the promise of monthly paychecks.
"It was the money," he said. "I was kind of going nowhere. I wanted to get my life in order, and this seemed like a way to do it.
"It was a moral decision too. I knew that with war on, somebody's going to have to go."
Spc. Michael O'Donnell, 24, said the money for college is great, but the training is priceless.
An architectural engineering student in Murray with plans to go to graduate school at the University of Louisville next year, O'Donnell said he had just finished about 16 weeks of initial training with the regular Army but came away feeling like he wasn't prepared to survive in Iraq if he was sent.
"They kept telling me it would be my unit that really prepares me, and it's true. I've learned more here in eight days than I did at all of basic training," he said. "I've been on a tank more, and I've gained more confidence."
Staff writer James Malone contributed to this story.
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