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Lavish benefits help Ore. Guard get recruits

ONTARIO, Ore. — In some respects, the recruiting outlook for Eastern Oregon’s Army National Guard unit should be bleak. After all, America is entering the fifth year of a war in Iraq that is, in some portions of the nation, deeply unpopular.

Also, since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the part-time Guard force across America has weathered mobilizations and deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the past, deployments of large citizen-soldier units were rare. Now, the Guard is just as likely to be called to fight in the global war on terror as any active-duty army unit, a shift in policy that has strained the nation’s reserve forces.

Yet senior officers of Eastern Oregon’s Guard unit, the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Regiment, say they are seeing more and more people seek out the Guard to serve, and they point to a single reason: benefits.

At no other time in the history of the Guard are the benefits for joining up so lavish, and at no time have the prospects to gain a full-ride college education been so good.

“Recruiting-wise, in the last two years, we’ve had record years. And that’s got to be tied to the benefit package,” said 3rd Battalion executive officer Maj. Kevin Sheehy, of Union.

The 3rd Battalion consists of citizen-soldier outfits from Woodburn, Redmond, Prineville, The Dalles, Hermiston, Pendleton, La Grande, Baker City and Ontario. The unit headquarters is in La Grande.

Now a new recruit can earn up to $20,000 for choosing a certain military job, while someone who served previously in another branch of service — dubbed prior-service applicants — can gain up to a $15,000 bonus if they enter the Guard and select a specific job.

The Guard is also offering a host of educational benefits. Some of the programs are well-known and have been around a while. Others are new and offer generous benefits for prospective recruits.

One program — dubbed the G-RAP — hands out money for a serving Guard member who helps recruit a new citizen-soldier. A serving Guardsman can earn up to a $2,000 bonus for bringing a new part-time soldier into the ranks.

Sheehy said for many people in small, rural towns across Eastern Oregon, the money can be hard to turn down. Most high school graduates don’t get full-ride scholarships. What they do get, in terms of scholarships, often are not enough to pay for school.

“Then you get someone willing to hand you $20,000 and then guarantee you won’t deploy before you finish college, well, why not?” he said.

The Guard’s College First program allows a guard member to complete college and achieve a degree before becoming eligible to deploy.

The commander of the 3rd Battalion, Lt. Col. Brian Cole, conceded his unit has enjoyed success in recruiting during the past year.

Patriotism plays a role, Cole said, but so does the benefits package.

“I’ve been in 24 years. When I first started in the Reagan era it was a pat on the back and a bumper sticker.”

A lower risk regarding deployment also plays a key role, Cole said, even though Guard units during the past six years experienced unprecedented mobilizations.

If you join the Army the chances are you are going to Iraq once every three years. If you join the Guard, you might go once every six years, Cole said.

In a strange way, Cole said, the shifting role of the Guard from the old weekend warrior mind-set to units that deploy and fight in combat zones on a regular basis has helped recruiting.

“People know this is no joke anymore. The Oregon National Guard is a viable deployment entity. We’re not weekend warriors. We have a new relevancy to the Army and the state. Part of that relevancy is to be deployable,” he said.

Sgt. First Class Jim Way, the Ontario Guard unit’s recruiter, stays busy trying to cover a huge geographic area but he said he finds a steady stream of people interested in the region’s citizen-soldier outfit.

“I’d say the outlying areas are pretty conservative and pro-military. And a lot of schools are easy to work with. They don’t put politics into it,” Way said.

Way said he plays it straight with parents of potential Guard recruits, especially regarding the possibility for a deployment.

“I make it (a possible deployment) an issue with the applicant. I talk to parents if they have concerns. Some don’t have any concerns,” he said.

Sheehy, who is slated to take over for Cole as the 3rd Battalion’s commander this spring, said the status of Guard recruits remains relatively stable.

“The mix of guys is the same as it has always been, a mix of different demographics. You get a high school kid and you get kids who have been out of school a few years and you get those who have been at college, ran out of money, and want to continue their education so they join,” Sheehy said.

Even if the 3rd Battalion does deploy in three or four years, Sheehy said a new recruit may still miss the mobilization, especially if they have not finished up their required stint of training.

“Say you have a person, say he or she is 17, and they join. Then they do their basic training over the summer, so now it’s at the end of 2008. They go back to high school for their senior year, then graduate. Then they have to go to AIT (advanced individual training) and they won’t come back qualified until the fall of 2009. So there’s already two years they’re not going anywhere because they’re not qualified,” he said.

Someone who joins the Guard’s officer program while in college may spend a good share of their time learning their trade and working to gain their degree before they can step into a position with the Guard unit.

By then, Sheehy said, the 3rd Battalion could have realistically deployed and returned home to Eastern Oregon.