How is the National Guard recruiting new members?
USA Today reports that the National Guard has turned around a recruiting slump, meeting its target for new sign-ups for the first time since 2003. As of May, the Guard had 351,400 troops — the highest total since November 2001, when a surge of post-/11 patriotism swelled the ranks. With 70% of the public disapproving of Bush’s handling of Iraq — and other branches like the Army “near the breaking point,” according to the Military Times — how did the Guard do it? One of the biggest reasons is that they’re spending lots of money — and it hasn’t come cheap: * The Guard has started a “buddy program” which pays current members $2,000 for every recruit they sign up and enters boot camp (this has brought in 35,000 enlistments since December 2005, says the Guard). * They’ve boosted enlistment bonuses from a high of $6,000 in 2004 to $20,000 today * They’ve contracted out the Guard Recruiter Assistant Program to an Alabama-based company, DocuPak, who receives $2,320 for each new sign-up. Th
