Army National Guard cuts all enlistment/retention bonuses except those deploying to Iraq, Afghanistan

Above: A soldier with the Michigan National Guard scans his sector for insurgents during a night patrol in the Salman Pak in April.

The Army National Guard has cut enlistment and retention bonuses for everyone except soldiers deploying in 2008 or 2009, and the component’s recruiting efforts will be shut off at the end of August if Congress doesn’t come through soon with funding.

That’s a problem because Congress is in recess for the summer. Meanwhile, it’s unclear what options, if any, are available for Guard members whose re-up window closes before legislative action is taken.

“We ran out of money in marketing and advertising in March,” said Col. Mike Jones, chief of recruiting and retention for the component. “We are literally hoping every day to get the omnibus reprogramming action kicked into law so we can get the momentum kicked up again.”

Read the rest at Army Times

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