The Iowa National Guard is facing a drop in numbers and is struggling to recruit new members.
Over the past year, the Iowa Army National Guard has grown from 102 percent to 100 percent of the legal officer force, the total number of legal officers for service at the end of the fiscal year, according to Capt. Kevin Waldron, spokesman for the Iowa National Guardian.
The National Guard is a component of the U. S. military. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security responds to internal emergencies, combat missions, anti-drug efforts and reconstruction missions, according to the website. call the guard at any time.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the guard attended sites and call centers, canned food for food banks, and transported samples to labs in 2020.
The state army’s National Guard may have 6,824 members this year and 6,820 in 2021, for a total of 132 members lost.
The Iowa Air National Guard has lost 46 members since the last fiscal year, with 98 percent of the 1953 legal members in 2022, he said.
Regulations from the Office of the National Guard allow the Iowa National Guard to hire more workers than authorized, with certain parameters, to allow the guard to prepare for losses as retired service members and expiring contracts, Waldron told the Des Moines Register in an email. “This is an ‘enhanced preparation. ‘”
Waldron said the numbers are still on par, but much of the decline is due to COVID-19. State National Guard recruiters have struggled to get into top schools to recruit potential members during the pandemic.
The guard targets recruits between the ages of 17 and 25, but accepts infantrymen until age 35. Guard infantrymen hold civilian jobs or attend college while maintaining their military education part-time, serving about one weekend a month.
In contrast, many other people are looking for full-time jobs as a result of the pandemic, Waldron said, and he also mentioned the state’s strong call for jobs in the personal sector.
And in his annual State of the Guard address earlier this year, Maj. Gen. Benjamin Corell said federal vaccine mandates would affect the organization.
“These mandates have already begun to create dilemmas in our ranks, where our members will have to get vaccinated or be forced to leave military service,” Corell had said in the past.
Nearly 90 percent of the force was fully vaccinated by the June 30 deadline. Many members of the military who chose not to get vaccinated cited medical exemptions or devoutness, Waldron said.
The U. S. Military The U. S. Military faces the worst recruiting environment since the volunteer force was created in 1973. The service is unlikely to achieve its purpose for recruits, putting it in danger of relief in place in a harmful world, USA Today reports.
Recruitment into the military suffers regularly when civilian jobs abound. This trend is evident this year with an unemployment rate of 3. 6%, just above the 50-year low. Towards work-life balance shaped the pandemic.
The Iowa National Guard is looking for tactics to increase the number, adding bonuses for new recruits and incentives for re-engages, Waldron said.
The Iowa Guard also replaced its tattoo policy, which now allows infantrymen to tattoo body parts such as hands and necks that were previously prohibited, Iowa National Guard Sgt. Christie Smith said. They will also resume recruitment into the high school.
Waldron says that despite recruitment difficulties, the numbers haven’t dropped enough for operations. He referred to the deployment in July of 80 Army Guard infantrymen to Poland in aid of Operation Atlantic Resolve and NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence. The Iowa Guard will be in a position to help if infantrymen are called in to respond to recent flooding in eastern Kentucky, he added.
“Surely we are able to support any kind of project that comes our way,” Waldron said. “The other people of Iowa are proud of other people, in a position to step in and unite. We continue to see it despite (recruitment) challenges. “
To learn more about recruiting from the Iowa Army National Guard, visit nationalguard. com/select-your-state/IA. For the Iowa Air National Guard, visit passang. com/locations/iowa. html.
Virginia Barreda is a trend and assignment reporter for the Des Moines Registry. You can reach her at vbarreda@gannett. com. Follow her on Twitter in @vbarreda2.