Continued:

Entire careers will be spent overseas. It will not be a married Army with families – that will have to wait for 20 years and retirement. Critically, this force will specifically recruit young men and women who desire an active, busy, and aggressively mobile lifestyle with hopes of engaging America’s enemies wherever they are, whenever they can.

National Guard recruitment will focus on young men and women who seek to serve their country at critical times, while maintaining a civilian lifestyle and career. Until the GWOT, this has always been the role of the National Guard. It is only the past five years that the National Guard has been totally mobilized, repeatedly, and it is showing wear and tear. Most people do not join the Guard with dreams of heading out the door every few years for 18 months at a time. They join in support of the Minuteman heritage with the desire to be there at the strategic moments in defense of the Nation.

As Guard units demobilize now for the second time since 9/11, anticipate tremendous declines in retention and recruiting. Why should anyone join or stay in the Guard when they will not have the chance to maintain a civilian lifestyle? The current operating tempo (OPTEMPO) puts the Active and Guard components head-to-head or recruiting young soldiers. If one is going to be deployed constantly, then one will just join the Active Army in the first place. The current OPTEMPO also cuts into prior service recruiting for the Guard. Soldiers will simply remain in the Active Component until their enlistment expires and then they will be done, not risking a series of deployments during their Guard or Reserve tours. Critically, this force will specifically recruit the young men and women who are willing to fight total war, most likely only once or twice in their careers, enabling them to build and maintain a civilian life.

Army Reserve service would be an intermediate position, attracting people willing to deploy more often than the Guard, but less than the Active Army. Their skill sets would be most useful in support of the Active Army on longer missions, but could be sent out for a few months at a time. Civil affairs, psychological operations, public affairs, transportation, engineering, and medical services are among the skills most appropriate for limited, but recurring, deployments. They would most likely use these same skills in their civilian careers and be trained to proficiency to reduce mobilization-site training.

Critically, this force will recruit specialists generally willing to deploy more often, but for shorter periods, not unlike the Air Force Guard and Reserve model.