{"id":313830,"date":"2024-10-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=313830"},"modified":"2024-10-28T19:35:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T19:35:40","slug":"new-york-army-national-guard-is-tops-in-recruiting-and-retention-for-third-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=313830","title":{"rendered":"New York Army National Guard is tops in recruiting and retention for third year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"editor-image single\">\n<figure class=\"photo cur-photo\">\n          <span class=\"centered-image\"><br \/>\n            <span class=\"img-container\"><br \/>\n              <a class=\"rich-text-img-link\" href=\"https:\/\/api.army.mil\/e2\/c\/images\/2024\/10\/28\/39977bef\/original.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>              <\/a><br \/>\n                          <\/span><br \/>\n          <\/span><figcaption>\n                        <span class=\"image-caption\"><br \/>\n              <span class=\"caption-text\"><br \/>\n                New York Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tevin McLeary, the New York Army National Guard&#8217;s top recruiter for 2024, speaks to a prospect in his office at the New York State Armory in Yonkers, New York. The New York Army National Guard has been named the top Army Guard for recruiting and retention for federal fiscal year 2024. This is the third year in a row that New York has been recognized for this success.<br \/>\n                <span class=\"caption-author\"> (Photo Credit: Eric Durr)<\/span><br \/>\n              <\/span><br \/>\n              <a href=\"https:\/\/api.army.mil\/e2\/c\/images\/2024\/10\/28\/39977bef\/original.jpg\" title=\"View original\" target=\"_blank\">VIEW ORIGINAL<\/a><br \/>\n            <\/span><br \/>\n          <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>LATHAM, N.Y. &#8212; The New York Army National Guard was number one out of 54 state and territorial Army National Guards in recruiting and retaining Soldiers for the 2024 federal fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>This marks the third year in a row that New York has been tops in retaining Army Guard Soldiers while bringing new Soldiers on board.<\/p>\n<p>Major General Ray Shields, the adjutant general of New York, said a focus on Soldiers led to the recruiting and retention success.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe New York Army National Guard has led the nation in recruiting and retention for the last four years because we focus on our people,\u201d Shields said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur commitment is demonstrated every day by the care, communication, and commitment to our Soldiers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>The assigned strength for New York\u2019s Army Guard as of Sept. 30, 2024 \u2013 the end of the federal fiscal year\u2014was 11,339. The New York Army National Guard\u2019s strength at the start of the 12 month period, on October 1, 2023, was 10,970.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Army National Guard\u2019s authorized strength is 10,340 Soldiers, with a goal strength at the end of fiscal 2024 set at 11,140 personnel.<\/p>\n<p>This means that despite Soldiers retiring or deciding to move on after one or two enlistments, the New York Army National Guard strength stood at 109 percent of the authorized figure.<\/p>\n<p>The number of Soldiers was 101 percent of the strength goal set for New York\u2019s Army Guard.<\/p>\n<p>The Army National Guard assigns a weighted score to state Guard\u2019s based on enlisted Soldier recruiting, officer recruiting, and Soldier retention and attrition in the force as Soldiers leave.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Army National Guard scored 126.4 percent on this scale. The next highest state was Georgia with a score of 122.9 percent.<\/p>\n<p>During fiscal year 2024 the New York Army National Guard recruiting team enlisted 1,519 Soldiers while another 200 officers and warrant officers joined the force.<\/p>\n<p>Keeping New York\u2019s Army Guard full is important for readiness, according to Maj. Gen. Michel Natali, New York\u2019s assistant adjutant general, Army.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur recruiting and retention success directly contributes to the ability of the New York Army National Guard to respond to short notice or no-notice emergencies, most recently in response to hurricanes impacting North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida,\u201d Natali said.<\/p>\n<p>Recruiting additional Soldiers also allows New York to expand its force structure, Natali said.<\/p>\n<p>New York activated a new division artillery headquarters for the 42nd Infantry Division and created a finance battalion headquarters because there were enough Soldiers to fill those new units, he explained.<\/p>\n<p>The activations of the 42nd Division Artillery and the 27th Finance Battalion are two recent examples in which personnel strength factored into force structure decisions, he said.<\/p>\n<p>The 220 full-time Soldiers assigned to recruiting duty for the New York Army National Guard, take pride in their mission, according to Lt. Col. Josh Heimroth, the commander of the New York recruiting and retention battalion.<\/p>\n<p>The recruiters are the \u201clife-blood\u201d of the effort to keep Soldiers in the National Guard and bring in new one\u2019s Heimroth said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe success of the New York Army National Guard\u2019s recruiting and retention battalion is a direct result of our highly-trained recruiters,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir daily dedication, professionalism, and willingness to increase individual proficiency in the recruiting career management field has paid dividends,\u201d he emphasized.<\/p>\n<p>New York has also pushed more Soldiers into recruiting duty, Shields said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe invest additional recruiters and retention personnel above what we are authorized to ensure we focus on our highest priority, \u201cShields said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOther than Soldier safety, we have no higher priority than assigned unit strength.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur success can be summed up in short &#8211; we care about our Soldiers, their families, and their personal growth, while welcoming new Soldiers to our team with open arms,\u201d the adjutant general added.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Army National Guard\u2019s units include an Army division headquarters, a combat aviation brigade, an infantry brigade, sustainment brigade, and a brigade-sized troop command which encompasses many combat support and military police elements.<\/p>\n<p>It is the fourth largest Army National Guard in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the New York Air National Guard is also putting an effort into filling it\u2019s authorized strength of 5,822 Airmen.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Air National Guard, with five air wings and an air defense sector, is the largest in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>In fiscal 2023, the New York Air National Guard recruited 628 Airmen, the highest number of any of the nation\u2019s state Air Guard elements.<\/p>\n<p>Currently the New York Air National Guard has an assigned strength of 5,768 Airmen.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Air Guard has increased its recruiting force from 26 to 33 production recruiters to help bring in more recruits, according to Lt. Col. Kristen Gibson, the New York Air National Guard\u2019s recruiting and retention officer.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Air Guard\u2019s goal is to hire an additional four recruiters before the end of the calendar year, Gibson said.<\/p>\n<p>The Air Guard recruiters are focusing on education benefit as a way to attract new Airmen, especially tuition assistance at State University of New York \u2013known as SUNY- -colleges, she added.<\/p>\n<p>We are focused on our partnership with high schools across New York State, and bringing counselors, teachers and coaches\u2019 information on our tuition-free SUNY education benefit,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe pay the cost of SUNY tuition to eligible Airmen upon enlistment, and have a great partnership with SUNY to support our Airmen as they serve our country and accomplish their bachelor\u2019s degree at the same time,\u201d Gibson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tevin McLeary, the New York Army National Guard&#8217;s top recruiter for 2024, speaks to a prospect in his office at the New York State Armory in Yonkers, New York. The New York Army National Guard has been named the top Army Guard for recruiting and retention for federal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313832,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=313830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313833,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313830\/revisions\/313833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/313832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=313830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=313830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=313830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}