Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Pentagon’s new message

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 8:27 a.m.

FINALLY, AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS of denying any recruitment or retention problems among Army Reserves, a general has spoken up. Dave Moniz, writing for USA Today, called the press conference of Lt. Gen. James Helmly "extraordinarily candid" by Pentagon standards.

Helmly not only pointed to problems but also gave what may be some solutions needed to solve them. This combination of problems and possible solutions is also not the standard fare offered on the Pentagon press conference menu.

Seven months ago this column foresaw the problems for future enlistments and retention by both the Army Reserves and National Guard units. Along with this came my suggestion that maybe the next step could result in a military draft. Both the problem and the possible solution drew some fire. The idea of again having a draft drew expected fire but the denial of the recruitment and retention problem was unexpected.

Eric Schmitt of The New York Times also attended Helmly's press conference. When reading his report on the conference, the two following paragraphs were especially interesting:

"Recruiting and retention levels have remained steady so far, General Helmly said. But he said that those figures had been 'artificially propped' up by temporarily preventing reserves in certain specialties from leaving the military as previously scheduled.

" 'The numbers mask the potential difficulty,' said General Helmly, who met with troops in Iraq over the Christmas holidays. 'We don't have a picture of normalcy under current conditions.' "

During the press conference the general referred to some of the problems created when 10,000 Army Reserve troops were given only five days notice before being activated. Also, 8,000 were mobilized and not deployed, but half of them were again called back for active duty. Also, failing to promote 13,000 privates eligible for a higher rank didn't provide a boost for morale among the men and women who do the grunt jobs.

Moniz, very neatly, outlines some of the steps the general will take:

"Army Reserve recruiters will be candid with civilians they are recruiting and will tell them that if they enlist, they probably will be called up for active duty at least once in a span of four to five years.

"Beginning next year, the Army Reserve will close an unspecified number of its 2,091 units because it cannot fill all of them. Helmly said the Army Reserve force structure was designed in an era when having the maximum number of units, even if they couldn't all be fully manned, was accepted policy.

"The Army Reserve is crafting a deployment schedule similar to one used by the Air Force to give troops months or even years of advance notice for lengthy call-ups.

"Helmly said he has instructed commanders to do whatever it takes to get the right equipment to soldiers headed overseas. He cited one case of officers who purchased large quantities of sports bras and underwear at a local department store for female troops headed to Iraq."

Why it has taken such a long time to get their act together and face the needs of citizen soldiers is beyond comprehension. This spring almost 40 percent of our Army in Iraq will be members of the Army Reserve and National Guard. Without them, our volunteer military forces would be in big trouble in this world of unrest.

Also to be noted is the exceptional efforts needed to recruit people for the active duty Army. Several thousand recruiters are spread across our nation seeking qualified men and women to serve their country. What is taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan today has appeared to chill the initial enthusiasm for some potential recruits. Added monetary incentives and big advertising budgets have appeared to help the recruiting efforts. Even more incentives are being used to improve the retention of experienced troops.