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Volunteer Guard
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By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell National Guard Bureau WASHINGTON (10/13/2004) — The National Guard is not affiliated with a military draft in this country, and, overall, the people now volunteering to serve in the Guard are the highest quality Soldiers and Airmen in its history, the chief of the National Guard Bureau recently said at the U.S. State Department. “There is no way that the word ‘draft’ can be associated with the National Guard. The [modern] National Guard has never had any of its members brought into its ranks by a draft, and we never plan to use a draft to fill our ranks,” LTG H Steven Blum said at the State Department’s Foreign Press Center on the Friday before Columbus Day. The Guard Bureau chief was responding to a reporter’s question about whether “the Guard nowadays is a means of a backdoor draft” for the global war on terrorism. Absolutely not, insisted Blum, who has been the Guard Bureau’s chief since April 2003 and who has served in uniform for nearly four decades. “The National Guard [is] a volunteer force; it will always be a volunteer force,” he responded. To suggest anything otherwise, Blum added, is a disservice to the “citizen Soldiers and Airmen patriots that have willingly pledged to interrupt their lives or education and distance themselves from their families to protect their nation and their communities,” according to a transcript by the Federal News Service. Blum made that observation following his presentation about how the National Guard has transformed its state and national headquarters into joint force headquarters to more effectively support the war on terrorism at home and abroad since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and to still respond to traditional domestic emergencies such this year’s destructive hurricanes. No one has been required to serve in the militia or the National Guard since the Civil War, pointed out National Guard Bureau historian Renee Hylton. Draftees were sent to National Guard divisions which had already been federally mobilized for World Wars I and II as "fillers" to bring them up to war strength, she added, but Blum made it clear that the Guard does not require a draft to obtain new National Guard Soldiers or Airmen. Blum also said the quality of the force is unparalleled in National Guard history. “I have never seen the quality of the Soldiers and the Airmen that we have in our ranks today any better than it is right now,” Blum responded to another question. “It actually is the best-quality force, the most professional force, the most committed force, the most versatile force that I have seen in my 37 years in uniform.” He further expressed confidence in the Guard members’ willingness to continue to serve and in the Guard’s ability to continue attracting volunteers. “I am very pleasantly surprised that as we have used the National Guard in an unprecedented manner, in greater numbers than ever before … that our retention rate or our reenlistment rate or our experienced Soldiers who deploy are staying with us at higher rates today than at any other time that we’ve measured this in the last 13 years,” Blum said. “That’s a very, very reassuring indicator that the Guard is healthy and alive and will remain a viable force,” he added. “Are we going to be able to recruit new members into the Army and Air National Guard?” Blum asked. “So far, our experience says yes, we will; that the young men and women of our country are willing to stand up and be counted, and when their nation needs them, they are ready to serve.” Last 10 Stories |
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2004 National Guard Bureau |
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