Military Review English Edition July-August 2014 | Page 38

operational force in financially austere times. To
remain ready, the National Guard should commit to
a new approach. This article presents four imperatives that will ensure every dollar invested adds up to
ARNG readiness:
Retain our combat-experienced soldiers and
leaders to sustain their war dividend.
Generate and sustain individual and unit readiness through expert training management.
Forge partnerships at every level and strengthen
relationships to gain economies of effort through collaboration and shared resources.
Hone the professionalism of our soldiers and
leaders to maintain the force’s discipline and character
over time.

•
•
•
•

Retain Our Combat-Experienced
Soldiers and Leaders
The ARNG currently enjoys a war dividend of combat experience gained by thousands of its soldiers over
the past decade. However, collective combat experience
will decrease as these veterans leave the force, and fewer deployments will mean fewer combat-experienced
soldiers fill the ranks of the ARNG.
Most captains and nearly all lieutenants and junior
noncommissioned officers in the ARNG joined after
9/11. These men and women are astute and resilient.
Today’s junior leaders are more capable than ever, and
they operate with far more autonomy.9 The ARNG
can ill afford to lose them; they are our future first
sergeants, battalion and brigade commanders, and command sergeants major.
These men and women have stayed in the ranks for
the past decade mainly because of their patriotism and
allegiance to our country after the 9/11 attacks. However,
they are likely to find numerous reasons to leave the
service. Operational tempo has remained high while personal and professional accolades have diminished. In spite
of planned downsizing and a flattened ARFORGEN,
the ARNG expects major commitments of time and
energy from our men and women. Senior commanders
need these young leaders to meet more requirements
than ever. Our young leaders must be technical experts
on equipment that senior leaders have never used. Add
in the citizen-soldiers’ challenge of maintaining balance
between their families and civilian occupations, and continued service in the ARNG is more difficult than ever.
36

To help retain these soldiers, senior ARNG leaders must exercise focused mentorship of their subordinates. Senior leaders must be directly involved in
supporting their subordinates’ ARNG and civilian
careers. They must understand all their subordinates as
whole persons—taking a broad and inclusive approach
to mentoring. Leaders need to consider not just what
subordinates’ next militar H\