Summary

During a survey of the recruitment practices of the military services for Reserve and National Guard personnel, several potential problems were noted.

There are significant differences in the policies and procedures that each reserve component uses in recruiter selection criteria, deployment, length of training and topic coverage, and utilization. The Reserves appear to be coordinating their recruiting advertising programs with the active forces, but the Guard components are acting independently. The effectiveness of advertising was questioned in a previous GAO report. The capability of the existing management to implement expanded recruitment programs will determine whether the desired results are achieved. Consideration should be given to analyzing the cost benefits and effectiveness of trends towards a nonprior service program compared with maximizing the potential of prior service personnel. Various service enlistment options should be studied. A change in assumptions about the eligible male population could change the recruiting emphasis and should be studied.