FORT POLK, La. -- With the Army facing budget cuts and reductions in its end strength numbers, one might think a retention noncommissioned officer would have a difficult job. But don't tell that to Sgt. Maj. Michael Redmon, command career counselor for Fort Polk. Redmon points to the post's FY14 totals as proof that at least on Fort Polk, retention NCO is a great job.
"As far as being successful, with initial term Soldiers we were at 123 percent overall," Redmon said. "We were at 100 percent with mid-career Soldiers and 400 percent with careerists (staff sergeants with more than 10 years service). That gave us an aggregate of 121 percent. We were one of only two major subordinate commands that made our fourth quarter mission and we finished the year strong."
And even though budget constraints point to smaller end strength, Redmon said the prospects for Soldiers who wish to stay Army are still strong.
"The Army has been talking about the drawdown for quite some time," he said. "We're going to see some of the numbers come down in FY16, however now we still have an end strength that we must maintain. The mission numbers are right along where they have been. We haven't seen a reduction, so I see it continuing as it is now for the next two years."
In fact, Redmon said there were shortfalls across the Army with mid-career Soldiers last year, so the numbers for first quarter FY15 are slightly higher. Redmon points to multiple deployments as one reason for the mid-career shortages. "I think a lot of Soldiers were tired of deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan and made the decision to go ahead and separate," he said. "We were very lucky last year that we did not have that issue here. We did have quite a few Soldiers deployed, but it seemed to affect posts that had multiple deployments more."
As Redmon looked to the future, he outlined issues facing Soldiers in the Army's three reenlistment categories: Initial term, mid-career and careerists. "One issue with initial term reenlistments is we have Soldiers in over strength MOSs (military occupational specialties) that we can't get school seats for," he said. "That does pose a problem in the first quarter with initial term Soldiers. We have a large population, especially in 1st MEB (Maneuver Enhancement Brigade), that has issues with over strength Soldiers."
Redmon pointed to MOSs such as 09L (interpreters and translators) whose MOS is no longer needed.
"We're having difficulties finding them school seats as well," he said. "What they're doing to help us get past this is allowing us to reenlist first term Soldiers for two years to hopefully get them into a school seat. The problem I have with that is it sort of makes the Soldiers non-competitive for promotion because the cutoff scores are so high for MOSs that are over strength. We need to get them into shortage MOSs."
For those Soldiers who want to increase their chances of reenlistment, Redmon said one option is to volunteer for Special Forces or other specialty jobs that the Army needs filled. "PsyOps and Civil Affairs are always looking for Soldiers," he said. "Special Forces teams are here recruiting all of the time. There are certain prerequisites you have to meet before you qualify for these jobs, if you do, they make reenlistment much easier."
Redmon said as long as a Soldier is fully qualified in their MOS and the MOS is not over strength, then they can reenlist for all five options the Army offers: Needs of the Army; current station stabilization; Army training option; overseas; and CONUS.
"If you're in an over strength MOS it gets a little more difficult," he said. "The first thing we have to look at is the Army training option. We need to find an MOS the Soldier is qualified for and get him reclassified. If we can't get a school seat at this time and the Soldier is about to enter the 90-day window before he is scheduled to get out and loses his chance to reenlist, we send a request for an exception to policy Human Resources Command to allow him to reenlist for two years under Option 1 -- the needs of the Army. A year later, their reenlistment opens again and we can start looking for a school seat. Or hopefully, force alignment has worked its magic and their MOS is no longer over strength."
It's the same story for mid-career and careerists: If they are qualified in their MOS and have no problems in their background, there should be no problem with reenlisting, Redmon said. He advises Soldiers to remain competitive by increasing their civilian education, volunteering for military schools (try to do at least one a year), diversity of assignments, and specialty assignments, such as drill sergeant or recruiting duty.
Redmon said Soldiers assigned to Fort Polk are fortunate to have a strong team in place to help them further their Army careers. "Our retention team, from the installation down through every unit, truly care about our Soldiers," he said. "From retention NCOs to command teams, the well-being of the Soldiers on Fort Polk is paramount."
Redmon said that the emphasis on taking care of Soldiers starts at the top.
"We have great command input, from (Brigadier) General (William) Hickman (commander, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk) on down," he said. "If I send him an email that says we need to focus on initial term Soldiers, he'll forward it on down to his commanders."
That type of influence is important, Redmon said.
"That's why we have been so successful," he said. "That showed last year being one of two MSCs to make our mission. That was a great thing for our installation and has shown a positive light on Fort Polk, proving that that is a great place to be a Soldier."
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