Soldiers may find it a little more difficult to reenlist in today’s Army thanks to a new policy that went into effect Jan. 15 (2003).
The new retention policy makes it harder for soldiers with service records that do not meet Army standards to reenlist. Recent or repetitive non-judicial punishments, low aptitude area scores, low education achievement partnered with marginal conduct or performance, low evaluation reports and slow rank progression are now factors that will be looked at more closely to determine a soldier’s reenlistment potential.
Those factors all fall under the “Whole Person Concept,” Sgt. Maj. Frank Dane, FORSCOM career counselor, said.
“These guidelines help the commander in evaluating the ‘whole soldier’ for continued service,” Dane said.
The new policy was established to help control overproduction in reenlistment, Dane said. That control keeps the U.S. Army at it congressionally mandated end-strength. Keeping the size of the entire Army on target is the duty of commanders and leaders at the lowest levels.
“They will have to closely manage their retention mission to ensure that every qualified soldier is afforded the opportunity to reenlist,” Dane said. “But the retention mission has to be held at 100 percent or we will have end-strength issues. This will be tough, but manageable.”
Bars to reenlistment procedures are impacted by the new policy, too. If a soldier cannot overcome a field commander’s bar, a request for voluntary separation prior to ETS may be accepted.
“Standards are higher and assignments are fewer,” Dane said. “All of these changes affect every soldier and ensures that only the most qualified soldiers will have the opportunity to reenlist.”
Last fiscal year, the U.S. Army went over the congressional cap of 480,000 soldiers. Last fiscal year also saw a significant increase in retention.
But the intent of the new policy is not to deny qualified and deserving soldiers the chance to sign up for another enlistment if they have earned that privilege, Dane said.**** “There’s always a place for a good soldier in the Army,” he said.
But what if the new policy hits home and applies directly to you? The thing to do is to talk to your career counselor, Dane said.
We never count a soldier out,” he said. “Career counselors counsel soldiers on what they need to accomplish in order to become eligible for reenlistment.”
Soldiers should contact their unit career counselors for more information on how the new policy may effect them.
