D.C. National Guard officials hope legislation before Congress that would provide D.C. Guard members with up to $5,500 a year in federally funded college aid will allow the Washington branch to compete in recruiting with its suburban neighbors.
Maryland and Virginia have drawn recruits from D.C. “at a rate that puts at risk the maintenance of the necessary force levels,” said D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who introduced the bill. The District’s neighbors offer state-funded education benefits in addition to an existing federal program, to which D.C. Guard members also have access.
Only the president has the authority to call up the D.C. Guard, so the local branch receives most of its funding from the federal government. Norton’s legislation provides up to $5,500 annually in financial aid to any member of the D.C. Guard who commits to the branch for a minimum of six years.
“We have lost many potential Guard members because other states, such as nearby Maryland, have been offering tuition assistance to their state institutions of higher learning.” Lt. Col. Kevin McAndrews, spokesman for the D.C. Guard, said in an e-mail. “This has not been the case for the DC National Guard.”
Additional benefits, McAndrews said, would assist with recruitment and “improve our ability to retain those personnel, and thereby improve the quality of our force.”
There are approximately 2,600 members of the D.C. Guard, which has a 17.7 annual attrition rate, McAndrews said. It lost 35 soldiers in the past year; 30 left for other states and five left for active duty.
When she introduced the bill May 7, Norton said she was fulfilling a promise to the D.C. National Guard’s 547th Transportation Company, which deployed to Iraq about a week earlier.
“The small education incentives in my bill would not only encourage high-quality recruits, but would have the important benefit of helping the D.C. National Guard to maintain the force necessary to protect the federal presence, including members of Congress, the Supreme Court and visitors, if an attack on the nation’s capital should occur,” Norton said.
BY THE NUMBERS
What area Guard members get:
» Virginia provides up to $6,000 for the fiscal year plus a $350 bookstore grant per semester.
» Maryland reimburses half of Guard members’ tuition and related fees.
» The federal government offers up to $4,500 per year for undergraduate and graduate studies.
