RECRUITING FOR JOINT ACTIVE RESERVE TOURS

The US Army reserve components have traditionally drawn about half of their annual accessions from individuals with prior active-duty experi ence. The military drawdown will substantially reduce this pool of tra ined, experienced personnel available to the reserves and create reser ve manning difficulties. This study describes the effects of a nationa l experiment on a new Army recruiting program that recruits individual s for joint active/reserve tours. The so-called ''2 + 2 + 4'' recruiti ng option expands eligibility for the Army's post-service educational benefit to include recruits entering two-year, active-duty tours in se lected noncombat occupational specialties, provided they agree to serv e an additional two years in the Selected Reserve and approximately fo ur years in the Individual Ready Reserve. The findings indicate that t he 2 + 2 + 4 program expanded the market for high-quality male recruit s by about 3 percent. The program did not shift a large number of recr uits away from longer terms of service and helped channel recruits int o selected, hard-to-fill noncombat specialties. The program should pro vide substantial reserve benefits, because the educational benefits ar e tied to individual participation in a reserve unit.