Active First Yields Excellent Initial Success
Secretary of the Army Pete Geren is thankful for a new program that has brought recruits into the active army. “Active First†is a program that takes National Guard enlistees into a service commitment with the Active Duty Army, and then allows them to finish their military career with the National Guard.
Recently more than five hundred new enlisted people joined the Army though the “Active First†program. The program began 1 October 2007, and promises to help maintain the active duty Army force levels. Lieutenant General Clyde A. Vaughn, who is the Army Guard director, is pleased with the new program also.
“Meeting the goal of sixteen hundred enlisted members for 2008 is not going to be a problem,†said General Vaughn. Sixteen hundred is the number that Secretary Geren has set for an Army enlistment goal.
“This is a great program that demonstrates that our Army is very much truly One Army,†said Secretary Geren. The program is on track to help the Army in its .2 percent increase of forces
that will occur between now and 2010.
“We are very pleased, and on track to meet our enlistment goals, we may even exceed them,†said Secretary Geren.  “The Active first program deserves a lot of the credit for our meeting our goals.
Active first is a new Army program in three phases. The first phase involves recruits joining their local National Guard Unit. Phase two is recruit basic training and an active duty Army tour of duty. The last phase, phase three is where the soldier finishes out his commitment with the National Guard.
