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Articles: Military Recruiting: Recruiting in Rural Areas

Guard opens up its doors on the Avenue

JOSEPH P. SMITH, The Daily Journal

Jul 15, 2005

VINELAND -- The N.J. Army National Guard is setting up a downtown shop
as part of a statewide move to boost recruitment.

A storefront office at 541 E. Landis Ave. officially opens at 9 a.m.
Monday.

It will complement an existing recruiting station at the National Guard
Armory on South Delsea Drive.

The head of the Army National Guard's Recruiting Command said the
service
wants "a bigger footprint out in the community."

"One of the things out at the armory, there's a lot of Homeland Security
issues," Lt. Col. Dennis Devery said. "There's a concrete barrier going
around the armory. Sometimes, that's intimidating to people."

The result, Devery said, is "you're not getting a lot of walkup traffic at
the armory."

The Landis Avenue office will be between the Boulevard and Sixth Street,
the same block as U.S. military recruiting offices.

It's only the second storefront office established by the Army National
Guard; the first one opened in Elizabeth, Union County.

Devery, who once was stationed here, said at least four more storefront
offices should open in the next year.

The Army National Guard wants to recruit about 100 men and women a
month.

That's been a struggle in the past few years, although May and June saw
the service surpass its goals.

Cumberland County is part of a four-county region that the service hopes
will produce 16 recruits a month.

"It's usually a good market, but I'd say we are underserving that market,"
Devery said. "When I look at the number of kids that come up in Millville,
Vineland -- inevitably I find out they don't know about the benefits. They
say, 'I wish I had known about the benefits a year ago, two years ago.'"

The service offers a $10,000 signing bonus to recruits with no military
background.

It also is pushing its educational incentive -- free tuition to any state
or county college.

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