National Guard chief: All Army components expected to meet end strength

The National Guard Bureau chief said today all components of the Army are expected to meet their end strength goals, despite some challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a virtual Atlantic Council event, Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel said although the pandemic has disrupted things like "sending people to basic military training courses," the Army National Guard will meet its end strength goal of 336,000.

"All components of the Army are expected to meet their end strength," he added. The fiscal year 2020 active component end strength goal is 480,000 and 189,500 for the Army reserve, according to Army budget documents.

The Air National Guard is facing more challenges but is also expected to get very close to its end strength of 107,000.

Lengyel said the Guard is doing many things "in new and different ways," like recruiting virtually, since high schools have been shut down due to the pandemic.

"I think one thing that's helping us is the economy," he said. "I think maybe people are concerned about that. So, our retention is a little bit higher than normal, or other people who had made the decision [that] it was time to go to the civilian world, some of them are rethinking that or putting that off for a year or two to see how this plays out."