Vermont National Guard tells legislature recruiting shortfalls threaten force structure, urges review of House Bill 43

Major General Greg Knight, Vermont's adjutant general, told the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on Feb. 11, 2025, that recruiting shortfalls risk reducing the National Guard's force structure and asked the committee to help advance House Bill 43 and other recruiting initiatives.

Knight said the Guard currently faces roughly 700 vacancies and that modernization will reduce unit structures, and added, “If I don't fix recruiting, we don't fix recruiting, we are very likely going to lose force structure.” He told the committee he has prepared an information paper and asked members to seek review of the pension-tax proposal in Senate Finance and House Ways and Means.

The request is part of a broader pitch linking Guard service to Vermont's workforce needs. Knight described the Guard's role in overseas deployments and domestic response, saying Vermont's Air National Guard—about 275 airmen—recently deployed to the Indo-Pacific and is practicing “agile combat employment,” and that Army units will train in North Macedonia and Greece in May. He also detailed the Guard's repeated domestic flood responses and said the force embeds liaison officers to help towns request state resources and to reduce friction during disaster operations.

Knight outlined several recruiting obstacles he says are partly bureaucratic and partly cultural. He cited attrition and processing bottlenecks at military entrance processing stations, including medical-waiver timelines, and said those delays cause candidates to drop out. He described the effects of the federal Blended Retirement System and said some service members choose mid-career separation after they become vested. Knight also cited mandatory professional military education and retirement-age rules as constraints that sometimes remove experienced personnel.

To bring talent into Vermont, the Guard has expanded outreach and employer partnerships. Knight described PRIME, a partnered recruiting initiative that lines up interviews for returning service members with participating employers; he said about 20 employers are participating and that the program now includes spouses and internships. He said the Guard recently signed an agreement with UVM PACE to expand education and marketing for those transitions.

Knight also offered concrete examples he said underline the Guard's value to Vermont employers and communities: a Vermont Medevac aviation unit that flew roughly 900 medical-evacuation missions in austere locations during two deployments and long-standing training partnerships with North Macedonia spanning more than three decades.

On tax policy, Knight said he has presented data arguing that exempting military retirement pay from state taxation would help recruiting and retention, and he noted House Bill 43 as the legislative vehicle he supports. Committee members referenced Joint Fiscal Office estimates and asked for updated cost analysis; Knight said prior Joint Fiscal Office figures were higher than the numbers in his paper and that he has 21 Senate cosponsors and 75 House cosponsors for the bill.

Knight invited lawmakers to a Guard “legislator day” on April 5 at the South Burlington fighter wing and encouraged members to use his six-month executive summary on Guard activities to communicate with constituents. He said the Guard's education benefits, crosswalked civilian certifications and security clearances make returning service members attractive hires for Vermont employers.

Committee members asked follow-up questions about after-action reviews for flooding response, the attrition and medical-waiver process, and the demographic drivers of recruiting challenges. Knight said the Guard conducts after-action reviews with state emergency management and has embedded liaison officers after feedback from COVID and flooding responses. He also said medical-waiver backlog and inconsistent standards across services contribute substantially to processing attrition.

The committee did not take a formal vote on any bill during the hearing. Knight asked the committee to help move House Bill 43 through committee and to support outreach to employers and educational partners to strengthen the state's workforce pipeline.