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Adjutant General urges tax and education changes, outlines recruiting initiatives to fill hundreds of vacancies
Summary
Major General Knight told legislators the Guard needs about 800 new members to reach desired strength and outlined recruiting efforts targeting prior‑service personnel, employer partnerships and changes to benefits — including a proposal to reduce taxes on military pensions and to codify an education benefit that sunsets in July 2025.
Major General Knight, Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard, told the Government Operations & Military Affairs committee the Guard is short roughly 800 personnel and outlined several recruitment and retention initiatives legislators could help advance.
Knight said the Guard has about 3,700 members: roughly 1,100 in the Air National Guard and 2,600 in the Army National Guard. "I need 100 more to round out my Air National Guard. I need about 700 more to round out the Army Guard to become whole," he said, describing recruiting as "the long pole in the tent."
Nut Graf
Knight framed recruiting and retention as a state economic and workforce issue, urging legislators to use tax and benefit tools to attract retirees and prior‑service members. He singled out a proposal to reduce taxes on military pensions and a pilot education benefit that expires July 1, 2025.
Body
To address shortfalls, Knight described several efforts: targeted outreach to prior‑service active duty personnel transitioning at installations nationwide, a "partner recruiting initiative" that aligns Guard members with employer partners for interviews, and an expanded memorandum of agreement that now includes dependents for internships and spouse employment connections. He said the interview program currently has about 20 employer partners and more in the queue.
Knight and legislators discussed possible legislative tools. He asked lawmakers to consider not taxing military pensions and to codify a pilot education benefit that provides support for second bachelor’s degrees; the education pilot "sunsets on 1 July of 'twenty 5," he said and asked the committee to make it long term.
Knight also described the retirement and pension landscape: many Guard retirees are "gray‑area" retirees who do not receive pensions until age 60; younger recruits in the blended retirement system can take vested contributions with them, reducing a retention lever. Knight noted that roughly 75 Guard members retired in the past six years and that many retirees move to states with more favorable pension tax treatment.
Ending
Knight urged legislators to "share the Guard story" and said the proposed tax and education measures are not a magic solution but would be valuable tools alongside existing workforce development efforts.
