When Command Sgt. Major Anthony Abbate began his National Guard recruiting career nearly 20 years ago, he was living in the Bronx and working out of Orangeburg, a hamlet just north of New York City. In his travels to talk to potential enlistees, Abbate encountered the diversity of cultures expected from a city where 36% of the population is foreign-born.
“There were countries I had never heard of, and they were joining,” said Abbate, senior enlisted advisor for the New York Army Guard’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion. “And it hasn’t stopped.”
Despite the challenge of appealing to arguably the nation’s most diverse population to “make mission” – reaching its annual recruiting goals – the New York Army Guard led the nation in recruiting and retention in fiscal year 2023. It’s the third straight year New York recruiters have topped the other 53 states and territories.
“We have very passionate soldiers,” said Abbate. “New York is just a big melting pot of people from all these different backgrounds, and it just works.”
The New York Army Guard exceeded their annual goal with a 118.12% mark, remarkable given the struggles the Armed Forces has faced in placing young people into uniform. The wider Army, for example, has failed to meet its recruiting goals in the past two years, resulting in the smallest force since before World War II. And while the National Guard’s numbers rebounded in 2023, many states regularly fail to meet authorized strength measures.
But New York has remained seemingly immune to recruitment challenges over the past few years. Much of this success Abbate credits to innovation and a deep connection with communities across the state.
“If it were just one thing, we would all just do that one thing,” Abbate said. “But there’s complexities to this. We’re dealing with a war for talent.”
New York recruiters have been among the most proactive in leaning into new technologies and recruiting approaches, with many emerging as social media influencers and meeting young New Yorkers where they live – on their phones. But while YouTube and TikTok have certainly moved the needle, it’s a holistic approach that has yielded the most lasting results for The Empire State.
“You can’t be a one-trick pony,” said Abbate. “(Our recruiters) are out there on social media, they’re out there in the community. There’s no substitute for face-to-face connection and our recruiters are doing that.”
For a force that works and lives in the communities in which they serve, being a positive presence is fundamental, said Abbate. Nowhere was that more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which New Yorkers witnessed guardsmen serve nearly 2 million workdays over a 27-month stretch. In addition, they supported the state’s Asylum Seeker mission, putting in more than 600,000 workdays as case managers, helping assimilate migrants and asylum seekers in New York City and Western New York.
“We need to ensure individuals can navigate the paperwork necessary to get them established here so they can work and start making their American Dream a reality,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul during a September 2023 press conference announcing the mobilization. “Our National Guard members play a huge role in assisting in the process.”
Hochul has been an active advocate of the state’s Guard force. When the National Guard Bureau announced New York’s top recruiting and retention ranking, the governor paid a visit to the state’s Division of Military and Naval Affairs, where she honored Guard leadership and recruiters.
“She’s been really supportive,” said Abbate. “It’s been awesome.”
Her visible backing mirrors that of New York Guard leadership, he added, noting there has been a top-down, force-wide commitment to prioritizing recruiting and retention.
“When it comes to setting conditions for success, we have a fully manned recruiting force. You can’t get production from a vacancy,” he said. “For our senior leaders, it’s a top priority.”