Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005030352
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: By KEVIN KITTREDGE SHENANDOAH BUREAU
DATELINE: COVINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The company - which includes Alleghany, Bath and part of Botetourt counties - has about 90 people, Guard officials said. The company's strength should be 130, said Capt. Ed Hevener, who heads up the Guard's recruitment effort for the western district of Virginia.
"We want the company to be at 100 percent strength. That's our goal. And we think we're gonna get that," Hevener said Wednesday.
The new building, which will replace old armories at Covington and Clifton Forge, will be located at Dabney Lancaster Community College. It has a projected completion date of Labor Day.
The $3.5 million building will do double duty as a college classroom and foul-weather graduation site, said John Backels, the college president.
"This is the first time anything like this has been tried, to my knowledge," said Backels. "It seems to be a natural marriage."
Meanwhile, Guard recruiters are using the new building as an opportunity to launch a recruitment drive in an area that once had 250 guardsmen, officials said - before guardsmen were even paid.
Hevener and several other Guard officials kicked off the recruitment drive at a breakfast meeting of business and government leaders from Covington, Clifton Forge and Alleghany County on Wednesday. Community support is important for a strong Guard unit, Guard officials said.
At the breakfast, the recruiters touted such benefits as up to $31,000 in college tuition and loan repayments, the effect of Guard wages in the job-poor Alleghany Highlands and the appeal a guardsman has to prospective employers.
The Alleghany County area typically has an unemployment rate twice the state average, as well as lower-than-average wages, according to Loretta Reeves, executive director of the Greater Alleghany Economic Development Commission.
"We teach leadership, we teach discipline and we teach self-discipline," Hevener told the more than 30 community leaders who attended the breakfast. "We feel they [guardsmen] make better employees. . . . We bring in money."
Guardsmen make an average of $12,000 over a six-year enlistment, or $2,000 a year, Hevener said, for their 39 annual work days. Guardsmen work one weekend a month after basic training, and two weeks in the summer.
Heavener said five Guard recruiters will be in the area for the next three weeks, with headquarters at the armory on Oak Street, to sign up new recruits.
The Guard provides reserve troops for national combat purposes. It is also available to the governor to assist the state during natural disasters or other emergencies, Guard officials said.
by CNB