BANGOR (AP) – The National Guard and Reserves are facing recruitment and retention problems linked to the nation’s heavy reliance on such units in the global war on terrorism, says Maine’s highest-ranking National Guard official.

“Frankly, I have no idea where we’re going, but I know we’re at a crossroads where decisions need to be made,” Brig. Gen. John Libby, Maine’s adjutant general, told a business gathering Thursday at Husson College.

An estimated 70 percent of Maine Army National Guard troops have been deployed in recent years, Libby said.

As he spoke, 114 soldiers with the 152nd Maintenance Company of the Maine Guard were expected to arrive in Kuwait, if they hadn’t already, officials said.

“I don’t have another unit left in the state of Maine that is ready from a personnel standpoint that I can deploy,” Libby said after the meeting.

But with such a heavy reliance on the Guard and Reserve units – they account for nearly half of the 142,000 Army troops currently in the military theaters of operations – the federal government will have to do something, he said.

Libby said the government may have to decide between reducing where it deploys soldiers or increasing its active duty roster to meet the needs.

Recruitment and retention efforts, however, remain a problem across the board.

After seven or eight years of meeting personnel level goals, they will fall short this year, he said. Currently, the Army National Guard is at 93 percent of its capacity goal and the Air National Guard at 94 percent, according to officials.

“We’re not in despicable shape, but we’re not where we need to be,” Libby said.

While more 17-year-olds have shown an interest in the Guard, he said parents are increasingly reluctant to sign waivers allowing their children to join up before they turn 18.

Other traditional avenues of recruiting have slowed as well.

In the past, 20 percent of those joining the Guard were coming from active duty units, Libby said. With concerns that they will be leaving one active duty unit only to face the prospects of being activated in the Guard, these potential recruits have become more reluctant to sign on, he said.

The prospect of serving more than one tour of active duty also is prompting some current Guard members to cut short their careers when they hit the 20-year mark, he said.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-04-15-05 0217EDT

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