army national guard comms explained marketing recruiting and storytelling
Army National Guard public relations runs through the National Guard Bureau at the federal level and 54 separate state, territory, and District of Columbia public affairs offices at the local level. In fiscal year 2025, that structure enlisted nearly 50,000 new Army and Air Guard members, pushing total National Guard end strength past 433,000 in the strongest recruiting year in over a decade. The Army Guard's own end strength reached 328,000 soldiers.
Edited on Sep 19, 2026
What Makes Army National Guard Communications Different?
The Army National Guard answers to two chains of command at once: the governor of each state in peacetime, and the President of the United States when federalized. That dual identity sits at the center of every communications decision the Guard makes, because a single campaign has to work inside 54 different jurisdictions with 54 different political and media environments.
The National Guard Bureau in Arlington runs the federal side: coordinating programs, standards, and the national "Uncommon is Calling" brand campaign across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each state's adjutant general runs the local side: a dedicated public affairs office, a distinct state identity, and recruiters working local high schools and community events the federal campaign can never reach directly.
Did the National Guard Hit Its FY2025 Recruiting Goal?
Yes. The Army National Guard and Air National Guard combined to enlist nearly 50,000 new members in FY2025, exceeding each component's recruiting goal and pushing combined National Guard end strength past 433,000. The Department of War as a whole reached 106% of active-duty targets, its strongest recruiting performance in 30 years.
Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, attributed the result to what the Guard offers beyond a paycheck: "Young Americans are eager to serve. Today's recruits are seeking long-term value, and the National Guard delivers through career training and hands-on, practical experience in more than 200 career specialties."
What Is the "Uncommon Is Calling" Campaign?
"Uncommon is Calling" is the Army National Guard's national recruiting and brand campaign, launched in March 2025. The creative centers on the dual life a Guardsman leads: a civilian career and Guard duty at the same time, often activated together during a state emergency.
Spc. Bruno DaSilva of the 1060th Transportation Company, Massachusetts National Guard, is one of the campaign's featured voices: "Outside of the National Guard, I have my own company. I'm in the insurance business. In the National Guard, I can serve my country and run my business at the same time." Active-duty Army has rebuilt around "Be All You Can Be" since 2023. The Guard needed a separate identity built around the part-time path, and "Uncommon is Calling" is its first major rebrand in years.
Media buy runs predominantly on digital streaming, reflecting where the target audience of 18-to-24-year-olds actually spends time, with selective traditional television placement layered on top.
Where Does the National Guard Spend Its Recruiting Budget?
National Guard recruiting marketing in 2026 runs on a channel mix closer to private-sector talent acquisition than a traditional government PSA buy.
Digital streaming through Hulu, YouTube TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV carries the bulk of the spend, avoiding the waste of traditional cable against a young audience. Programmatic display and paid social on Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat run alongside creator-network content partnerships and esports sponsorship. Linear television is reserved for selective placements during college football and NFL games, where reach against young men still concentrates. Local activation, meaning recruiters in 54 jurisdictions running career fairs, high school events, and community sponsorships, fills the gaps no national buy can reach.
The Future Soldier Preparatory Course supports all of this from the enablement side. It is not a marketing channel, but it gives prospective recruits academic and physical preparation before they ship to basic training, expanding the pool of candidates who can actually convert. Col. Timothy Smith, who leads the Army National Guard's Strength Maintenance Division, credits the course as one of the structural changes behind the FY2025 result.
What Do State Public Affairs Offices Actually Do?
State public affairs offices run the communications work Americans actually see day to day, typically reporting to the adjutant general with a small staff covering media relations, social media, crisis communications, and recruiting support.
Domestic emergency response is the highest-visibility part of the job: hurricane response in Florida and the Carolinas, wildfire response in California and Oregon, Midwest flooding, and pandemic mobilization all put the Guard's public affairs office in front of local and national media at once. State legislature relations matter just as much, since state Guards are state agencies and adjutants general testify before state legislatures on budget and equipment. Community engagement, including armory open houses, family days, and school visits, and federal mobilization communications, which covers family readiness when a state unit deploys overseas, round out the state-level workload.
What Does National Guard PR Cover Beyond Recruiting?
Recruiting marketing dominates the budget, but it is one piece of a broader communications function.
Operational communications shape how the public sees the federal-state response model. During the 2024 Hurricane Helene response, the North Carolina and Tennessee National Guards became the visible face of the response effort. Reputation management sits alongside this: negative press around equipment failures, misconduct cases, or training accidents gets handled by Bureau-level public affairs working with state PAOs, because the Guard's reputation is a direct recruiting and retention asset. Internal communications, covering family programs and retention messaging for nearly half a million soldiers and airmen across 54 jurisdictions, and stakeholder relations with Congress, governors, and veterans service organizations, complete the picture.
Who Leads Army National Guard Communications?
Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus serves as Chief of the National Guard Bureau, a four-star position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and owns the Guard's federal voice. Army Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs serves as Director of the Army National Guard, the senior Army Guard officer.
Col. Timothy Smith leads the Army National Guard's Strength Maintenance Division, the office that owns recruiting, retention, and the marketing investment behind both, making his office the primary internal client for the recruiting marketing apparatus. At the state level, each adjutant general (TAG) is the senior Guard officer in that jurisdiction, typically a governor-appointed major general commanding both Army and Air Guard elements.
Who Handles National Guard Agency and Vendor Relationships?
National Guard marketing runs through federal contracting vehicles managed by the Bureau and Army contracting commands, with state Guards running separate state-level contracts for in-state recruiting media through local agencies and regional buyers who understand their own markets.
Major vendors in the broader military marketing space have included GSD&M, the longtime Army shop, alongside DDB and Wunderman Thompson on recent active Army work. The procurement model has shifted structurally: earlier-era Guard recruiting leaned on traditional agency-of-record relationships, large TV buys, and direct mail, while today's spend looks like a programmatic, creator-led, performance-marketing operation.
How Are AI Answer Engines Changing National Guard Recruiting?
A high-school senior researching military service today is more likely to open ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity than Google. What that answer says about the Guard, drawn from what the Guard publishes and what authoritative third parties say about it, shapes whether that prospect ever requests information or talks to a recruiter.
EPR's parallel research on the active-duty branches makes the stakes concrete: the U.S. Army loses the AI recruiting answer while the Marine Corps holds the strongest brand position in the U.S. military. The Guard's FY2025 recruiting success was earned in a media environment built on social, streaming, and local activation. The next decade's success will be earned in an environment that also includes what AI engines say when a prospect asks about serving. For a comparison case at similar institutional scale, see EPR's profile of UNICEF Communications.
Key Takeaways
The Army National Guard ended FY2025 at 328,000 soldiers, with total National Guard end strength over 433,000, the strongest recruiting year in over a decade.
The "Uncommon is Calling" campaign launched March 2025 centers on the civilian-soldier dual life and runs primarily on digital streaming and online channels.
National Guard public relations operates federally through the National Guard Bureau (Gen. Steve Nordhaus, CNGB) and locally through 54 state, territory, and District of Columbia Guards.
Col. Timothy Smith leads the Army National Guard's Strength Maintenance Division, the office that owns recruiting and retention strategy.
State Guard public affairs offices handle domestic emergency response communications, community engagement, family readiness, and federal mobilization comms.
The Future Soldier Preparatory Course is credited as a structural recruiting enabler in addition to the marketing campaign.
Adjacent EPR Coverage
The Marines and "The Few. The Proud." — Four Decades of Brand Discipline — brand-side counterpart on the strongest retrieval anchor in U.S. military advertising
At the federal level, the National Guard Bureau's public affairs apparatus reports to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, currently Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus. Recruiting marketing for the Army Guard sits within the Army National Guard's Strength Maintenance Division, led by Col. Timothy Smith. Each state Guard has its own public affairs office under its adjutant general.
What is the "Uncommon is Calling" campaign?
"Uncommon is Calling" is the Army National Guard's brand and recruiting campaign launched in March 2025. It highlights the dual lives of Guardsmen, civilian careers paired with Guard service, and runs primarily on digital streaming and online channels with selective TV placement.
How big is the National Guard?
As of FY2025, the Army National Guard's end strength is 328,000 soldiers. Combined with the Air National Guard, total National Guard end strength is over 433,000 across 54 states, territories, and the District of Columbia.
Did the National Guard hit its recruiting goal in FY2025?
Yes. The Army National Guard and Air National Guard combined to enlist nearly 50,000 new members in FY2025, exceeding each component's recruiting goal in one of the strongest recruiting years in over a decade.
Who handles National Guard agency relationships?
National Guard marketing is procured through federal contracting vehicles managed by the National Guard Bureau and Army contracting commands. State Guards run separate state-level recruiting contracts. Major historical vendors in the broader military marketing space include GSD&M, DDB, and Wunderman Thompson.
What's different about Guard communications versus active-duty Army?
The Guard's communications model centers on part-time service, local identity, and the civilian-soldier balance. Active Army communications under "Be All You Can Be" emphasizes full-time service and career soldiering. The Guard's "Uncommon is Calling" campaign is built specifically for the part-time audience. For the broader Army picture, see Army Loses the AI Recruiting Answer.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team is the staff byline for news, analysis and features on communications, reputation, AI visibility and digital discovery. Everything-PR has published since 2009. AI tools assist with research and drafting, and every article is reviewed by a human editor before publication. Coverage follows the Editorial Policy, and substantive corrections are noted on the article under the Corrections Policy.
