FARGO - Sarah Olin's six-year enlistment in the North Dakota Army National Guard was scheduled to run out in April, but she decided that a $7,500 re-enlistment bonus was too good to pass up.

Faced with the prospect of having to find a job and pay back her student loans, the University of North Dakota graduate student decided to take advantage of the bonus and serve three more years as a Guard member.

"I just can't pass it up right now," said Olin, a supply specialist with the 136th Quartermaster Battalion in Devils Lake.

As of Dec. 14, current Guard members who agreed to a six-year contract were eligible for a lump sum, upfront re-enlistment bonus of $15,000 - triple the previous bonus.

New recruits in certain understaffed positions can receive a $10,000 bonus, up from $8,000.

The incentives are just one weapon in a nationwide recruiting blitz that includes hiring 1,400 new recruiters, 10 of whom started Monday in Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks and Minot, said Lt. Col. David Skalicky, the Guard recruiter and retention manager.

"We've just got to find the right people now," said Sgt. Maj. Rod Olin, Sarah Olin's father and a recruitment and retention officer at Guard headquarters in Bismarck.

While the financial incentives may be attractive, the Guard has other recruitment and retention issues to overcome, said Richard Stark, a retired Army colonel and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington.

Among them are hesitation about the war in Iraq, an improving economy and the intense deployment of Guard and Reserve units overseas, said Stark, who is directing a study on the role of the Guard and Reserve.

"These are very provocative offers that will certainly get people thinking and go a long way to staunching the falloff in new recruits," he said. "But I don't think even the National Guard thinks they're going to recruit their way out of this."

Almost 2,900 of the North Dakota National Guard's 4,100 members have been deployed to help fight terrorism and the war in Iraq.

The National Guard was the only branch of service to miss its recruiting mark last year, falling about 7,000 soldiers short of its 56,000-soldier goal, Stark said.

The North Dakota Army National Guard is about 240 soldiers short of its authorized strength. Skalicky said the goal for the current year is to recruit 600 soldiers and hold the attrition rate at about 14 percent, which would add about 100 soldiers to the ranks.

Guard officials are promoting Gov. John Hoeven's proposal to add $1 million to the college tuition aid program for Guard members. The amount of available aid would double to $1,000 per semester for students who maintain a 2.5 grade-point average or better.

When combined with federal aid and a 25 percent tuition waiver at state colleges and universities, the incentives should cover 100 percent of tuition for most students, Guard officials said.

The 10 new recruiters will further penetrate the high school market - the Guard's primary source of recruits - and colleges, which have long been ignored, he said. The Guard will recruit members for the ROTC programs at UND and North Dakota State University.

"Our payback is officers for the North Dakota Guard," Skalicky said.

The Guard also has hired an officer to focus solely on retaining current members, whose experience and leadership make them especially valuable, he said.