Boy, Is USAREC gonna hate me...

So I am sure of all those in the recruiting world have heard that the Guard is going to start recruiting for the active duty as well under a "Active First" program. From the looks of it, a recruit can join the Guard, go active from 30-48 months then go back to the Guard or stay active. I think this is great. We know we will have another Guard member in the future and we fill a need in the active side. The Guard is better at recruiting than active, no fault of their own, most Active army recruiters are forced to recruiting, while Guard is ALL volunteer. In my office we have five recruiters, while the active has 12 to cover the same area. And we out perform them most months. The Army is really good at retaining folks though, we have issues sometimes because of limits in Senior NCO's, it makes keeping people in an issue sometimes.

Anyways... So now I will directly compete with USAREC, and I will win. Why?? Not because I am a better recruiter, because I can guarantee an MOS unlike active, they can sorta but not like we can. Now granted, I wont do that until they pass the ASVAB test, but I can do better than an active recruiter.

I do foresee a reduction in Army recruiters if this works as well for the Guard as I see it, and we will see better Army recruiters in the end, more that want to be there than don't.

Don't hate me USAREC, I didn't make the deal, your bosses did.

PS: is this taunting, don't want it to be.

Just slipped thru my fingers

What a nice start to the month. Not really. I spent the last two weeks prepping this yuong lady to go to MEPS. her husband is in the Guard and she wanted to join also, she liked the idea and really liked the student loan payoff and the tuition assistance. She went to test on Friday night and cut a 59. Good deal, she gets the incentives she wanted with that score. Woke up at 445 am on a SATURDAY, so unlike me, and took her to physical. saturdays are good processing days because they are usually done by noon. So at 1045 I get a call, she is disqualified pending a opto (eye) consult. Darn, but I can live with that. She has a stigmatism, no big deal. So I call her husband who is on his way to watch her swear in from drill and he said he will take her home, his commander gave him the rest of the off since she was joining. So I call back to MEPS to let them know. Then the bomb dropped on me. She will not be doing the opto consult because she is pregnant!! She had no idea. being pregnant makes you ineligible to join. Now I can't be mad at a girl not joining because she's pregnant. So I called her later afetr she told her husbabnd and congratulated them both. I am not discouraged, I got one pending a medical waiver and a high school kid looks as he may join up this next week as well. wanted 3 this month though, but as always in recruiting, I will survive.

Side note, I just extended for six years!! that will take to me 22 yrs for pay and 15 yrs for full time retirement. If I didnt love it I wouldn't have done it. I dont plan on spending it all in recruiting, at least not on the street.

Homestretch

July was a good month for me, like I said before, I am no superstar recruiter, but I do like to overproduce every once in a while. I was able to enlist three new recruits last month and I already got two lined up for next week.

I got one young lady in the GED plus program, I put her in a medical unit as a NBC specialist right in her hometown, and I got a high school senior in the job with her. Then I enlisted a young man who goes to college in the Infantry. I love putting soldiers in combat jobs. Especially when thetas what they want to do and I don't have to push it myself onto them. I never push a job on anyone unless they want to do something they are not qualified to do. I usually re direct their attention to a job most similar to the other and that usually works. the problem we are running into in my state is actually finding vacant jobs that need to be filled. We as a state have already made our end strength for the year and working on next years. Because we are doing so well, they cut bonuses to certain jobs and tightened the restrictions on who can get a bonus. Only 30 jobs get a bonus and whats available to women is slim unless they don't mind being in the mechanic field.

Now granted, there are many other benefits to joining besides bonus money, buts its nice to get it. I just extended my contract for 6 years and I get not one penny of bonus, in fact been in for 13 years and have received $1250 in bonus. But I didn't join for bonus either. Alot of applicants don't ask about a bonus, and when I tell them they are getting 15k or 20k, they are happy about it and think that I hooked them up. I assure them that they qualified for it and that's why they got it, not because I liked them.

I only need 2 enlistments to close out the fiscal year. Two in two months is easy. I will put in three just so I can say I exceeded mission this year. Gives me bonus that a boy points which I may need to cash in later.

Back to beat the street, work this month, relax next, take some leave to Cali to see my mom and go the see some redwoods.