Received some bad news on Friday. One of our Guard soldiers was killed in Baghdad on Oct 25, from a "penetrating IED". Four others in the hummer where critically injured. I did not know him, but he was about my age and assigned to a the Engineering Battalion that I recruit for. This is the third Virginia Guardsman killed this year. The two others were killed when their Blackhawk was shot down, killing all aboard. I knew one of them by acquaintance. Our state went two years without a deployment death in 2005 and 2006. Seven Virginia Guardsman have died since 2002, two in Afghanistan and five in Iraq. Two were killed in that Christmas time mess tent explosion 2005.
The shaped charge screams Iran made all over it. I believe we will have to deal with that in the near future as well.
I bring these up because it brings back to light the issue every recruiter deals with. Fear of deployment and the thought of getting killed or injured. While I do not downplay the fear, I try not to making it a focus of joining the military. I do address directly. That is the chance we take choosing to serve. We do not have a safe job by any means. yes its great to join the Guard and get all these great benefits, but I never let them forget why we are around. I don't want to scare a young to be warrior, but it is something they will have to deal with and think about if they choose to join our team. Many continue to join, there are no short supply of recruits. Most of my recruits find me before I find them. That's the way it should be, men and women wanting to serve, not me chasing them down asking if they want to join.
October is on track to be the lowest death rate in Iraq yet this year. That would be continued decline since summer over all. Hopefully the surge is working, which it seems to be, and we are taking their will to fight out of them. I do long for the day our troops will all come home, but I hope we do when the job is done and not a day before.
Pray for our troops, pray for the families of the ones we lost so that they may have the strength to continue on.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
FY07... the forgotten.
Well, FY07 is behind me. I finished the year above mission and looked like a hero. But now that the new recruiting year has started, I am back to zero. What I did last year does not matter.
As I look back at my enlistments, some were hard, some were easy, but one thing is for sure, I am very proud to enlist all of them but one. The one I am not proud of is a dirt bag, he was joining for the wrong reasons, but whom am I to deny him, if I didn't enlist him someone else would have. He wasn't a criminal or anything, just a dirt bag in general, he had served before, I knew him when he was in before so I judged him appropriately. But he was a number and that's how I treated him.
Alot of my enlistments were to help pay for their college. Some joined to serve their country. And some joined to get some good training, usually mechanics. All of them understood the risks of possible deployments overseas, and they accepted the risks. I hope they are still willing when the call comes for their turn in a combat zone. None yet have come to me asking me how to get out of going to boot camp or anything, they have stayed pretty motivated and the ones that have come back from training have all had positive things to say about their experience. One thing they tell me is that it is exactly as I told them it would be, from the good, bad and ugly.
Not only did I exceed mission, two of my office mates exceeded as well and one just made mission on the last day of the year. Our fifth is new and fell short a couple, but he should do fine. So it was a great year for our team.
I look forward to another year in recruiting, I am already about to roll my first for the year, and should hit three enlistments this month.
We have our awards banquet in a couple weeks, we shall see how I fare. I don't expect much, just a overproduction award for the quarter and year. I do not wish to win the big stuff, then they come to expect it all the time, and I do have a family to hang out with, so recruiting does not consume all my time. This is not USAREC!! Thank-god.
As I look back at my enlistments, some were hard, some were easy, but one thing is for sure, I am very proud to enlist all of them but one. The one I am not proud of is a dirt bag, he was joining for the wrong reasons, but whom am I to deny him, if I didn't enlist him someone else would have. He wasn't a criminal or anything, just a dirt bag in general, he had served before, I knew him when he was in before so I judged him appropriately. But he was a number and that's how I treated him.
Alot of my enlistments were to help pay for their college. Some joined to serve their country. And some joined to get some good training, usually mechanics. All of them understood the risks of possible deployments overseas, and they accepted the risks. I hope they are still willing when the call comes for their turn in a combat zone. None yet have come to me asking me how to get out of going to boot camp or anything, they have stayed pretty motivated and the ones that have come back from training have all had positive things to say about their experience. One thing they tell me is that it is exactly as I told them it would be, from the good, bad and ugly.
Not only did I exceed mission, two of my office mates exceeded as well and one just made mission on the last day of the year. Our fifth is new and fell short a couple, but he should do fine. So it was a great year for our team.
I look forward to another year in recruiting, I am already about to roll my first for the year, and should hit three enlistments this month.
We have our awards banquet in a couple weeks, we shall see how I fare. I don't expect much, just a overproduction award for the quarter and year. I do not wish to win the big stuff, then they come to expect it all the time, and I do have a family to hang out with, so recruiting does not consume all my time. This is not USAREC!! Thank-god.
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