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.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Dale Jr is our boy!
Great news came out yesterday, Dale Jr, will drive the number 88 car sponsored by the National Guard and Amped energy drink. The most recignized name will be associated with our great organization! I don't know what this will do to recruiting, but it will sure bring the Guard to the lime light with him on our team!!
Can't wait until next year when the race comes thru town and I get to take around the Jr car. I like the last two cars design better, more patriotic, but the publicity and excitement he generates is is more than I can do by myself. Marketing just got a bit easier for me.
Can't wait until next year when the race comes thru town and I get to take around the Jr car. I like the last two cars design better, more patriotic, but the publicity and excitement he generates is is more than I can do by myself. Marketing just got a bit easier for me.
New view of California.
Last week I took some well deserved vacation. I already achieved mission for recruiting, so my wife and I ventured out to Northern California where my mother now lives. She lives in a suburb of San Francisco, the armpit of liberalism, which I despise. I saw things like medical marijuana clinic ads, lots of advertisements for houses of sin, etc, etc. However, the country side is beautiful! I went to redwood forests, wine country, the northern coastline, isolated lighthouses and even went to Santa Cruz to check out the coveted Mystery Spot. So I decided I would stop campaigning for California to form their own country and secede from the Union. L.A. can do so.
Now one thing I did see was a lot of protests to stop the war, wasn’t surprised there, but I did see a protest hat shocked the hell out of me. I saw protesters with signs to secure our borders!! In California!! There is hope for that state yet. There are people who understand what’s going on and they live there. Yeah for conservatives in California!!
With that said, if you have never visited California, do so, but make it northern California though. Go see the coast, the Golden Gate Bridge and other out of the way places like Point Arena. You will not be sorry.
PS: the above picture won me 2nd place in the state Fair photo contest for "scenec". I got some skillz, woo hoo
Thursday, August 30, 2007
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.
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.
Monday, August 13, 2007
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.
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.
Friday, August 3, 2007
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.
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.
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