Episode 63: USAREC to USARD: Inside the Army's Recruiting Makeover

The Army recruiting landscape is changing dramatically, and we've got the inside scoop. In this eye-opening conversation, Sergeant Bruner returns to break down the major transformation happening within Army recruiting—starting with the elevation of U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) to U.S. Army Recruiting Division (USARD), now a three-star command reporting directly to Congress.

This isn't just a name change. The recruiting world is undergoing fundamental restructuring, with Cadet Command now falling under USARD's umbrella and new MOSs being introduced. The traditional 79R recruiter designation is transitioning to 42T, with the addition of warrant officer positions (420T) to serve as targeting specialists and force multipliers across battalions.

Perhaps most significant for recruiters is the overhaul of the "ineffective recruiter" policy (601-1), eliminating the problematic monthly quota system in favor of quarterly evaluations against an annual goal. This common-sense approach allows recruiters time to implement training and develop strategies that work for their specific markets.

We dive deep into the reality of recruiting across different demographics and ZIP codes, exploring how a recruiter's background and presentation significantly impact their effectiveness in specific communities. As Sergeant Bruner explains, "You recruit your image. You recruit people that resonate with you." From rural farm communities to affluent suburbs, each market presents unique challenges and opportunities that seasoned recruiters learn to navigate.

The conversation also touches on how social media is transforming recruitment strategies, the importance of military visibility in creating future soldiers, and how these changes are already yielding results—with the Army on track to meet its annual accession mission for the first time in years. Whether you're considering recruiting duty or just curious about how the Army finds its next generation of soldiers, this episode delivers valuable insights into the evolving world of military recruitment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Army Recruiting Changes
• 9:43 USAREC Becomes USARD: Command Restructuring
• 20:34 New MOS: From 79R to 42T
• 27:07 Policy Changes to Ineffective Recruiter Standards
• 35:20 Recruiting Demographics and Zip Code Impact
• 47:33 Social Media and Future Recruiting Topics

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Roger Sarne.

Speaker 2: 0:10

Welcome to the Roger Sarne podcast, where we talk all things Army, and I'm your host, sarne Cruz. Today we're going to be talking about the new changes that have been going on within the United States Army Recruiting Command, and today we have Sergeant Bruner, my good friend. He hasn't been on in a while but he's back with some good stuff and he's a really cool guy.

Speaker 3: 0:35

And the SecDef nominee.

Speaker 2: 0:37

And the SecDef nominee. What's going on? What's going on, man? Everything good.

Speaker 3: 0:41

Yes, it is Finally life's back on track, the year's going good, everything good. Yes, it is finally life's back on track, the year's going good. New hard drive in the computer. We're good, we're back, we're live, things are working. I'm here did you just say I'm here yeah, I almost took a microphone to the face oh man, that's what's up, all right.

Speaker 2: 1:00

So let's um, let's talk about the recruiting command and how it's over going an overhaul, right? So there's a few things that we're going to talk about, a few points. One is how USAREC is taking on another identity, if you will, and then the next thing is going to be the new MOSs within that identity. And then the last thing is the change to the policy of 601-1. Is that correct? Am I on track? Yes, we are Fair enough. All right, so go ahead and take it with the USAREC and how it's called something else now USARD, usard.

Speaker 3: 1:44

All right, let's talk about talk about everybody's gonna, yeah, go ahead and math that one up to what that one rhymes with. But, uh, so, yeah. So when I got to recruiting, it was usarek. Um, after usarek or after I got here, that's the the third co-host. You gotta have a third one.

Speaker 3: 2:05

So when I got to recruiting, it was usric, us army recruiting command. It fell under trade doc. It was led by a two-star general. We answered to trade off. Trade off answered to don't care. After that, right. And then when I?

Speaker 3: 2:16

So, when I entered recruiting, it was this big you recruiting's undergoing changes, with historic recruiting lows and the woes and the tales of recruiting right. So as of sometime this year, on a date that I don't remember, um, usarek now has become its own three-star command. So we're the equivalent of trade-off, we're the equivalent of force com, right? Um, we don't answer to anybody. Okay, we are. We are now known as the U S army recruiting division. Don't ask, because that doesn't math, right, but it is now the U S army recruiting division. It's a three-star command. We don't answer to trade off, we answer straight to Congress. Um, cadet command now falls under U S army.

Speaker 3: 2:57

Recruiting is a separate recruiting function. So all your ROTC programs at colleges and all that good stuff is now roped under USARD, who no longer answers to anybody. We are our own entity. We are out here doing it all. Major General Davis got his third star Probably got his name wrong, but somebody will sue me later for that but he got his third star, everything's good. We're our own entity. We're our own entity, we're our own command, we're making our own choices now, which apparently is working, because this is the first year in I don't know forever, that we got four months left and we're on track to make our retention mission or our ascension mission, like this month, I think, like 61,000 people. So we're out here slaying it. Supposedly they're still working on it. Um, like I said, like probably not that anybody's been paying attention, but if they've noticed they get emails from anybody in recruiting. It's no longer showing up as trade doc usarek, it's showing up as usard. So we are our own people.

Speaker 2: 4:03

That's fair and and and you know what's the funny part? Like there's always gonna, there's always uh online. They always have these, uh, these messages, especially on wtf, on how people are. Uh, recruiters will message someone and then it'll probably be like some staff sergeant.

Speaker 3: 4:21

That's been in for a while, yeah that ever happened to you? You ever I missed, so I got. I got a good one today, I so I sent my. You know, hey, whatever doofus mcgee you ever thought about joining the army career potential or at all that cool, sexy recruiting shit I would join the marines, not the army. My response is well, why didn't we join the marines yet?

Speaker 2: 4:43

that's fair why are we not in yet?

Speaker 3: 4:46

I got. I think what? What's my other good one, renee? Oh pretty set on the navy.

Speaker 2: 4:50

Okay, cool um I don't know, I got some other dumb ones.

Speaker 3: 4:59

I don't know.

Speaker 2: 4:59

It's yeah true so sometimes you guys will hit somebody. Yeah, I couldn't. I could imagine like the people who like oh, yeah, I'd rather just doing it. That's fine. I just that's their personal preference. I mean Army's Army, but I guess people want it. People have to learn for themselves, you know then. And then they'll be like hey, I need to transfer over and go green.

Speaker 3: 5:23

Well, I love the like. I'm going to college on like $5,000 and I'll get a job and I'll pay for it out of pocket and it's like I don't know where. You coughing up $40,000 a year, bubba, but hey, I'm gonna tell you something right now.

Speaker 2: 5:35

School ain't cheap. I saw a buddy of mine he did, he finished I'm not sure if it was his master, but his transcripts and each class a hundred, and this is, with tuition, assistance and stuff, 140 something. He didn't have to pay, obviously, one class was like five something. Some classes are three something mainly. All the other ones were one, 40 something, but a lot of them were 500 and all that stuff. So it's not cheap to say that. A lot of them were 500 and all that stuff. So it's not cheap to say that.

Speaker 3: 6:11

I guess my next thing is explain to us what the MOS change is. So everybody loves the old, crusty, rusty 79 Romeo. Oh yeah, we all heard about them. We all hate them. They're the old used car salesman. They're the fat, overweight, senior, noncommissioned officer hanging out at Burger King going hey man, you want to quit flipping patties for the rest of your life? I'm shining right here. I'll hook you up, brother, yeah, brother. So 79 Romeo is on its way out the door. Okay, it is now going to be 42 Tango, don't ask, don't tango, don't ask, don't know why, don't particularly care why, but it is being replaced with 42 tango as well, as we're getting 420 tangos for warrant officers.

Speaker 3: 6:58

You guys have ones over there, yeah Huh, who knew? So that rolled out this year the first cohort, or whatever they call warrant officers groupies.

Speaker 3: 7:07

I don't know you never find them so I can't ask them. Um, they started their first cohort. They did a bunch of training with industry. That first group of warrant officers someone out to the recruiting force to go do their targeting subject matter expert, whatever metric they fit in in the battalion level. A lot of them circle back and went to the schoolhouse to train the next cohort and then those guys are going to start hitting the force, I think the end of this year or something like that, and they're going to get scattered around to be force multipliers as well. So with that, like 79 Romeo is their whole, their whole metric for like hey, you're a recruiter, you're in your year to two year mark.

Speaker 3: 7:49

Have you thought about reclass and become a recruiter? It was all a production based metric on on measurements. It was like, oh, how many people you put in the army this year. Well, yeah, I put in 20. Like good job, you can come on reclass. Um, it hasn't. There's a bunch of good ones out there, there's a bunch of not so good ones.

Speaker 3: 8:09

I think USAR has finally figured out that production is not the only metric that we should be measuring, the senior noncommittal, because at the end of the day, just because it's recruiting like our core responsibilities. Ncos is an NCO-centric organization because we don't have lower enlisted soldiers Hasn't changed. They're still responsible for the training, mentorship and development and I think they've kind of realized that. Hey, honda production is not the sole source. Just because you got a dude that puts 20, 25 people in the Army a year, is he going to be able to fulfill that station commander spot and then train the next generation of recruiters, the next station commanders, and train them up to par? Because there are some people that are great recruiters. They are not leadership material. They can go out there and get little Jimmy on the hook all day. Hey, buddy, you want to join the Army and who blah and all this good stuff and who blonde and all this good stuff, but then they can't turn around and teach their fellow recruiters Like this is how to become a successful recruiter. So that's, I think, one of the big driving forces with the change to four 20 tango is.

Speaker 3: 9:19

I know the reclassification process is going to be a lot more in depth. It's not just like a board, like production. We asked a couple of questions like what's use correct, regulation 601, 210. And what does that explain to you? And you know, like what's a 683 alpha? Like what do you use that form for? And like, oh, he answered the question, like he's good to go I think they're taking a lot of the total soldier concept and like, is this guy not only a good recruiter but can he lead, train, mentor and develop ncos to become good recruiters? Um, I don't. The warrant officers? Sure they're. I don't know they're doing warrant officer things. All I can tell you.

Speaker 2: 10:03

So the 42 to me sounds very admin, right, or is it just me Like 42 alphas? I don't. You know what I mean. That's what comes to my head when it comes to that.

Speaker 3: 10:21

I don't know 79 Romeos were their own career management field with their own senior leaders course, right, yeah, um, I don't. It's kind of like the why did the 19 charlies bradley crew members go to the armor when they used to be the 11 mics in the infantry back in the 80s? Like I don't know it's, it's a career management field. I don't know why it's falling under the 42 cmf um yeah it, just it, just it.

Speaker 2: 10:51

Just in my head, that's what comes to it. You know what I mean?

Speaker 3: 10:55

um but I mean because you're not wrong, the station commander is responsible for a large portion of the admin work in the office.

Speaker 3: 11:04

Like they, don't have junior enlisted soldiers, right like you go to a line and, oh, e5s, you know, mentor and counsel the specialists and the e6s write the ncors and counsel the sergeants. Like that doesn't work here. Like you a sergeant or staff sergeant and you're a da select recruiter. There's a rank difference. There ain't no position difference. You both are recruiter. Yeah, I don't rate an E5. The senior, the station commander, rates all the recruiters and he handles a majority of the admin stuff that we do. Now, again, it's not traditionally related to what we think admin in the Army, because it's a whole different ballpark. I don't again, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 11:50

Ask me what we think admin in the army, because it's it's a whole different ballpark. I don't again, I don't know. Ask me where 42 came from. That's what it is. We just like thumbs up, cool, yeah, congratulations, that's it just comes to my head. Um, so I do.

Speaker 2: 11:55

I do have a a thought process, because when I was instructor, it was, you know, it's a bunch of staff sergeants in there. Maybe you have a senior, that's a sergeant, first class, first sergeants and all that stuff. Right, mainly NCOs. But what that reminds me of is that because you said there's no privates or anything like that, right? No, no. Joes, no fives, no, nothing, right, no, no, regular hard strike sergeants.

Speaker 2: 12:16

So details came up. It wasn't no pawning it off to nobody else, it was you are going to all staff sergeants are going to go there and you guys are all going to mow that. That, the whole premises, you guys are all going to paint, you guys are all going to clean up, you guys are all going to do everything, because there's no shit. Rolls downhill thought process, right? So does that happen over there at the station as well? Like everyone's? Kind of like on the same plane playing field. So it's kind of like, well, you're not gonna pawn your stuff up on me, or everyone's gonna do it, or do you? Do you get what I'm saying? You guys have that a pissing contest, if you will.

Speaker 3: 12:56

Sometimes buddy, we are the bougie bitches of the army we don't do anything right so we have people to come and clean the office twice a week.

Speaker 3: 13:06

Get out of town yeah sick bro, it's like monday and I'm wondering like where in hell's the cleaning guy? Like my trash is full. Like the trash needs to be taken out of the office. The shredder's full, um, I mean, like we're not on a schoolhouse, we're not on a military installation, right, like yeah, I'm in a, I'm in a fucking like a four building, like shopping center, business plaza thing. Like we're in office, like yeah, it's got all army stuff.

Speaker 3: 13:33

But like once I walk out the front door, it's like like once you walk in the door, like yeah, it's a federal building. Right, like all the rules implies I can't bring your giddy gat in the office. Right, um, we're supposed to check everybody ids, you know, can't bring guns and knives and all that stuff. Like once you walk out that front door, like nah man, like this is bum, fuck iowa. Like there ain't no security guard here, there ain't no palms guard. Like our military insurance processing station is on a national guard base. Like it's not federal property, it's a federal building. They have their own guards because it's MEPS. But when I drive through the gate to go to MEPS or go to the company headquarters, this is a US government installation, this is state of Iowa, this is Iowa National Guard or state of Iowa.

Speaker 3: 14:23

We pay Iowa rent for having a company headquarters there. That's fair, that's fair. But to get back to what you're saying, we don't have those details right. I mean, sometimes it's like, oh yeah, someone's gotta go take out the trash, and usually it's like I don't know whoever kicks the lid off and like man, that fucking thing's full, like I mean it's what you're saying is y'all got it good yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, right, like, recruiting is a struggle and it's it's.

Speaker 3: 14:54

Yeah, there's no real. I'll be honest, I don't really remember the last time I've been outside of, like company and battalion leadership. Like I don't remember last time I've gone to parade arrest for anybody or calling you know, calling senior non-commissioned officer, sergeant, it's, you know, it's just like we're a bunch of dudes out here sucking it together. This job sucks. We all hate it. Nobody wants to be here. So you know what I'm saying. Like it's not uncommon for, like a station commander to walk out back my motherfucking trash full and you watch that dude walk out the office with the old bag of trash over his arm.

Speaker 3: 15:27

Or like our our catastrophe event earlier this year the the sewer backed up oh yeah, me and the station commander in there with like squeegee, like pushing shit water back down the drain like poop, yeah, so it ain't. Yeah, it's a little little different. Big boy rules out here. Less, less rank and file stuff, more just like everybody's got a job, everybody does their job, like you go to certain people for certain things. Other than that, it's just like we're a bunch of dudes in office, like there's five of us.

Speaker 2: 16:18

So, with, with that being said, like um, as a recruiter, you remember last year and how things were kind of like crazy, meaning like it was the Alarak memo that came out that you can be a recruiter you get promoted, but you got to get so many what is it called? So many recruits, 24 in one. Correct, something like that 24 in one.

Speaker 3: 16:25

24 in one. What does it called so many recruits? 24 in one, correct.

Speaker 2: 16:25

Something like that 24 in one, 24 in one. What does that mean?

Speaker 3: 16:29

24 contracts in one recruiting year, one fiscal year 24. So that's two a month, yep, because everything we do here is off of fiscal years years off of fiscal years.

Speaker 2: 16:42

Okay, so when, when that was going down, a lot of people said well, I can't make rank in my, in my MOS, or my MOS points are high, blah, blah, blah, or I need a branding assignment. And a lot of people flock towards that and, from my understanding, a lot of especially guys from the line they prefer to stay on the line. Um, but a lot of you, you're from the line right, you get on the line. But a lot of you, you're from the line right, you went over there. During that transition and that implementation, how was recruiting for you particularly? How did it go? I'm pretty sure there was good things, bad things, but you don't have to get into every detail if you don't want to, but overall, how do you think that went?

Speaker 3: 17:27

So it was kind of a double-edged sword, because it's this giant pissing match between Userek and Branches. Right, because, at the end of the day, right like Userek wants one thing, branches don't necessarily want to give up the people that they're asking for. Right Like, especially the AGR guys. So your Reservists, your dudes, your Active guard and reserve guys, they play by a whole different set of rules because and I guess we're going to have to talk about this right so, as dumb as it sounds, right Like I wear a uniform that says US Army. The Iowa National Guard wears a uniform that says US Army, us Army reservists wear a uniform that says US Army.

Speaker 3: 18:15

The Iowa National Guard wears a uniform that says US Army. Us Army reservists wear a uniform that says US Army, do we all? Fall under the.

Speaker 3: 18:20

United States Army. We 100% do. Reservists do not fall under the United States Army, national Guarders do not fall under the United States Army, right? So because when you get a policy memo that says only applies to RA and the majority of us go, okay, well, that applies to me, you might turn around to a soldier in your formation and be like hey, bubba, you're going to get promoted if you do 24 contracts in one year. Well, until the whatever King Hoo-Ha the reserve world I forget whoever he is right Cuts his own policy memo for 24, one for AGR reservists in recruiting. None of that applies. They are not the same composition as we are. So, yeah, everybody's playing by a little bit different games.

Speaker 3: 19:29

Anyway, we were way off beat with that one Um. So, yeah, I got to recruiting right before the surge started, right, I got there. And then it's like, oh, we're seeing all this stuff. Like, yeah, man, come on recruiting, get a $5,000 bonus for repeat, repeat in school Um, 24 and one promotions, which I'm glad. There's a lot of NCOs that got promoted out there for it. There's a lot that had high hopes that when they got to their recruiting station realized that that was physically impossible for them to do, because a lot of these stations to get 24 contracts in a year, that's like 50% plus of annual volume.

Speaker 2: 20:15

So it depends.

Speaker 3: 20:17

So you got three dudes in office, right? Uh-huh. They on for 33 contracts a year. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3: 20:26

And now Sergeant Cruz is out here like hey, man, I'm going to get promoted at E7. I'm going to write 24-1. All right, bubba, tell me how you're going to write 24-1 in a place that's going to struggle to write 33. We're going to pump the brakes here Because with the ineffective recruiter policy, everybody's got to eat right. So if your area right to keep the math simple is only propensity, is only 33 Army contracts a year, either you eating out of somebody else's plate and fucking them over in the process, or it just ain't gonna happen. So I mean, at the time the army's like oh, more recruiters was the way we solved the recruiting crisis problem. I don't know if that's what solved it. We ain't gonna even speculate on that. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 21:08

But it was a way for them to draw more recruiters and I'm happy for the people that did it All right, yeah, I mean it really hasn't changed until this year. I mean it's been. We've had our ups, we've had our downs, we've had our struggles and our woes. I do think the big influx of recruiters did help.

Speaker 3: 21:35

At the end of the day, the more bodies you got out on the street, the more people you got asking the question right, do you want to join your army? Naturally, you're going to net more people that want to join. Right, because it's all about, it's a game. Right, because we always say in recruiting first to contact, first contract. It's, it's 100% true. Because you got a kid, he doesn't know the difference between the Army, the Marines, right, other than what we wear and the poster says Marines and the Army. You can have a kid that's like I'm going home, marines. But if you're the first dude to ever talk to him and he never sees a Marine recruiter, well, motherfucker, you ain't gonna come talk to me, I'm gonna join these guys. Well, motherfucker, you ain't gonna come talk to me, I'm gonna join these guys.

Speaker 3: 22:14

Even though he drives past a big old Marine billboard every day. So I mean, did it help? Yeah, do I think it's entirely the solution? No, I don't think it was. But.

Speaker 2: 22:24

I mean it did help some. That's fair. So I think the last thing that I want to ask about is the policy change. Was it dramatic? Was it little things?

Speaker 3: 22:37

any major issues or major updates, if you will so when I got here, the previous year to me getting here, when a recruiter got to USREC, he had a one year exemption where he wasn't on production for his first year. Right, things didn't count against him. He had a year to get his feet wet, learn ropes. When I got here, it was six months. And then so your first six months, your production isn't held against you, right, it's? Hey, you're learning the ropes, you're going to do good. You're going to not put people in the army this month. You're going to put people in the army this month. And that was the first year.

Speaker 3: 23:15

601-1 policy came out, right, the ineffective recruiter, the ghost in the in the room, right? So the to keep it short, right? The first policy was you're on 11 contracts a year and one contract a month. Right, it was a double standard. So in total, you had to write 11 contracts a year at a minimum. So it's really great, right, everybody hears that because it's like cool, if I write 11 contracts from October going into November, I'm done for the year. Nah, pump the brakes. Remember, now you're on for one a month still. So you put 11 in by November and then come January, you don't write one. And it was on the month by month, may. So if you didn't write one in January, you got canceled February, you got canceled Next month. After that, because months are hard, you got canceled. Now you're on your last.

Speaker 2: 24:11

Wait, wait, hold on. So you're telling me that if I freaking, let's say, out of a 12-month period, right, if I put 12 in in six months, I'm still.

Speaker 3: 24:19

Remember, you have a one-month mulligan. You need 11.

Speaker 2: 24:26

I get it, but you're saying that the last six months I still have to do one per month because I'm on a month to month.

Speaker 3: 24:33

And an annual requirement. It was a double standard.

Speaker 2: 24:37

Oh, so I can meet my annual 11 a year one a month. Okay so I can meet my annual in six months, but I still need to meet the monthly.

Speaker 3: 24:47

Yep, and you're separated from USREC. Quote unquote. Yeah, ineffective recruiter. Best part was nobody knew how to do 6011. Legal was kicking Packers Bass back left and right because there wasn't training records. You didn't do enough for the soldier, right. So nobody was getting 6011. Even the dudes that voluntarily were like I'm taking this shit off, because initially they were like, hey, if you don't want to be here, let us know.

Speaker 3: 25:15

Deuces Back the line you go. It's not a punishment, we're going to leave it at that. We ain't getting in that fucking can of worms. It's not supposed to be a punishment. Your NCR is not any different. If you leave early, instead of a 12-month it's a nine month, right? Nobody's typically going in there. And this dude sucked at a fucking recruiter, right, you know, you still get top blocks, maybe not mq, but you get it fully qualified, right? Everything's good to go. You still get a pcs award. Thanks for playing, have a nice time. Go back to where we came from.

Speaker 3: 25:47

And then the common sense fairy showed up. So then fy25 rolled out new 6011 policy. Lots of sweeping changes into verbiage and language and stuff that we don't care about. Big change the monthly requirement went away. Now it was a one standard. You were on 11 contracts a year, judged on a quarterly basis. So you go through first quarter, right, you get your three contracts, you're safe. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 26:18

So we call it lead line right, because as every month goes by. So you, you 11 a year, 11 at 12 months, so like. So you got one month, that's mulligan. So october old crews here don't write a contract it's November, december, on lead line. Good to go, not on lead line, get a counseling right. January, february, march comes by, write three contracts on lead line. Good to go, miss one or two, get another counseling, this time from company level or battalion, yeah, whatever, whoever right to get another counseling, this time from company level or battalion, yeah, whatever, whoever right. Three counselings is the number here, right, yeah. So Cruz right now is three behind lead line, right, three contracts deep. Three behind lead line.

Speaker 3: 27:07

Cruz has a stellar month going in the fourth month of the calendar year, right, drops four motherfucking contracts Caught up. His three behind back on lead line, right, one, one counseling. Stop, because he's on lead line right Now. Here's where we get into some legal verbiage, because, at any point, right. So let's just say Cruz missed all the first quarter, put two contracts in the second quarter doesn't have, as we call it, the funnel to catch back up. They can initiate separation from USREC, right, they can go. Hey, you don't have what it takes. There's no way you can catch up, right? Thanks for playing. We're going to send you home, right? Yeah, but the cool thing is right. So let's say so. We're going into third quarter. We're six contracts deep, right, we're all in the summer.

Speaker 3: 27:58

Cruz has got all them juniors lined up Drops four contracts right Now we're 10. Drops another contract the next month they get 11. 10 drops another contract. The next month, they get 11. You're done for the year. You are marked safe from 6011.

Speaker 3: 28:17

Obviously, typically you're not going to stop writing people because at that point you're not just going to sit back and chill, you're going to continue writing people, right, but at that point, right, if you just had to shit the bed the last year fell off the rails, I don't know. Dog died, wife left you, kids ran away, right, and you just fell off the rails because your life fell apart. Yeah, you're marked safe. You got your 11 contracts a year. Thanks for playing, right.

Speaker 3: 28:42

So it was a great change because it took it, gave time for the actual like hey, I'm gonna sit down the first quarter, start crews. Like you're really good at getting people in the office. You're really good at the appointment conduct, right. Buddy, you shit the bed at the test line. Why can't you get them to test right? And so it gives us time for me to train you on. Like, hey, this is what you need to do to get them tested. Maybe you can't gain the commitment right, but now we got a whole 90 days that you can take all that information that I gave you at the beginning of second quarter and implement it, because it may not take effect that first month, but you may chew through eight, nine, 10, 12 appointments right, and then come out with six testers, four phys right, three enlists and then bam, you're caught up. Baby, we gave you time for those changes, that training, to take effect. So it was. It was a great change okay.

Speaker 2: 29:37

So do you? Do you think that the recruiting in because you say you're in idaho, iowa, iowa, you're in?

Speaker 3: 29:48

Iowa Same difference.

Speaker 2: 29:50

Yeah, I guess. Do you think that that would play? And I kind of know, or I don't know, I kind of would think I know the answer. But do you think Iowa would be the same as New York, as California or Texas? And when I say the same, I know it's not the same, but what do you think the difference in the demographic plays into recruiting itself? Access to the military access to the military you mean like proximity man, I wish we could pull.

Speaker 3: 30:30

I wish we could pull up screens and stuff. We'll have to figure that out later, right? What just happened on Memorial Day, nascar, right? Oh. Roger, what did they do for the pace car on nascar this year? They didn't watch it. Tell me, 160th brought two blackhawks oh, yeah, okay, yeah and flew two blackhawks right yep, they did that that pace around, whatever it was what they call it, it's a, but okay, yeah disclaimer.

Speaker 3: 31:00

Right, I'm not saying it's great because, fuck them, nothing's better than the 1990 whatever hooters 500, when those motherfuckers got four apaches out there like getting low and getting slow and strutting their stuff. Right, that best army recruitment video ever there done. Right, show that to every high school kid in america. Everybody's gonna join. Right, access to the military plays a big part. Right, you're at HUD. What does HUD do every year? Because you got the Texas Motor Speedway. What are we doing? We send tanks, rallies, blackhawks, helicopters. Right, soldiers down there, we're parking them on the Speedway.

Speaker 3: 31:34

Hey, come check out what the US Army does. Right, you got kids climbing all over shit. Right, so the closer you are to a military installation, the easier it is to get people joining our. You get farther away you get from the flagpole, the harder it is, because there's some zip codes that it's like you're doing your job as a recruiter. You're going all your zip codes. You're going all your high schools. Right, you walk into high school and realize like, oh shit, you're talking to guidance counselor, like who are you? And you're looking. I'm like motherfucker, I'm United States Army.

Speaker 2: 32:01

They're like what the fuck's an army.

Speaker 3: 32:03

You realize that a recruiter ain't been in there since 04. And now you're trying to convince little Jimmy that, like hey, you never met me before, you never seen anybody that looks like, because you should probably join the army.

Speaker 2: 32:15

Kind of like a that could be considered like a dead zone because it's not frequently visited.

Speaker 3: 32:21

Yeah, so I mean yeah, so demographics play into it. Um, this recruiting at the recruiter level is a game that is fought by zip code to zip code. Right, there are zip codes where, like especially here in iowa right, this is, this is american farm country. Right, the majority of ethanol produced comes out of the Midwest right, corn soybeans. Apparently, fucking Iowa's one of the biggest pork producers in the United States. Didn't know that, right.

Speaker 2: 32:51

I thought it was.

Speaker 3: 32:52

Smithfield in Virginia. No, apparently Iowa's got more pigs than you can shake a stick at. It's unreal how many. Like everything, every supermarket you go into and you look at pork, 90% of that shit's got a sticker that says raised in iowa. Gotcha like it is. But so you go into a zip code that there's no money, there's no schools, right. Well, there are schools, right, but there's no money, there's no jobs, right. And then you go one zip code over and it's legitimately like oh, my dad's an executive, john deere, my dad's an executive case. My dad works for whatever the fucking seed store is, right like he. You know he's the owner of the local seed and feed store. These dudes ain't joining the fucking army because their dad makes three hundred thousand dollars you're working for john deere not in the slightest.

Speaker 3: 33:45

Oh, here's a question go ahead but it definitely helps when you're in a place where the 160 because, like people, don't realize recruiting is a long game nobody joins the army. Rephrase that 90 of the people don't join the army. Because what do you phrase? That 90% of the people don't join the army because a recruiter talked to them? Hmm, okay, little Jimmy joins the fucking army because he was at the Texas motor speedway when he was 10 years old and all the siren crews is like hey, buddy, come check out this fucking tank where he's an eight-year-old at the Memorial Day. You know NASCAR 500 watching the 160 store store strut their stuff with their Blackhawks, right, or?

Speaker 3: 34:33

ingrained yeah you know he moved to clean because that's the only place his dad could get a job working on posted the px, making 15 bucks an hour. And that dude sees us, you know his dad's taking him to daycare. He sees first cavalry division strutting their shit down the you know the tank trail and he's sitting there in a car on the way to daycare like fuck, is that shit dad. Dad's like oh, those are tanks and he's looking like man that'd be cool to do one day. Right like I, I didn't join the army because we're okay. Well, I'll tell you why I joined the army. I want to join the marine corps. That dude wouldn't shut the fuck up because they have to give their little spiel like once a marine, always marine. You're not joining the marine corps for the job, you're joining for the title. And I'm like bro, shut the fuck up.

Speaker 3: 35:13

I know what I'm joining. Right, I joined the army because my grandpa was in the army. My dad was in the army. I I grew up listening to my grandpa tell these stories about Korea and Vietnam and, oh yeah, shoot people's most fun you're going to have with your pants on kind of shit, right? And I'm sitting here like cool, I'm going to join the Army to be an infantryman, like my grandpa. So I come home so I go talk to the recruiter, runs his mouth for an hour. I'm like, fuck this guy, join the Marine Corps. Why are you selling me on it?

Speaker 2: 35:41

Because they want to stop talking. He talked you out of it.

Speaker 3: 35:44

Yeah, I walked through the Army. Hey, I'm joining the Army. Got any questions? Nah, dad and Grandpa did it. I'm good, here's your packet. Bring it back on Friday I'm in and out five minutes Right Easiest recruit. So I go home and I'm like hey, dumb first of all, you're not infantry. Well, so I wanted to, because my grandpa's infantryman, right, he's got his, his shadow box at that big cib up there, right yeah yeah and that was about to say I

Speaker 3: 36:15

fucking know you man, you're not yeah, but you know I'm saying like he's yeah, you know I grew listening to all these infantry stories and all this. Like shit running around the jungle in Vietnam like doing snake eater shit and, you know, shooting it up with the North Vietnamese and like that shit's fucking cool. Right, I go home, grandpa, I'm joining the army. He's like you're dumb, motherfucker. I'm like I want that shit was dumb. You know how jealous it was.

Speaker 3: 36:38

Sitting on the side of the road and fucking Korea, freeze my ass off. Watch these tanks drive by. They're all warm. They ain't walking. Yeah, they're warm, they're dry. They got some place to eat, someplace to sleep, someplace to shit. He's like why would you carry your weapon when your weapon carry? Good idea. I just pumped the brakes. I ain't gonna be an infantryman, I'm gonna be a tanker. That didn't happen. I'm sitting in maps like, well, 19 kilo ain't available. What else? You got tanks pulled up, the 19 delta video and the dirt bikes and shit. I'm like, fuck yeah, still waiting on my sniper rifle, still waiting on my ghillie suit, still waiting on my motherfucking dirt bike so god damn coach we waiting on all that shit, hey I was gonna ask, going to ask you, man, before I forget.

Speaker 2: 37:26

So you said specifically the area code matters, right, but I would imagine that you can recruit. This is a two-part question. I would imagine that you can recruit anywhere, and if not, then I'm fucked up. But if you can, how does that work? The second part is If you can, is social media Like TikTok, instagram, facebook A good tool for that, and even LinkedIn, I would imagine so. So, Can you recruit in another?

Speaker 3: 38:04

area.

Speaker 2: 38:07

Let's do that one.

Speaker 3: 38:12

You are going to recruit well, where you fit in, right. So I'm not going to take you. I'm not saying you're not going to be successful, right, yeah, but I'm not going to take you into bumfuck Iowa, dressed as you are now Got the Giants hats backwards right. The New York fucking shirt on. Right he's got the Apple watch. He's whipping it shitty in the Tesla. Right. He's got the iPhone and the iMac right. You're probably not going to do well in most of these schools because they're going to look at like who in the fuck is this clown, right?

Speaker 2: 38:44

Gotcha, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3: 38:47

Where you may go to someplace like. So you may not do good in Greene County, iowa, because they're all farmers, they're all rural, right? Yeah, you know what I'm saying. You're going to be mind fucked because you're going to walk in this high school and kids got pocket knives and fucking fixed blade knives and you're back. The fuck is this shit. Right, you're used to school metal detectors and locked doors. Right, I just go bang on the front fucking door. Nobody checks my goddamn id. They just let me in know who you're here to see today. Have fun, right, I go roam around at high school, all I want. Right, you may go down to another zip code like Huxley, iowa. That's all rich people with money. That's driving Tesla driving a hundred thousand dollars for it's right. And you may walk in there again in uniform with the. I watch the iPhone. Right, the slick glasses. Right, the slick hairdo you know whipping a shitty up in your Tesla.

Speaker 2: 39:42

Did thela, did he?

Speaker 3: 39:44

it's nothing but it's honestly true. But you, but they may be like oh you telling me you got all that cool shit in the motherfucking army. Like I ain't got to go work for john deere, like I can get the fuck out of iowa and everybody's flocking and putting in. Like you recruit your image. That's fair. You recruit people that resonate with you.

Speaker 2: 40:02

Okay, and with that, do you think social media is also helping that?

Speaker 3: 40:10

If you're good at social media fuck. Yeah, it is, I'm a social media person. Are you saying your social media?

Speaker 2: 40:16

recruit. Game is trash.

Speaker 3: 40:17

How many times a year do you see me post a picture on Facebook? Ugh, when's the last time you seen me post a picture on Facebook? When's the last time you see me post a picture on Facebook Ever? Probably like two years ago? If you ain't good at social media, you ain't going to come out to recruiting and crack the bowl.

Speaker 2: 40:33

That's fair.

Speaker 3: 40:37

But someone like you that has taken the time and invested in the social media to do this podcast, right, social media may be your ticket. I can't sit there and fucking whip out my iPhone and like recording YouTube short in the field, like this is going to be me old, pissed off and angry, but you can do it, so it it does help if you're the right person that can leverage and do the corny shit, cause you know me, I'm a pretty flat person. I'm either pissed off, I'm either angry, or 1% of the week You're going to find me in a good mood, right Fair, where you're a more bubbly person and you're more willing to put yourself out there, where I'm not, which is funny seeing I'm doing a podcast. But right it's, it can work for you. It doesn't work for me.

Speaker 3: 41:18

I tried social media media and, bro, I sit there for fucking three hours trying to figure out something to post just to like regurgitate some shit. The go army did um and it doesn't work for me. But there are recruiters that it works for, and 100 it is a game changer, especially if people are willing to not saying that we circumvent the fucking rules you used to calm down, but there are recruiters that are willing to use their personal assets, because they're only certain stuff we can do with our gov phones right they're willing to use their personal assets to do the tick tock and and do the the stuff like that.

Speaker 3: 41:51

Right, and you know everybody laughs like we saw these retirees motherfucker recruiter on tick tock, like doing a live stream, like answering questions. I guarantee that motherfuckers putting people in the army, yeah, yeah, the same way that I can go grab my shotgun and shit and because I like to shoot and stuff and go ahead to the, the local skeet range, be out there shooting skeet and five stand and sporting clays and doing all this cool stuff. And you know, just be chatting it up with the army. And you see some kid like, hey, what are you doing out here, man? You know, just be chatting it up with the army. And you see some kid like, hey, what are you doing out here, man? You know, just casual conversation.

Speaker 2: 42:25

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 42:26

Yo, I shoot for Ballard high school. They got a trap team and cool and like, just straight up, frank, question, you ever thought about the army? Cause, those are my people, right, and they hit him with the. Not really like what he asked. Like buddy, if you don't wait for a motherfucking army, I wouldn't be here and I was shooting traps. So, um, we just put our company, put somebody in this year that goes to amu, really, army marksmanship unit, yep yeah he found him okay that's fair.

Speaker 3: 42:57

so I don't know who did, but they're going to AMU. Go ahead. No, I don't know where that um came from, fair.

Speaker 2: 43:10

It's a nervous um. Recruiting is just basically where you are, how you work it, and if social media is your thing, it's good.

Speaker 3: 43:25

You can use that as a tool for your arsenal. So we have three markets right. So we have targeted or we have must-keeps, must-wins, markets of opportunity. Okay.

Speaker 3: 43:36

Must-keeps mean we're dominating the market, we're pulling in the majority of DOD share. Right means we're dominating the market. We're pulling in the majority of dod share right. So when some s2 weenie does this shit, um, we get a map by zip code, shows all our zip codes, what's must keep, what's must win right. Shows dod share or dod potential, army potential right and breaks it down all the sciencey shit, right. So if it's must keep, it's because the army is dominating.

Speaker 3: 44:03

A must win is like, hey, we're doing good, but we're not winning the market share and a market opportunity is like there ain't shit out there. There are recruiters that have showed up their recruiting stations and in three years have taken markets for markets of opportunity to. Must keeps because they're putting in the miles or getting in their schools or talking to people, right, and something that traditionally we're looking at big picture saying, well, there's no potential to write contracts out here. They're sitting here going well, motherfucker, I just wrote eight this last year. So tell me, there ain't something out here.

Speaker 3: 44:35

In the next year you get that same map and it's a must win. Yeah. Next year you get the same map, it's a must keep. Yeah, that comes into like, yeah, 90% of people you won't convince to join the Army, but you may convince a people in a school that's never thought about the Army before that they can join the Army and succeed. So it exists. So I mean, yeah, it's you as a person, like what you're capable of doing, how you're willing to put yourself out there and how good you are at being a people person.

Speaker 2: 45:06

Personality. That's fair, All right. So we've discussed a lot. We talked about the restructuring or renaming of USARC to USARD US.

Speaker 3: 45:25

Army Recruiting Division.

Speaker 2: 45:26

US Army Recruiting Division. We talked about the new MOSs. We talked about the changes to the policy of 601-1, which seemed to be working better or more beneficial. We talked about the recruiting market itself. There's a lot that's going on here and a lot of good things. From what it seems like to me, right, it doesn't seem like recruiting is such a bad deal, from like what I've heard in the past from some people that they may not like it. I've also heard in the past of some people that have liked it. I will honestly say that I think I've heard more positives than negatives. Personally, I'm in my last strut, so I would not want to go recruiter. But those of you who do want to go recruiter, um, hit the comments below. Uh, here's a question, scott, where could people find you?

Speaker 3: 46:30

I don't know anymore. That's a good question. I forgot. I totally forgot about this course I don't have. It's been a rough year so a lot of stuff's falling away side. People that have watched this before know I was doing the twitch stream and stuff. It's been a rough year so a lot of that stuff's falling away side. People that have watched this before know I was doing the Twitch stream and stuff. It's been up and down year. I've been on and off trying to do the Twitch stream and stuff. That's been. I hit the milestone. I'm almost a affiliate but I can't quite cross that milestone because I haven't been able to commit the time to it. That's where they can find you.

Speaker 3: 47:07

If you do want to find me, it will be right here at the Rogers Heart Podcast. I'm back, we're live. I know we were talking earlier. I'm trying to get Casmo. We'll leave it at that. I'm trying to get a buddy of mine, casmo. We'll leave it at that. I'm trying to get a buddy of mine, casmo, on here.

Speaker 3: 47:24

Um, he was a Kiowa pilot, turned Apache pilot from a started as a tanker, trying to get him talk about the waft, what it was like being a pilot flying a couple of different airframes. Um, I'm my tenure here, recruiting, is about to expire. I got a manning cycle for next year. I know we got a lot to unpack. So for future, just to outline what I'm just, people don't take this as a promise. Don't take this as a guarantee. Tell anybody who's paid attention in the army. They know that 19 Delta's got slashed by two-thirds. At some point we're going to talk about 19 Delta.

Speaker 3: 48:10

We're going to do some rumor episodes. Rumor on the street is I heard 4ID is losing tanks and they're going to be 4th Infantry Division strikerized. Everybody, calm down, because I'm going to get real excited about this one. 3 SCR 3 Striker Calvary Regiment is now about to become 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment Again.

Speaker 3: 48:28

This is rumor on the street, nothing confirmed, but we are going to talk about this because that's big changes. We're going back to an old way of fighting at divisions, especially if we're talking bringing Armored Calvary Regiments back. I'd like to get to interviewing people. I know we're going to try the Casmo thing, see if we can get him to come. I know, if you haven't seen it, that dude white-papered the thing on the new XM7 rifles. They basically beat them down with a passion which is going to lead into a bunch of fun conversation because we're going to go into some of the big sig civilian side stuff with that and the m17 slash the p320, going off in holsters and shooting people in the legs and shit laxico it's my boy shout out but yeah, I'm back.

Speaker 1: 49:17

I'm back, though we got a lot of stuff to talk about this summer.

Speaker 3: 49:22

And yeah, so you can find me here. And then at some point I'll link all the other social media and we'll have a cool little box that pops up. Y'all can watch me play video games and fly helicopters and shit.

Speaker 2: 49:32

Let's go All right, fair enough, you heard it first. We got a lot to unpack this summer and we're going to have time for it. So on top of that, I want to hear from you guys what do you guys think. Do you guys still want to be a recruiter? Do you guys think these new changes are going to make you want to be a recruiter? Drop your thoughts in the comments and, if you found this discussion insightful, check out any of our other videos and remember you don't have to embrace the suck if you got the right tools in your ruck. I'm Sarn Cruz, that's Sarn Bruner and we're out and I'll see you in the next one. Peace Later. Roger Sarn.