Vet News: Active Guard Reserve Recruiter Program Expanding

ST. LOUIS, September 28, 2004 -- The Army Reserve is seeking 400 enlisted Soldiers to take active-duty tours to fill new recruiter positions located across the country.

Soldiers already in the Active Guard Reserve, or AGR, program will be detailed into recruiter positions for three years. These Soldiers will retain their original military occupational specialty for future assignments, officials said. They said Soldiers who are newly hired into the AGR recruiter program will hold the recruiter designation as their primary specialty.

Those who are accepted into the AGR Recruiter program will attend the seven-week Army Recruiter Course at Fort Jackson, S.C.

"We are looking for those Soldiers who want to volunteer to take on the challenging mission of those in recruiting," said Sgt. 1st Class Gabriel Fierro, recruiting program noncommissioned officer, with the Army Reserve Active Duty Management Directorate at U.S. Army Human Resources Command – St. Louis. "We work hard to place our volunteers where they want to be."

Fierro served as an AGR detailed recruiter from 1997 to 2000. "I loved it," he said of recruiting. "If you really think about it, how many jobs can you hold where you can go out knowing that you are changing someone's entire life?

"As a recruiter, you have a direct influence on someone's perspective, future and ambition," Fierro explained. "It is the greatest feeling when you work with someone and put them into the military because you know how far they can go."

Fierro said one of his greatest memories from recruiting was an invitation he received to put sergeant's stripes on the second person he had brought into the military.

Beyond the intangible benefits, which come with the job, he points out that there are many other benefits to becoming an AGR recruiter. They include:

- Promotion potential – AGR recruiter positions are designed for sergeants first class. This gives those who succeed the opportunity to be promoted to this level, officials said.

- Special Duty Assignment Pay - $450 is paid monthly to AGR recruiters.

Fierro recognized that the hours can be long and the work can be demanding, but being a recruiter is a great place for someone who has served in the field and is now placed in a unique position to help, guide and mentor others.

"People who have been in theater and know the good stories and the whole truth about the great things our military does can be very effective recruiters," Fierro said. "They can share what they've learned with new recruits. A good recruiter helps someone realize their potential and what they can achieve in the military," he said.

SOURCE: VNIS