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OKLAHOMA CITY - Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Wheeler and his niece, Sgt. Paige Stanphill, recruiters with the Oklahoma National Guard, are battling it out in a friendly competition to see who can enlist the most recruits for this year.
Wheeler, who is based in Vinita, Oklahoma, and Stanphill, who is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have already met their goals for this quarter, but the family feud fuels their eagerness to outperform one another keeps them motivated to attain even more success.
“He’ll text me and be like ‘So how many do you have? How many are you throwing up this month?’ So, it's really competitive, but it's fun,” Stanphill said. “It’s pushing me to continue after I put in my mission already.”
Wheeler and Stanphill have already proven themselves to be exceptional professionals in their field, boasting spots in the top 50 production recruiters in the nation so far this year.
While Wheeler good-naturedly cajoles his niece to keep up the competitive spirit, Stanphill takes a more indirect approach at prodding her opponent.
“She kind of pits the family against me a little bit,” Wheeler said. “But it's good, having that family competition helps out the drive to work.”
The two recruiters rely on their friendly competition to maintain their momentum for the year, and they’re not above using all advantages available to them to come out on top.
Stanphill will be away from her job for a few weeks to attend the Advanced Leader Course this summer, and Wheeler says he plans on taking that time to catch up to his niece’s superior recruitment numbers. However, he’s not the only one with a plan to come out on top.
“I’m pretty confident,” Stanphill said with a grin. “Once summer comes, I think he’s going to go out golfing every weekend, and I’ll still be here.”
Although a friendly competitive spirit is helping to motivate the pair, recruiting is about much more than numbers for Wheeler and Stanphill.
In addition to a desire to outperform one another, both hope to help young adults in their community achieve a brighter future.
“My greatest success is when the people I’ve put in send me pictures of them graduating Basic Training and tell me ‘Thank you so much, you’ve changed my life’,” Stanphill said. “That is literally the best success I could ever have.”
The impact of the recruiting profession reaches beyond simply enlisting people, and affects the communities of Oklahoma. Enlisting people is part of the job, but it’s not their only job, Wheeler said.
“It’s making those relationships out there,” Wheeler said. “Vinita is a pretty small town, pretty small school. When they have a Fall Fest or whatever, getting out there and setting up a table or bringing something, it shows the community that I’m here for you guys. I’m here to help out in any way that I can,” Wheeler said.
While Wheeler and Stanphill are using their family rivalry to propel them into a greater level of success as recruiters, their ultimate motivation lies in the benefits the Oklahoma National Guard has to offer each individual, as well as the community.
“This is the whole reason I am a recruiter,” Stanphill said. “I think that the Guard can literally be for anybody. It’s for rich people. It’s for poor people. It’s for middle class. It’s for any race, color, gender. You don’t have to do full-time, it’s a part-time gig. So you can still do the things that you want to do, and still be the person that you want to be. But you can also use all the benefits that we have, plus helping out your community.”
| Date Taken: | 03.06.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2023 15:49 |
| Story ID: | 439798 |
| Location: | OK, US |
| Web Views: | 98 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Uncle vs niece: Two Oklahoma Army National Guard Recruiters Battle To See Who Can Enlist The Most Soldiers, by CPL Danielle Rayon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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