Photo By Master Sgt. Mike Smith | NASCAR driver David Stremme meets Air Force Col. Mary Salcido, director of Air Guard...... read more read more
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ARLINGTON, Va.,— Master Sgt. Louie Birkholz knows a lot of Airmen in the Missouri Air National Guard.
He has recruited 985 of them at Lambert Air National Guard Base in St. Louis. The number is considered high for his profession. It's the equivalent of an entire air wing, and it's the ultimate goal for an Air Guard recruiter, March 23.
"I'm at a point in my career now, that it's about what's good for the Air Guard," he said, adding that it took him 15 years to recruit that number.
Yes, he calls it "a number" because he's busier as a recruiting office supervisor helping others than paying his personal achievements much notice.
Still, it's impressive to those around him. In the Air Guard, more than 500 accessions earn a "lifetime achievement" award.
And before Birkholz retires, he might recruit two lifetime's worth, but he said he'll just keep on, no matter the number.
The Air Guard announced last week its accessions for February were 104 percent of its goal with 554 recruits.
It's obvious that Air Guard recruiters are getting people to enlist, but finding a place for them is the challenge.
Precision recruiting into hard-to-fill technical positions, medical recruiting and officer recruiting predominates right now over historical position-filling with popular career fields, such as intelligence and security forces — filled and unavailable to recruits in some states.
Birkholz's unit is 120-percent manned, and many other Air Guard units also report 100-percent end strengths and higher.
In spite of all that, the Air Guard's "Century Club" of recruiters grew last year. They are the folks who help more than 100 people find careers in the Air Guard.
For each 100 accessions, they are recognized by their peers. The achievements stack up to 500, for some. After 500 accessions, there's recognition for Birkholz and others as a "lifetime achiever."
The Air Guard recognized at least 37 new Century Club recruiters in 2009 for reaching 100 accessions.
That and a host of other achievements were recently celebrated at the Air Guard's annual recruiting and retention workshop in Dallas.
"I cannot thank you all enough for the tremendous work that you do each and every day," Col. Mary Salcido, director of Air Guard Recruiting and Retention, told these recruiters.
Master Sgt. Ray Butler, from the Air Guard's Recruiting Awards and Policy office, said the Century Club is one of many Air Guard awards that recognize the hard work of recruiters. The program was incorporated three years ago.
The Air Force Recruiting Information Support System keeps track of individual recruiting numbers.
"There were at least eight folks who hit the 500 mark last year," said Butler, adding that the number of accessions does not necessarily equate to all the hard work being done across the nation.
Recruiters stationed at smaller units or geographically separated units may never have the manning to recruit to Century Club levels.
"It depends upon the recruitable market and the number of vacancies that the recruiter has," said Butler.
| Date Taken: | 03.23.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.23.2010 10:59 |
| Story ID: | 47080 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 186 |
| Downloads: | 149 |
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