Photo By Sgt. Juanita Philip | Sgt. Herrington Augustin, a recruiter with the Virgin Islands National Guard, direct...... read more read more
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VIRGIN ISLANDS—Youth on St. Croix got a chance to experience military life for a little while this weekend with the Recruiting & Retention Battalion, Virgin Islands National Guard during inactive duty training at the Estate Bethlehem Military Compound.
Approximately 48 high school students and graduates of St. Croix’s two public high schools were engaged by recruiters from the VING along with top recruiters with the Illinois National Guard during a ‘Soldier for a Day’ event.
“We’re trying to attract youngsters from the high schools to come to the National Guard and join the organization,” said Maj. Arthur Hector, the Rec. & Ret. Bn. commander
The two Illinois recruiters hit the ground running and approached local schools with their ideas. “We went to all the schools and the university and handed out fliers. We wanted to set up stuff they could do while having fun and learning about the National Guard,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Van Bibber.
The team sold the idea to the local education community as playing Army for a day, and they described some of the activities they would engage in.
“They would get to shoot weapons in the state-of-the-art video game, a million-dollar system, and team-building, because we can’t do this without the person on your left and right at the end of the day,” Van Bibber added.
The students began their day with a formation and presentation about the National Guard, warm-ups and a rigorous session of physical training where the youth did circuit training, which consisted of planks, jumping jacks, pushups, squats, mountain climbers and laps around the drill hall at the Lieutenant Colonel Lionel A. Jackson Readiness Center.
“We are focused on putting students through the process that a soldier goes through
on a daily basis,” said Hector.
“Beginning with the physical fitness portion, coupled with the basic training that we put soldiers through to include the EST 2000[Engagement Skills Trainer 2000].”
“These are the things that we think will attract youngsters into joining the Guard,” he went on to say.
The students then split into groups and moved on either a team-building exercise or marksmanship training in the EST 2000, a laser-based unit indoor, weapons training system on pistols, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, antitank weaponry and grenade launchers.
Van Bibber and 1st Sgt. Chad McDannald, another recruiter from Illinois, traveled to the territory to as part of an effort by the National Guard Bureau to boost recruitment nationwide.
“We were hand-selected by the National Guard Bureau to travel around to show our way of recruiting and also what makes Illinois so great at recruiting,” said VanBibber.
After the group had completed all training for the day they enjoyed light refreshments and gave feedback to the recruiting team on the training. Many of them expressed the wish to train more on the EST 2000.
McDannald and Hector spoke of their experiences as students themselves when they joined the Guards many years ago.
“The guard helps to pay for your education, it assists in paying college tuition. “I think that would be a great asset from a parent’s standpoint that would interest youngsters into joining the guard,” said Hector.
“I am a product of that; the Virgin Islands National Guard paid for both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees so I am a proponent of getting my education paid for by the military.” Hector is a 29-year veteran of the VI Police Department where he retired as a police chief and transitioned from a citizen soldier to the commander of the Rec. & Ret. battalion.
I started out as a 17-year-old student, and look at me today; the sky is the limit,” he said to the students. He also had a message for those who were in doubt of their capability to succeed in the military. “You can’t get there if you don’t try, nothing beats a failure but a try.”
VanBibber echoed Hector’s sentiments with his educational experience in the military being very similar “Nowadays, everybody has a degree, but the National Guard helps you show that you are that much better than the other person.”
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.14.2018 12:09 |
| Story ID: | 269355 |
| Location: | US |
| Hometown: | ALTON, IL, US |
| Hometown: | ST. CROIX, VI |
| Web Views: | 187 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Virgin Islands, Illinois partner to engage VI youth, by SGT Juanita Philip, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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