CAMP RIPLEY - Minnesota Army National Guard recruiters from Camp Ripley visited soldiers in the field during training June 11-19.
Personnel of the Minnesota National Guard's Recruitment and Retention Battalion stationed at Camp Ripley ventured "down range" to talk to soldiers about their duties and responsibilities as a National Guard soldier.
"Everyone in recruiting comes from a wide variety of military jobs before joining the team," said Sgt. First Class Joshua Derheimer, central Minnesota station chief. "My MOS, or military occupational skill, was originally working with the field artillery."
For many recruiters, the knowledge and experience that come from a previous job - MOS - is invaluable while assisting potential recruits to join the guard, but it won't cover the details of the nearly 200 different job choices available to those who join.
"We do our best to understand each job requirement and what it can do for an interested young man or woman," said Sgt. Randi Wolkenhauer, Camp Ripley recruiter. "Sometimes we have to go right to the source."
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One method used by the team is to reach out to the more than 11,000 Army National Guard soldiers that train on Camp Ripley throughout the year.
"We get to make contact with them, find out what they do, how they do it and their motivations behind their choice to join the Guard," added Wolkenhauer.
"The men and women in the field, doing the job, is the best resource we could have for information, stories, leads and inspiration; we don't want to let them down by falling behind in our duties," said Derheimer.
During a visit to soldiers of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, Wolkenhauer got the opportunity to learn the operations of the M1A1 Abrams tank and its four-man crew.
"As combat arms MOSs come more and more open for women as well as men, our knowledge and personal experiences will be the best tools for presenting a more accurate representation of the Guard," said Wolkenhauer.
