FORT MEADE, Md. (TRADOC News Service, Nov. 4, 2008) -- A team consisting of the 1st Recruiting Brigade Mobile Recruiter Training Team and 22 company operation trainers successfully enlisted 80 applicants during Operation Strike Force Victory, a program continuing to provide results long after its end.
Col. Patrick M. Gawkins, 1st Brigade commander, ordered the development of a strike force to increase enlistments and Army market share in areas with the highest potential return-on-investment following the 4th Quarter quarterly training briefings. Long Island, James River and Norfolk recruiting companies became the subjects of the mission.
"The purpose of the strike force was simple," said Command Sgt. Major Todd A. Moore, 1st Brigade command sergeant major, "Embed our best and brightest into our most propensed AORs and lead more Americans into the ranks of our Army."
The concept put an eight-to-nine-person team of trainers into three company AORs that were clearly identified as the most propensed companies. Using the S2 potential model, the teams recruited alongside the units' assigned NCOs while simultaneously training as they fought the mission.
"We established a goal of 75 contracts between three training teams [set to deploy to the field]," said Moore, "By endex they had lead over 80 Americans into our Army in just short of 90 days."
"The mission was an absolute success," said Moore, "There was an enormous amount of training and sharing that occurred at all levels that you can't measure, but will grow and develop significantly the skills and knowledge of the NCOs in all three AORs."
Prior to engaging the field, MRTT trained the COTs for two days to ensure prospecting plans focused on the commander's intent and that efforts were focused on zip codes providing the best possible return-on-investment.
"The COTs were required to embed within the recruiting stations," said Master Sgt. Anthony Stoneburg, 1st Brigade MRTT non-commissioned officer-in-charge. "They were there to show the NCOs in those recruiting stations what right looks like."
Sgt. 1st Class Eric Hunter, Richmond (Va.) Company operation trainer, agreed.
"Whether it's dealing with prospecting, processing, or future soldier maintenance, this will give them an opportunity to see some of the things they might be missing," he said.
Hunter said the strike force helped the company selected in his AO in a huge way.
"This [the strike force] gave the company a chance to see that recruiting is really what you make of it," he said. "If you have Soldiers recruiting successfully in a new environment with limited tools, it should motivate others, especially new Soldiers, to follow suit."
Currently 1st Brigade has no plans to conduct strike force missions like this one in the future, but the effects of Operation Strike Force Victory offered area recruiters long-term training benefits.
"The training and reinforcement provided will last much longer than the enlistments we were able to provide," said Stoneburg.
"Too often we tell others how to do things," said Moore, "During this mission we wanted to show them how to do it while optimizing AORs that had large DOD enlistment activity."
1st Brigade MRTT and leadership continue to examine the after-action review for this mission. The operation was conducted July 14 through Sept. 15.
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