The Master Recruiter Badge is one step closer to being awarded to NCOs and officers who are proven experts in the art and science of recruiting. Approved by the Army Chief of Staff in February and the Institute of Heraldry in March, the badge is in the final stages of development and will be available by the start of the new fiscal year.
"It's a huge step forward in changing our culture and legitimizing our profession," said Command Sgt. Maj. Todd Moore, U.S. Army Recruiting Command. "It's the right thing for the command."
The change more aligns the command's award program with the rest of the Army. Moore used the Parachutist Badge as an example. First, Soldiers complete the Army's Basic Airborne Course to earn the Army Parachutist Badge. Through additional experience (required jumps), training and exams to demonstrate advanced proficiency, Soldiers can become a senior parachutist and then a master parachutist. There are similar badges for Army aviators, divers, explosive ordnance disposal specialists, combat medics and infantrymen.
Army and Army Reserve Soldiers in Recruiting Command will have to demonstrate expertise in recruiting skills through job performance and testing to earn the Master Recruiter Badge.
"That denotes us as being experts or masters in our field, versus just enlisting X number of people," Moore said. Enlistment numbers were a dominant factor in awarding the command's Gold Recruiter Badge, Recruiter Ring and Morrell Award, none of which is part of the command's new incentive awards program implemented earlier this fiscal year.
The badge is not retroactive for Soldiers who already have the Gold Recruiter Badge; all recruiters will have to go through the same testing and live-fire process to earn the badge, which Moore emphatically said he will be doing.
All Soldiers who successfully complete the Army Recruiter Course earn the silver Recruiter Badge.
"What we are doing is changing how you earn the next recruiting identification badge," said Victoria Sorensen, G3 Plans and Programs Division chief. "It is no longer a points-based system; it is based on the recruiter's tactical and technical proficiency in recruiting."
To earn the badge, noncommissioned officers and officers assigned as recruiters for at least 24 months must successfully pass both the Critical Skills Assessment Test (written) and the Live-Fire Examination (hands-on) and be recommended by their brigade leadership.
"No one will be forced to compete for the Master Recruiter Badge, recruiters will have to decide for themselves if it is something they want to shoot for or not," said Phil Tabor, G3 Training Assessment Division chief, who is overseeing the development of the second stage of testing, the Live-Fire Examination, which will be available in June.
USAREC Regulation 672-10 and USAREC Supplement 1 to Army Regulation 600-8-22 are being updated to reflect the changes.
Social Sharing