LINCOLN, Neb. – Nebraska Army and Air National Guard recruiting and retention specialists exchanged ideas and best practices with their counterparts from the Czech Armed Forces during a February State Partnership Program engagement.
The exchange focused on both maintaining strength in their respective military departments.
“It was just a great learning experience to talk with members of the Czech Republic recruiting and retention force, exchange ideas, and just learn from each other on how we are recruiting new Soldiers and Airmen, and retaining those talented individuals who are already serving with us,” said Lt. Col. Daniel Fritz, commander of the Nebraska Army National Guard’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion. “It was interesting to learn more about the challenges the Czechs are facing and talking to them about how we are working here in Nebraska to solve similar challenges.”
Senior Master Sgt. Kyle Eddy, Nebraska Air National Guard Recruiting and Retention senior enlisted leader, agreed.
“Overall, the engagement was incredible,” Eddy said. “I think both sides took something away from the time we had together. The few days they were here were packed full of visits, engagements and hopefully useful conversations.”
Czech service members received formal briefings and toured the Nebraska Army National Guard’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion office and its “storefront” recruiting office in Lincoln.
The Czech delegation also toured the Military Entrance Processing center in Omaha, visited with members of the University of Nebraska-Omaha Air Force ROTC detachment and met with senior leaders from the Nebraska Air National Guard’s 170th Group at Offutt Air Force Base.
“We had a wide array of topics discussed and there were a few that seemed to resonate more with the Czechs than others,” Eddy said. “In particular, the visit to MEPS in Omaha was well received. They had a lot of interest in how our process works. We both struggle with medically qualifying interested members, so there was a lot of value at the MEPS.”
“We focused mostly on the strategic level — managing personnel, marketing campaigns, using human geography and demographics to our advantage. (The Czech) recruiters got time with our recruiters, but not enough at the tactical level,” Fritz said. “We think that will be the goal of future engagements.”
Eddy said the visits to UNO, the Nebraska Army National Guard’s storefront, and the conversations with the 170th leaders were impactful.
“They were astonished at the collective effort of recruiting into the Armed Forces,” Eddy said. “The (biggest takeaway) was how supportive our community is of the military and the Nebraska National Guard. … They continuously said they could not believe the public’s positive perception of the armed services.”
The Czech delegation, led by Brig. Gen. Vladimir Studeny, director of the Czech Armed Forces Personnel Agency, also toured the Nebraska State Capitol and attended a Nebraska Cornhusker basketball game.
Capt. Eva Dean, Nebraska National Guard State Partnership Program coordinator – Czech Republic, said the February engagement wais one of several planned this year between the Nebraska and Texas National Guard and members of the Czech Armed Forces. The three entities have been formal SPP partners since July 14, 1993.
Eddy and Fritz said the SPP engagements have significantly impacted all three organizations.
“These engagements bring incredible value to recruiting and retention by not only allowing us to conversate about different approaches to recruiting and retention between the two countries, but also strengthening our ties with the Joint Force within the Nebraska National Guard,” said Eddy. “Our collective efforts of planning and executing this event brought cohesion within the Air and Army Guard’s recruiting teams, which was a secondary effect of an overall great engagement with our partners from the Czech Republic.”
“We strengthened a relationship with a great country,” Fritz said in agreement, “and gained perspective in and beyond recruiting about each other’s military.”