ORLANDO, Fla. - Teamwork has helped the National Guard achieve historic recruiting success that other components seek to emulate.
At one point, the National Guard Bureau had a dozen different annual gatherings of various kinds related to recruiting and retention, said Army Col. Mike Jones, the chief of the Army Guard's strength maintenance division. Those all were collapsed into one - held this year here in Orlando last month - simultaneously saving the Guard $160,000 and creating a priceless synergy among recruiters, Jones said.
"If they're on separate sheets of music and you're the conductor, it doesn't sound like a symphony," Jones said. "This is the opportunity for Lt. Gen. (Clyde) Vaughn (director of the Army National Guard) to get us all on the same sheet of music, pulling in the same direction, so that "¦ we leave energized, focused, with a clear mission and intent for what we need to do for Fiscal Year 2009 to move the Army National Guard forward."
October was the first month in the new fiscal year. On Nov. 10, the Army National Guard reported recruiting and retention numbers for the monththat once again surpassed goals:
- End strength: 361,551 Citizen-Soldiers, exceeding the 361,350 goal.
- Recruiting: 6,487 new Soldiers - 116 percent of the 5,600 monthly goal.
- Retention: 2,969 Soldiers, exceeding the 2,921 goal.
With an atmosphere that was part corporate shareholders meeting, part motivational speaker's gathering, part rock concert and part sales conference, the Orlando gathering of more than 2,100 commanders, noncommissioned officers, civilian contractors and others drawn from strength maintenance offices in all 54 states and territories and the District of Columbia was also star-studded.
Michael Jordan stopped by to join Vaughn in unveiling the 2009 No. 23 National Guard Michael Jordan Motor Sports Superbike.
Kid Rock, the rock star featured in the Guard's latest recruiting video who has made a point of spending his Christmases with servicemembers in Iraq, told the audience why he's proud of his association with the Guard and supports the armed forces.
"I don't rightfully understand how you could not, how you could enjoy everything about this country and not support the people who provide freedom," he said. "I don't care what corner you come from, what state you are from, what your politics are, it doesn't make any sense to me at all - maybe it's how I was raised."
The seeds of Kid Rock's enthusiasm for troops were planted in 2000, when the USS Cole was targeted with a suicide bombing that killed 17 Sailors.
Kid Rock wasn't so famous then. But he learned Sailors on the Cole were among his early fans and had been playing his music on the vessel. He visited Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He directed money from a concert to Sailors from the Cole.
"The old school notion about the more you give, the more you receive (holds)," he said. "Because never, ever when I have done anything for my country, for the Soldiers or whatever, did I ever expect anything back."
Yet the rock star said he feels he has received more from his efforts than he has given. The latest recognition was a Minuteman statue awarded him here, symbolizing the Citizen-Soldier ready to set down the plow and pick up the musket on no notice for more than 371 years.
Someone listed Kid Rock's many awards for his music. "Yeah," Kid Rock said, brandishing the Minuteman. "They're all in a cupboard somewhere. This'll be (displayed) on a shelf."
Vaughn commented on what draws celebrities such as Jordan, Kid Rock, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 3 Doors Down and others to the National Guard.
"They can see what the National Guard means to this nation," he said. "They understand it. They're all about service to the country anyway. They understand the uniqueness of the Guardmember as a citizen-warrior that's spread all the way across this country, and I think they truly value that association and what it means to this great country of ours."
Visitors to the training workshop here left inspired. Army Capt. Leala McCollum, an education officer in the Florida National Guard, did what she called a drive-by, visiting the recruiting conference for a day.
"I did a similar drive-by a few years ago, and this is absolutely amazing in comparison," she said. "It has just gotten so much bigger. Never would I have expected all the people that are here and seeing Kid Rock. It's really awesome. If we don't have troops, how can we win the war? That's our priority - everybody's a recruiter.
"To come here today and be a National Guardmember, to have been deployed, to have served "˜over there' and to have the respect of our communities, of our peers, of the other services, of celebrities like the ones that we saw today, you can't ask for more. You can't ask for more than to be supported, and anytime anybody ever comes up to me and says, "˜Thank you for your service,' I always make sure to say, "˜Thank you for your support.'"
Army 2nd Lt. Steven Strack of the Kentucky National Guard was visiting his first workshop.
"The Guard's really become a special thing," he said. "We're really contributing overseas, and we also contribute in our own states."