The recruiters who brought in the most prospective soldiers over the last three months of 2018 earned a trip to Washington, D.C., and some face time with many of the service’s top officials, including a Monday ceremony in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes.
Army Secretary Mark Esper hosted the honors for the service’s top 12. Undersecretary Ryan McCarthy, Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville and Army G-1 Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands also came down to recognize the noncommissioned officers.
“Ten of the individuals being recognized today accessed a combined total of 159 new enlisted recruits," Esper said. “The two medical recruiters had 24 board-selected officers. And get this: the special ops recruiter had 150 warrant officers boarded.”
The Army set a goal of about 66,000 accessions this fiscal year, per the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act.
“To put this in perspective, these recruiters enlisted more than five times the number of recruits than their peers enlisted in the same period,” Esper added.
In the first quarter of fiscal ’19, these NCOs signed up the most out of more than 8,000 of their peers:
- Sgt. 1st Class Corey Anderson, out of 2nd Recruiting Brigade in Lafayette, Louisiana
- Staff Sgt. Johnathon Hagen, out of 3rd Recruiting Brigade in Baraboo, Wisconsin
- Staff Sgt. Terry Hall, out of 3rd Recruiting Brigade in Clarksville, Tennessee
- Sgt. 1st Class Tamarris Jenkins, out of Medical Recruiting Brigade in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
- Staff Sgt. Mohamed Kaba, out of 1st Recruiting Brigade in Townson, Maryland
- Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Lujan, out of 6th Recruiting Brigade in Hagatna, Guam
- Staff Sgt. Jon McCoy, out of Special Operations Recruiting Battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington
- Sgt. 1st Class Kelly McWhirter, out of Medical Recruiting Brigade in Honolulu, Hawaii
- Sgt. 1st Class Ernie Nieves, out of 5th Recruiting Brigade in San Antonio, Texas
- Staff Sgt. Mauro Ortiz, out of 5th Recruiting Brigade in Live Oak, Texas
- Sgt. Kristen Ryne Ortiz, out of 6th Recruiting Brigade in El Centro, California
- Staff Sgt. Premnath Ramkalawan, out of 1st Recruiting Brigade in South Richmond Hill, New York
- Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Tomalewski, out of 2nd Recruiting Brigade in Montgomery, Alabama
“I was actually 31 years old when I walked into a recruiting office,” Nieves told Army Times. “And I did it for my kids, to show them that it’s never too late. And as a by-product, I have two sons who are enlisted as well.”
He jumped at the chance to become a recruiter himself, he said, as did some of his fellow honorees.
“I thought that the soldiers coming into the Army ― I wanted to do a bigger and better thing for myself and for them,” Ramkalawan added.
But for any other recruiters grinding it out, they have some advice.
“Instagram is really big. I would say, whatever platform that they use ― Snapchat, Facebook ― I recommend that they go on that,” Ramkalawan said. “The Army has great tools. Promotion is everything. That’s what the youth are looking for.”
Nieves, who describes himself as more old school, recommended recruiters put themselves in a parent’s shoes.
“One of the things that I always go by: I treat every single applicant like they were my children," he said. "When my two boys walked into a recruiting office, how did I want them to be treated?”
As the Army has pushed to grow its end strength over the past two years, the service has struggled not only to make its goals, but to adequately man stations with NCO and to leverage any and all available resources to attract new recruits.
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The force is using market research, social media engagement, new advertising and a push toward heavily populated urban centers to improve its efficiency.
“The Army needs soldiers, and leaders, who can out-fight and out-think their opponents,” Esper said. “That’s why our recruiting mission is so important to the success of the Army.”
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
