MVV National Guard recruiting

Episode Transcript

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Good morning. This is Miami ValleyView, a Dayton public service program,
all brought to you by iHeartMedia,Dayton and I'm your host, Dave Alexander.
Thank you so much for joining usthis morning, and this morning it
is I'm gonna tell you what,it is very intimidating in here. Right
now. We have won two,three, four, five, six guys

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all in fatigues looking and one ofthem happens to be a brigadier general.
So it strikes a very impressive yetvery intimidating and I'm like, I don't
know what I'm surrounded by here.Hopefully I'm not in trouble. But today
we are talking about the Ohio NationalGuard. And joining us this morning is
Brigadier General Matthew Woodriff. Good morning, General are you I'm great? How
are you doing pretty well? Sowe're here to talk about the Ohio National

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Guard. So before we get intothat, tell us a little bit about
yourself. Okay, So my nameis Matt Woodriff. I'm a Brigadier general.
I'm the commander of the Ohio ArmyNational Guard. Okay, we have
about ten thousand, five hundred soldiersacross the state. Really, I had
no idea there was that many.Absolutely, Okay, we have forty plus
armories across the state where soldiers arestationed. And I'm originally from West Liberty,

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Ohio, so up in Logan Countyand spent my life in that area.
Went off to college at Bowling GreenState University, and then went on
active duty in the army for thirteenyears. And in two thousand and eight
I joined the Ohio Army National Guard. And I've been doing this ever since,
really ever since two thousand ment ofit, no kidding, absolutely,

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So how does that work? Howdid you go from active duty for so
long and then how does it youjump into the National Guard? So in
two thousand and eight, I resignedfrom the active duty based on some moves
that were pending and having small kidsthat I wanted to stay close to and
continue to stay in Ohio where we'refrom, and so through a resignation and

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then applied for the Army National Guardand joined the day after I left active
duty. All right, So Ido have a kind of an important question
to those folks like myself whom Ihave no idea, give me an idea.
What is the Ohio National Guard?The Ohio Army National Guard what is
I don't Yeah. So the OhioNational Guard is part of the Adjutant General's

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department. So the Adjutant General,Major General John C. Harris Junior,
is a governor's cabinet member, andI'm the assistant Adjutant General, so I'm
his deputy on the army side,and then Brigadier General Dave Johnson is the
air counterpart to me. Okay.So there's about five thousand airmen on the

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Air National Guard side and like Isaid, ten thousand, five hundred on
the army. So we're a dualstatus force. So we have a federal
mission that we support the President ofthe United States and national security interests.
And then on the other side ofthat, we're also a state force,
so the governor can call us anddeploy us throughout the state in a time
of emergency. Okay, And sowhat what is what is the inspiration for

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like a young man and woman whomeverit is, to like to join to
join the Guard. I think there'sa couple of different reasons why someone would
choose to join the National Guard.One, it's a it's a force that
you can serve in your own communities. So you can continue to serve.
You can join here, serve inyour communities. The other thing is there's

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great college benefits. We pay onehundred percent college tuition. Oh wow,
join the National Guard. We alsojust expanded our scholarship program to include certifications,
so for someone that goes to atrade school and wants to get certified
in some of the trades, theycan utilize that scholarship program to pay for
those things as well. Well,wow, I'm gonna guess cybersecurity is probably
a pretty big thing these days.It absolutely is so, and we're growing

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in that area. We just foundout we were award an electronic warfare company
here in the state of Ohio.So I think that fits in with what
we're seeing in the future of service. Whether it's in it or cyber or
some of the electronic warfare capabilities thatwe have. It's going to be great
for Ohio. Yeah, that's awesome. So give us a little, like

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a little history of the National Guardhere in Ohio, Like, yeah,
it gives a little rundown. Yeah, So the National Guard in Ohio has
been around since the early eighteen hundreds. So here in Dayton alone, several
units were in the Dayton area thatwere deployed in the War of eighteen twelve,

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that were deployed for the Civil War. Some of the first units that
responded were from the Dayton area andthen in Dayton. In the Dayton area,
we have units in Kettering, wehave units in Middletown, you know
you're listening area, Greenville, Springfield. We used to have units in Urbana
and Bell Fountain. Those armories haveclosed, so over time we have,

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based on cost to keep armories open, we've had to reduce our footprints somewhat.
For now we're at forty plus armoriesacross the state. But we've always
had extreme success in this west centralOhio region and it's a very service oriented
area. So what we find asparents and kids are very supportive of the

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military and we see a lot ofimpact in that when we go out to
recruit in these areas. Speaking ofrecruiting, that's kind of why we're here.
We want to talk about recruiting.Give us a little some in depth.
What goes on is are you havingissues recruiting these days? Are?
Yeah? Nationally, I think inall components, in all branches of service

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are struggling with recruiting. In Ohioalone, what we've seen over the last
probably five years is almost a fiftypercent reduction in individuals signing up to serve.
So we were at about ten thousandof sssions across all branches about five
years ago. We're down to aboutfive to six thousand now. So the

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propensity to serve, I think hassuffered a little bit over the last five
years. Also along with that thepropensity to serve, but the ability to
serve, so less than one percentof our population serves. For those that
are in the recruitable age, it'sabout twenty three percent that can meet all
the requirements, whether that's medical requirementsor that's testing requirements. So we have

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a test, the ARM Services VocationalAptitude Battery, So when a young recruit
wants to sign up, they haveto pass this test to be able to
sign up. Got it, Andwe're seeing that there's a difference in ability
to pass that and to meet themedical requirements to join. Really, so
what's the thought process then, isit just keep going out there and recruiting

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or are you changing testing or isthat that's standing where it is staying put
and you're just just moving on.So out what do you guys do.
So as far as testing goes,we are not. What we're doing is
trying to pilot some unique opportunities toteach and train people prior to the test.
Got so like an as FAB academy, so that Arm Services Vocation Aptitude
Battery doing a cad ME is atdifferent locations where a recruiter or a full

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time unit member could be there tohelp procter ahead of time practice tests right
to get them more proficient. Youknow, what we're seeing is in schools,
kids have cell phones and calculators andthings like that, so some of
them struggle with the math component becauseyou can't use a calculator in the ASPAB.
So I'd be horrible at that,absolutely, absolutely, yeah, absolutely,

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So we see some struggles in thatarea. But I would say the
biggest reason we lose people is themedical issues. Kidding. So, you
know, there are certain rules abouthow long you can be on a certain
medication, and I think we've we'vegot a population that is heavily medicated,
right, and so finding those recruitsthat that have about a seven year history

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where they're they're not on some sortof medication significant injuries that that creates an
issue, where are you looking at? Like, where are you out recruiting?
Are you going everywhere? We areabsolutely everywhere. So what I've challenged
our recruiting team and our units.So I didn't put recruiting just on the
recruiters, put it on our unitstoo, to own our communities. So

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we've got to be engaged with communitiesat every event that they have. So
if it's a festival, a parade, if it's a high school, if
it's a career center, all thosethings. College campuses were flooding those areas
to try and see if there's someonethat has a desire to serve, and
that desire could be based on howdo I pay for college? How do

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I do this? And if wecan get them in the door and show
them a culture that says you're partof a team and you can achieve anything
that your heart desires, and we'regoing to work hard to make you the
best you you can be, thenthis is the team for you. So
what kind of commitment is it tothe to the National Guard. Let's say
you you you successfully recruited somebody,especially college being probably it's got to be

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one of the high reasons why joiningI meantely, that's a good reason to
head them. So what what aone of the what can they expect?
It's a new recruit expect so it'sa six year commitment once they sign up,
so they'll spend probably I would say, about a year in the training
process, so whether that's waiting togo to basic training and they're advanced Individual

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training, so they'll spend about ayear in that process. Working with our
recruiting team. We have a phenomenalprogram called the recruit Sustainment Program. So
they'll bring these soldiers or accessions inand they'll train them on what it takes
to be successful at basic training andthey're schooling after that, spend about a
year there. Then they'll arrive attheir units, and once they get to

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their units, they'll be doing preparationsfor our federal and state missions. Got
it all right? So I knowwe have a recent recruits is really one
of our split option, which meansbetween his junior and senior year, he
attended basic training, completes his senioryear, and then after his senior year
he'll go to his Advanced Individual training. So Private Jeremy Sanchez is that right,

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Sanchez Garcia? So what made youscooting a little bit to the mind
for there you go, what madeyou decide to join the National Guard?
So for me, it was justmore of the full circle, the education,
benefits, serving my community, andjust overall I felt like it would
help me get a step in thedoor for anything I wanted to do later
in life. Speaking, what isit that you're that you're looking to study?

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So when I go to college,I'm looking to study business or staring
to do with business. But I'vealso wanted to serve since I can remember,
really, So with the National Guardit allowed me to still serve and
still go to college and then figureout if I want to stay in the
National Guard, go active duty,or do whatever I want to do in
life later on. So it's beenhonestly a great experience. So you started

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your junior year in high school,yes, sir, So how did you
like Was there a recruiter that youthat you found or did you go specifically
looking to the So there's recruiters thatwill come to the school and they'll stay
there for a few hours and tryto talk with students. So my recruiter
was a sergeant Topel, and Iwas able to to kind of work with
him, and he brought me intothe guard and he's helped me ever since.

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You know, it was just goingfurther and further. So that's great.
And how's it going. That's goingpretty good. Yeah, it's a
lot of unique experiences going to basictraining. So how was that like?
That was it was a little scaryafter? Yes, well, I mean
this is so this has been thesummer between your junior and senior year,
so you summers off for for juniorsin high school was a pretty big deal.
At least was when I went tohigh school. I'm like, summer,

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I know what I'm doing. You, however, were at basic training?
So how did that feel? Attimes? It was scary? But
for the most part, I reallyenjoyed it. What was the worst part,
just out of just out of curiosity? I think just being away from
my family. Oh yeah, Ican imagine. So where was basic training
at? Mine was at Fort Moore, Georgia. Okay, so there I
did the one unit station training forA Love and Brava, which is infantry.

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So I left for a basic portionand then this summer when I would
graduate, I'll be going for myA T in there I'll learn my job
training, and wow do those likeeverything to prepare me for? Young man?
You have got your head on yourshoulders. Pretty that's your well done.
So how was your senior year?By the way, well, graduate
in two months from now. Twomonths from now. It's been a little

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boring coming back, coming back,coming back from like a high stress environment.
Sure, you know, waking upat a certain time. High school's
nothing School's been. It's kind ofbeen hard to kind of stay focused.
But I know I need to getit done so I can advance. Yeah,
I want to. So what kindof advice can you give to like
other juniors in high school that arelike not sure where their path should go?
What make you know? What?What would you give to them to

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say, hey, I've got anidea for you. Honestly, I just
really said now my family am andasked them for kind of their support and
what they think, you know,they know me the longest, sure,
what they think is best for me, and then self reflect on what I
think is best for myself. Gofrom there. Well, good, you
guys are doing a good job.This is a good young man. I've

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got yourself a good one, that'sfor sure. Oh okay, was I
should I have asked that too.We want to know what the best part
of basic training? Best part Ithink was going to sleep after long days,
I can imagine, but in allserious it's the best part I think
was just meeting new people and justhaving those experiences with everybody that was there.

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So that's great man, Good luckto you. Yeah, I think
you're gonna do well whatever you decidedto do. So you got a great
head on your shoulders and doing reallywell. So yeah, way to go.
Way to grab one here, guys, and yeah, yeah, so
hopefully you can get more like PrivateSanchez Garcia here and things. You're looking
pretty well. So before we wrapthings up, we got a couple of
minutes here left. What else canwe talk about the Guard? What else

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you want to you want to throwout? So one of the things I'd
like to say is the opportunities togrow and develop in the Guard are incredible.
So leadership training, the ability tocome together as a team, to
build cohesion, to work together.I think the social interaction that you experienced,
just like you said, the bestexperience at basic training was working together
with all the people that shared adversitythat you're all going through as miserable as

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you can be. You're miserable together, and you're pushing through and challenging yourself
every day. And that's what theGuard offers you, an opportunity to do
that every single day. Go backto your communities, support them. Just
like yesterday we announced that or thegovernor announced that we were sending one of
our units to the Indian Lake Careato support the devastation and the tornado.

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And so we had a unit onsite within about two hours from that announcement
starting to do assessments. And thenhopefully today they'll start with clearing debriss so
that we can restore power and getto the communities and make sure that everybody
feels safe and secure. Right.And I think a lot of people don't
realize that's a lot of stuff.You guys do that kind of stuff,

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and that's you know, you kindof you get unthanked, but we're thanking
you for being out there and doingthat kind of stuff. So if somebody's
listening right now and they're like,it could be a parent, or it's
a perhaps it's a young man orwoman that's listening, how do they reach
you? Guys? We're asking younow I guess that's me. You get
to Yeah. So one of thequickest and easy ways is going to National

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Guard dot com. Okay, youcan put in all your information as far
as contact information, biggest thing thatis identifying where he lives. That way,
the proper recruiter can reach out toyou and you know, start discussing
with you and helping you start yourjourney. Okay, so what was the
website again? It would be NationalGuard dot com national Guard dot com.
So there you go. That's whereyou need to go. If you are

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interested yourself or maybe you're repairing outthere, you can say, hey,
my, you know, son ordaughter could really uh you know, this
looks like they could benefit them especially, I mean, I think the one
hundred percent of college is that's incredible. So absolutely general, I appreciate you
joining us private. Good luck toyou man, and you did great by
the way, awesome, Joe,thanks for coming in today. I appreciate
it. Thank you so much.