Whiteman recruiters exceed FY 2009 goal, look foward to challenges in FY 2010

  • Published
  • By Maj. David Kurle
  • 442nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  For the fifth straight year, the Air Force Reserve recruiting team at Whiteman exceeded its goal for generating new Citizen Airmen for the 442nd Fighter Wing and Air Force Reserve Command. 

Whiteman's recruiters signed up 186 new reservists in Fiscal Year 2009, surpassing by 69 the team's goal of 117. 

While Air Force Reserve recruiters are not assigned under the 442nd, the majority of those 186 new Airmen came into the wing and the majority of those became members of the 442nd Maintenance Group, according to Senior Master Sgt. John Shaffner, the Whiteman Operating Location's senior recruiter. 

Recruiters for the Air Force Reserve work under AFRC's recruiting service, headquartered at Robins Air Force Base, Ga. The recruiting service, in turn, is divided into regional recruiting squadrons and the team at Whiteman is part of the Central Recruiting Squadron. 

"Ninety percent of our success is because of our great, great recruiters," Sergeant Shaffner said. "The other 10 percent is the great, great support from the 442nd Fighter Wing." 

Sergeant Shaffner, in his tenth year recruiting for AFRC, credits everyone from the wing commander to the wing's military personnel flight for part of his team's success. 

"Referrals from inside the unit are a big part of our recruiting success," he said. "In '09, 45 percent of recruits came from referrals." 

The top recruiter at Whiteman for Fiscal Year 2009 was Master Sgt. Clark Gilleo, who brought in 93 people and accounted for half of the Whiteman Operating Location's recruits for the year. 

"This year, he broke every single record here at Whiteman in terms of percentage and the raw number of people recruited," Sergeant Shaffner said about Sergeant Gilleo, who was a military training instructor for new Airmen at Basic Training for six years. 

Sergeant Gilleo credits his success to what he calls "perpetuation." 

"I just take care of my applicants and they, in turn, refer people to me," Sergeant Gilleo said. 

Major Andrew Davis, the Central Recruiting Squadron commander from Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Ft. Worth, Texas, agreed with Sergeant Shaffner that the success of Whiteman's recruiters is due, in part, to support from the 442nd FW. 

"Recruiting is a team effort and when the wing is involved, along with our recruiters, everybody wins," Major Davis said. 

The major is also quick to credit his recruiting team at Whiteman. 

"We have a senior recruiter there who takes a real hands-on approach in mentoring and taking care of his recruiters," he said. "I'm extremely excited about our Whiteman team, and extremely excited they exceeded their goal." 

Sergeant Shaffner's mission for Fiscal Year 2010 is to lead his five recruiters and the team's administrative assistant in exceeding Whiteman's goal for the sixth year in a row. 

However, that may prove to be more of a challenge as Whiteman's goal increased to 183, due primarily to an increase in the authorized end strength for all of Air Force Reserve Command. 

"We're going to have a big challenge this year with the higher goal but I'm confident we'll achieve 110 percent," Sergeant Shaffner said. 

He encourages reservists in the 442nd to keep referring potential recruits and to take advantage of AFRC's "Get One" program, whereby reservists can earn rewards based on the number of referrals turned into the recruiting office. 

"The Get One program has been phenomenal for us," Sergeant Shaffner said. "This wing has really, really supported the Get One program." 

The recruiting office started Fiscal Year 2010 already working toward their 183-person goal with a mass enlistment ceremony for its first seven recruits Oct. 9 - which leaves the team with only 176 more to go.