National Guard recruiter advises 'Just do it'

By Travis Gulbrandson

It started on a dare.

Twenty years ago, Sfc. Lance Meyer was a 19-year-old college student who was feeling unsatisfied.

“College wasn’t doing it for me, the college I was going to,” Meyer said.

One day when he came home from class he found his younger brother sitting at the table with a recruiter from the Minnesota Army National Guard, who asked if he was interested in enlisting.

His answer was simple.

“Nope. Never joining.”

Ten minutes later, Meyer was in his room doing his homework when his brother came in.

“I dare you to do it with me,” he said.

Shortly thereafter, they called the recruiter, who came back to the house, and Meyer started the paperwork.

It’s a decision he does not regret.

“Twenty years of doing this now, and I absolutely love it,” Meyer said. “I never would have thought in a million years that a dare would turn out this good.”

Meyer graduated basic training in February 2003, and soon afterward was activated to guard the power plant in Monticello for two weeks.

About six months later, from September 2003 to August 2004, he was deployed to Kosovo.

Eleven months after returning home, he was deployed again, this time to Iraq, from 2005 to 2007.

After coming home again, Meyer received his degree in law enforcement from Alexandria Technical and Community College.

“Before I graduated I got offered a fulltime position in recruiting for the National Guard,” Meyer said. “I did that for about six months, and then I got selected for the Honor Guard. I did that for threeand-a-half years, and then I got a job in Alexandria for supply. I did that for eight months. I switched over to training NCO, and I did that up until 2017.”

Meyer was then switched back to recruiting, which he has done ever since.

His primary role as a recruiter is to find qualified people to enlist in the Minnesota National Guard.

“I go to schools, meet with students, … go to county fairs, just different events, and basically find people that are interested in joining,” he said.

Sfc. Lance Meyer, left, with three of his recruits, from left, Pfc. Grace Oeltjen, Spc. Kenzie Jacobs and Spc. Jacob Uhl at the Berserker Cup Strongman Competition. The event took place at 22 Northman Brewing Company in Alexandria on Aug. 20, 2022. Contributed photo

“I love the fact that I get to go out and meet new people every day. No day is like the day before.” SFC. LANCE MEYER

National Guard Recruiter

Meyer enjoys the fact that every day on the job is different.

“I love the fact that I get to go out and meet new people every day,” he said. “No day is like the day before. It’s constantly changing. The days really fly by. I get to meet a lot of fun, interesting people in the schools, and I get to see how each one of these schools differs from each other, and learn from them.”

If he has a favorite aspect of his job, Meyer said it would be the people.

“The people I’ve been with, the people I’ve met,” he said. “I’ve gotten to do some really fun things on deployments, being on the Honor Guard. I’ve worked with presidents, I’ve worked with governors, senators, congressmen, Medal of Honor recipients. I’ve gotten to be with a lot of different people from all different walks of life, and it’s just been interesting to see different places and different people.”

For those who are thinking about joining the military, Meyer has one thing to say: Do it.

“My biggest regret in my military career is not doing it sooner, and everybody that I’ve ever enlisted I’ve told the same thing, and there’s a lot of people that I’ve enlisted that believe that same thing,” he said. “If you’re thinking about it, don’t wait, just do it. The longer you wait, the harder it is to get in because of health issues, moral issues, whatever it is. If you want to do it, just do it.”

Sfc. Lance Meyer, left, a recruiter in Alexandria, is pictured with one of his recruits, Pfc. Sam Wicken, who enlisted in January 2022.

Contributed photo

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In 2018, when he was just 17, Carson Bergquist decided to join the Army National Guard.

“Both my grandfathers were in the Army and I wanted to make them proud,” said the 2021 Osakis graduate who is now in college at the University of Minnesota-Moorhead.

Bergquist, whose parents both work in the Osakis School District – his father, Randy, is the superintendent and his mother, Missy, is the high school counselor – was one of seven classmates to join the Minnesota Army National Guard. Those seven students made up 10% of the Class of 2021.

Bergquist said he was the first one in his class to join. And that he joined was thanks, in part, to Lance Meyer, who is a recruiter from Alexandria.

“He’s a great guy,” said Bergquist. “I trusted him then, I trust him now and still call and talk to him today. He was really there for me and still is.”

After Bergquist joined, which was in October, he spent the next seven months on the weekends going to Moorhead and getting prepared for basic training.

Then in the summer of 2020, he was sent to Jackson, South Carolina for his basic training, which he said he was “really nervous” about. He was a 42 Alpha assigned to work as a human resource specialist.

“Bootcamp was tough,” he said. “I was away from my family. We didn’t get to talk for about three months.”

Bergquist added that bootcamp was easier than he thought when it came to the physical aspect, but said it was much harder mentally.

“I think it was mentally hard for me because I don’t like getting yelled at,” he said.

But he also said that he learned a lot and grew up a lot while he was in bootcamp.

“I started calling people ma’am and sir and I came back with a shaved head,” he said. “It was a little hard to adapt when I came back. Although before I left, I kind of took everything for granted, but not after I got back, so that was good.”

He added that after being away from his family, his mom, he now calls his mom about 10 times a day.

During his time in bootcamp at basic training, Bergquist said everything was very rigid and that everything had to be done a certain way, which is not what he was used to.

After bootcamp, he finished his senior year of school and then went back to South Carolina for AIT training. This is advanced individual training that is more focused on the job which you signed up for or are assigned to.

He graduated on May 11 and then on May 12, was shipped back to South Carolina for the AIT training.

“I was nervous because I didn’t know what it was going to be like and I didn’t want it to be like bootcamp,” he said.

“It’s a great way to serve your country and meet new people. There have been many positives to joining the Army

National Guard.”

E-4 Specialist Army National Guard Osakis Superintendent Randy Bergquist spoke at a program Monday, May 3, 2021, honoring seven Osakis High School seniors who have joined the Minnesota Army National Guard. The students, who make up about 10% of the senior class, are (from left) Anna Wolf, Grace Oeltjen, Duncan Vandergon, Anthony Leighton, Jacob Uhl, Jace Twardowski and Carson Bergquist. Echo Press file photo

When Carson Bergquist returned from basic training, his parents were waiting right outside the airport terminal for him. This picture was taken while they were walking back to their vehicle. It was the first time he had seen his parents in more than three months. Contributed photo

But, to his surprise, it was nothing like bootcamp.

When he got off the plane for bootcamp, there was someone waiting for him and was provided instructions for everything.

This time, he said, “No one was waiting for me and I didn’t have any instructions to follow.”

Luckily, he had a phone number to call, but it was around midnight when he arrived at the airport in South Carolina and the person who answered really didn’t know anything but said they would check into it.

He got a call back and was instructed to take a taxi to the gates of Fort Jackson. At that point, a drill sergeant came and picked him up and it all went a lot more smoothly after that.

“AIT was much easier than bootcamp at basic training,” he said. “It was much more focused on schooling and some of the teachers were civilians. This training was good for me as it helped me with my future.”

While at MSUM, Bergquist said he is studying finance, which is a lot of what he was learning about while at AIT training. However, he is hoping to go to law school soon.

“The military really has been good for me,” Bergquist said, but he is looking forward to becoming a lawyer someday because he said lawyers stick up for people and that when he was younger, he was bullied and never stuck up for himself.

Bergquist said one of things that really got him through bootcamp and AIT training was that his mother wrote to him every day. He also said that he is a Christian and that God was there for him, too.

He remembers one particular hard day when he saw a butterfly fluttering near him.

“It was God and my mom,” he said. “And what’s cool is when I told my mom about it, she saw a butterfly the same day and she said she knew it was me thinking about her.”

For the next three years, Bergquist, who is now an E-4 Specialist, which he said is the rank right before sergeant, will continue doing weekend drills and two-week training periods.

“It’s a great way to serve your country and meet new people,” he said. “There have been many positives to joining the Army National Guard.” Carson Bergquist, a 2021 Osakis graduate, is a member of the Army National Guard. This photo was taken on range day after he qualified in shooting the M4 rifle. Three weeks of bootcamp was dedicated to range days to qualify in shooting that particular rifle.

Contributed photo

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