28 • THE GRIFFON • Summer 2020
Strong Relationships with Army Reserve Career Division and Reserve Component Career Counselors Keep Ranks Full By Capt. Eric Schultz Strength Management Officer, 4th Battalion, 414th Regiment, (SROTC) 1st Brigade
Imagine, or recall, being a 32-year-old Active Duty Captain. Your initial commitment to the Army is complete.You served 10 years in the Army leading Platoons, serving as the XO, and eventually leading a Company.You deployed once, or once too many times.You realize you want to spend more time with your family, or you want to start a family. You chat with your old college friends who didn’t join the service, or they perhaps joined the National Guard or Reserve. They just completed their Graduate Degrees, and they tell you of how their six-figure salary careers are advancing.You fall asleep at night wondering what a better quality of life would be like if you had a civilian job and a Graduate Degree. Other career options attract you away from the Army.You compare those options to spending the next few years in Staff roles or with leadership you’ve grown frustrated with. Perhaps you were passed over
by the Board, and you believe that a promotion to Major will have to wait another year…or two. The decision to stay on Active Duty or exit the service weighs heavily on your mind. All too often, these are some of the things I hear from current and former Active Duty Captains in my role as a Strength Management Officer for 4-414th SROTC. One such individual was Cpt. Brandon Morse who had chosen to leave Active Duty after eight year of service. “When I left Active Duty, the wait time to get a Company Command as a Field Artillery Officer would be another year or two for me. Command is a requisite for promotion to Major. I felt this was actually a good time to take a break from service and earn You can find an abundance of Captains and other Soldiers to fill your ranks if you know where to look for them. my Masters Degree, and spend more time with my family,” he steady stream of First Lieutenants at Kansas State University. It fits explained. waiting for promotion to take one perfectly with my civilian career Together, the 4-413th these positions. as a teacher and as a graduate and 4-414th SROTC have The same scenario is true for the student.” approximately 140 Major positions approximate 140 E7-8 positions. RCCC’s offices are at most open to Captains if they have There are no E1-6’s to grow and Active Duty posts. RCCC’s work Command time and/or their develop Soldiers internally for as ambassadors for the Army to Captain Career Course completed. those E7-8 positions. transition high-quality Active Duty With zero Lieutenants on the Unit However, 4-413th and 4-414th Soldiers to the Army National Manning Report (UMR), there is no SROTC Battalions do not Guard and U.S. Army Reserve. struggle to fill their UMR. Why? Together, we grow the strength Relationships with two resources of the Army Reserve by adding have proven invaluable in helping Soldiers who would instead stay these Battalions fill vacant in the IRR or exit the service all positions: Army Reserve Career together. Division (ARCD) and Reserve 4-413th and 4-414th SROTC Component Career Counselors have positions in every state and (RCCC’s). most large cities, making it easy for The ARCD can connect soldiers ARCD and RCCC’s to guide senior on IRR with vacancies in units. Non-Commissioned Officers, They will actively contact IRR Captains and Majors to these soldiers and alert them to vacant nation-wide units. positions in the Reserve. Units can In fact, 4-414th SROTC increased also provide better descriptions of its strength over 20% (28 soldiers) the position to ARCD staff to help in the last 6 months utilizing these attract those IRR soldiers to the resources. By maintaining regular unit. contact and communication with “I wasn’t ready to hang up my ARCD staff and RCCC’s, Strength uniform just yet.” said Capt. Morse. Managers keep the unit strength “Sgt. 1st Class Christina Ison from full and keep Soldiers in uniform ARCD informed me of the 4-414th longer, especially Soldiers exiting SROTC, and it was a perfect fit Active Duty, and Soldiers on IRR. for me and the ROTC program
