Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
In a world where storytelling has been our link to the past since the days of cave drawings, there exists a timeless tradition. It's the art of passing down knowledge, and for Military Veterans, it's a crucial piece of their legacy. Join us on the Veterans Archives Podcast, where we dive deep into the heartwarming and awe-inspiring stories of those who served, no matter when or where.
Here, Veterans get the chance to be the authors of their own narratives. Through guided interviews in a relaxed and safe environment, they paint their experiences with their own words and unique voices. The result? A memory card in a presentation box, a precious gift they can share however they please.
But that's not all. These stories find a secure home in our archive, a treasure chest of experiences for future generations to explore. The best part? It's all a gift to the Veteran – our way of saying thank you for their service.
Tune in to the Veterans Archives Podcast, where history, heroism, and heartwarming tales come to life.
Veterans Archives is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Please visit our website for more information. www.veteransarchives.org
Veterans Archives: Preserving the Stories of our Nations Heroes
From Fuel to Fire: Mike Brunger's Journey
What happens when a 25-year-old father of one decides to finally pursue his long-held desire to serve in the military? In this candid conversation, Mike Brunger takes us on an unlikely journey from small-town Michigan to overseas deployments and eventually becoming one of the state's top military recruiters.
Growing up in rural Michigan as the oldest of ten siblings, Mike's path to military service wasn't immediate. Despite early interest and even attempting to join the Marine Corps, it wasn't until 2007 that a chance encounter with a National Guard recruiter finally opened the door to service. As a 92F fueler in the Michigan Army National Guard, Mike embraced the "one weekend a month" commitment while balancing civilian life and fatherhood.
Mike shares refreshingly honest perspectives about his deployment experiences in Kuwait and Afghanistan, including surprisingly comfortable living conditions, exceptional food, and adapting to temperatures reaching 149 degrees. His matter-of-fact approach to military challenges reveals how attitude shapes experience – from the camaraderie that makes basic training "kind of like a vacation" to finding humor in challenging situations overseas.
The conversation takes an unexpected turn when Mike discusses his transition to military recruiting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leveraging deep connections in his hometown communities, he achieved remarkable success, winning both Rookie of the Year and Michigan's Recruiter of the Year simultaneously. His recruiting philosophy centered on genuine service rather than meeting quotas, demonstrating how authentic leadership produces exceptional results.
Now facing medical retirement, Mike offers valuable wisdom for anyone considering military service: talk to a recruiter with an open mind, recognize that today's military differs dramatically from previous generations, and understand that your experience directly correlates to your level of commitment. "If you're just that guy hanging out in the back of the room trying to get through the drill day, your military service is going to be horrible," he advises. "But if you're the guy that wants to progress your career and do more, you're going to get a lot more out of it."
Today is March 10th 2025. We are here with Mike Brunger, who served in the Michigan Army National Guard. How are you doing today, mike?
Speaker 2:Doing great. How's it going?
Speaker 1:Good, tell me a little bit about your childhood. Where are you from?
Speaker 2:I grew up in Weberville, michigan. I am the oldest of 10 kids. I am the oldest of 10 kids. We range from medium 43 and my youngest sibling is, I believe he's 18 now. So lots of kids Grew up basically around Weberville, moving from like Weberville to like Williamson, derry Fowlerville Currently live in Fowlerville. And what did your parents do? My dad was a farmer, so a lot of our moving was moving farm to farm. Because you take a farm job back in the late 80s, early 90s it was you get a house so you had no rent at that point. So he was a farmer and my mom for the most part she's a stay-at-home mom. She'd do certain jobs, odds and ends jobs, go get a job at Walmart if need be, or something like that.
Speaker 1:Where'd you go to high?
Speaker 2:school at. I graduated from Weberville High School in 1999. So a long time ago.
Speaker 1:You're an old man, I try.
Speaker 2:Did you play any sports in high school? Yeah, I was. Uh, I was captain of the football team, captain of the track team, I was captain of the drumline, captain of the all-state drumline. Everything I did, I tried to be the best at everything I did, so put a lot of energy into just doing what I could to help the team.
Speaker 1:And at what point did you decide that you wanted to join the military, or what pushed you to join?
Speaker 2:Well, originally in high school, I had a tryout for the active duty army band and I just didn't go. I was like, nah, I don't want to do this, I think I'm going to do college. I ended up not going to college. After high school, I went through the whole process of joining the Marine Corps. I had a tattoo that stuck up a little high above the shirt so I couldn't join, and I mean it was I always wanted to serve. Growing up, I always wanted to do something like that. And I just remember in 2007 when I enlisted about a month before I enlisted, I went to my aunt's house and my cousin was getting ready to join. I had no clue. So this recruiter was there. She kind of looked at me and she's like well, why don't you join? I'm like oh, I have a tattoo. No one said they won't let me in. She tattoo, you know. And like, said they won't let me in.
Speaker 2:She took a look at it and she's like we'll take you.
Speaker 1:And I left three weeks later for basic training. What maps did you go to Lansing?
Speaker 2:maps, so smaller maps it was nice, okay.
Speaker 1:And when you went through, did you know what, like what job you wanted, or or how did?
Speaker 2:that happen? Not really, because at that time I had my first child. So I was kind of not really knowing what I wanted to do. I thought I'd do something. I kind of wanted to do infantry. But my now ex-wife she was my girlfriend at that time she really didn't like the whole idea of infantry, so we didn't go to that time. She really didn't like the whole idea of infantry, so we didn't go that option. And I was thinking truck driver or something like that, a skill I could use in the civilian world. And she didn't like that as well, because little trucks get hit or whatever overseas. And I was like, whatever, just give me a job. So I enlisted as a 92 Foxtrot fueler, ended up doing that, which is funny. She didn't want me to drive a truck and I'm driving a giant fuel truck.
Speaker 1:So and do you remember what date you shipped out for basic training?
Speaker 2:It was May 7th 2007.
Speaker 1:May 7th 2007. May 7th 2007.
Speaker 2:And where did you go to be security. I went to Fort Jackson, South Carolina Fort.
Speaker 1:Jackson, South Carolina. What's that name now? Or did they name it?
Speaker 2:back. I don't know. They keep changing the names, changing them back, so I don't know what it's called now.
Speaker 1:Okay, I don't know. I just remember they changed one to four more. Yeah, Benning went to more, and now it's back to Benning. Yeah, so you're at basic training. And tell me about, is this your first time away from home? Is it like, what are the feelings that you're having? For me it was kind of that you're having.
Speaker 2:For me it was kind of I don't want to say it was easy, but I was an adult at that time. I was 25 years old when I joined. So the whole just shut up and do what you're told was kind of easy for me, didn't really have an issue with it. I played sports all my life. I played semi-pro football after high school, so all the athletic and physical aspect of it was fairly easy to me. Implemental game part of it was pretty easy to me because at that point I was an adult, already had 10, 15 jobs by that point. So getting told what to do, I was like, yeah, whatever, I'll just do it, life will be easy. So for me, me it's easy.
Speaker 1:Is there anybody that you still communicate with that?
Speaker 2:you're at basic training uh, no, not really there was for a while. There was a guy who'd fly and visit each other, and then life got in the way.
Speaker 1:I kept kids and still having kids. So yeah, um, yeah. So so you got basic training. Is there anything significant?
Speaker 2:that you would want to mention about basic training. I think it was fun. I mean the whole just. It's pretty cool because your mind is gone, you, you have no time to think about anything except what's the next task I have to do. So it's kind of like a vacation of sorts. Instead of wondering, oh man, I don't like this job at home, now I need to find another job. It's just like I'm just going to sit here and do pushups from one stand, shoot guns. I mean I'm going to do fun stuff. I don't have to think about anything. Obviously, you miss home and have a child at that time, so it was a little rough there, but they keep you so focused and so busy that you don't have time to think about that stuff.
Speaker 1:And the son that you had at that time was your son, right? Yep, he's now in the Guard.
Speaker 2:Yep, he actually I just punched his chest in yesterday.
Speaker 1:Just got his five, oh nice, so he's the guard. Yep, he actually. I just punched his chest in yesterday. I just got his five. Oh nice, he's a sergeant, yep. And what's his name? Travis Brunger. Travis Brunger, sergeant Travis Brunger. So you get done with basic training. What was your enlistment option? Did you do like a three-year? Did you do a six, three year? Did you do a six year? Did you?
Speaker 2:I did a six year because they had $20,000 bonus. I was like, well, there's no point doing a three year not getting a bonus if I wanted to do this my whole life. So I was like I might as well just do a six year, get a little extra cash in my pocket, because, being 25, new dad, it was a little rough. So financially it, new dad it was a little rough. Financially it was a little rough, so I needed a little bit of money. I could pack it. It was nice.
Speaker 1:And so you joined the National Guard, michigan Army National Guard. In what? What was your duty station? Your one weekend in Lockton, it was in Howell.
Speaker 2:Michigan, in Howell. And what was the unit's name? It was the 1462nd Transportation Company. It was attached to the maintenance platoon, being a fueler.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, it's 246. I was at battalion then, so you graduate basic training. Did family come to watch you graduate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was pretty cool. The whole family day thing was cool because at Fort Jackson I don't know if you've been there, but they have the whole parade field with the creatures and stuff and 150 yards away it's just woods. So family day, all the drill sergeants popped smoke when we came running out. It was funny and we're it was funny because we're sitting there hiding in the woods and I see this humongous guy. He's like 6'5", 350. And I'm like, oh my God, that's my friend Lester. So so my girlfriend at the time she convinced my like best friend at the time to come down.
Speaker 1:So him, his wife came down parents came down, my grandma, my girlfriend at the time, you know he went summery. It was pretty cool, it was awesome. So you graduate and then you come back and you have your first unit drill. Tell me about that, it was eye opening.
Speaker 2:Cause you're at basic training, ait and everything. You're standing at parade rest or doing all this stuff. The first person I stood at parade rest to. She looked at me and said stop doing that. You're making me nervous. I'm like what's going on?
Speaker 1:We're just sitting there.
Speaker 2:She's like you're maintenance, we're cool, don't disrespect us, but we don't do the whole dog and pony show. I was like, okay, but we don't do like the whole dog and pony show. So I was like, okay, this is really weird. So it was odd, but it was fun. It was like I said, it was one week in a month, so it was a commitment, but it wasn't like the end of the world, I'm flying overseas to be stationed somewhere for three years active duty or anything. It was cool. I could live. At the time I was living in Williamston so I can drive half an hour to drill. No big deal, it was fun.
Speaker 1:So your annual training, you go for your two weeks. Tell me a little bit about.
Speaker 2:Like some of the times you had an annual training. Well, actually, my first annual training, I thought it was pretty cool. I thought all annual trainings was like this, but we went to San Diego, california, so that was my very first experience of an annual training and it was phenomenal, it was awesome. And there was three of us that were new and that was our first AT ever and all the older guys were like, oh great, their first one here. Now they're going to expect this every year. And all the older guys were like, oh great, their first one here, now they're going to expect this every year. And we did until the following year, when we went to Gray Wing Realized it was not like a border mission patrol in San Diego.
Speaker 2:It was a little different. So that AT was sweet. We got to see the, got to actually climb in the tank that was in the movie Flags of Our Fathers, oh nice. So our maintenance bay was right there on the border and that guy owned it. So Paramount, sony, whatever movie studio they paid him to bring this tank in because it was the most realistic for that time period, like in the world. So that was cool.
Speaker 1:So we're going to get a movie too. So when you were in the At annual training, did you guys go to the field and then, like you, fueled in the field Was there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in San Diego it was a little different. I was kind of a fake mechanic At that time, which 90% of the job was A fake mechanic. So I just sit there help the mechanics hey, go give me this, go give me this, go give me that, or here, help me do this. But yeah, I end up fueling in the field, like especially grayling or whatever. Most of the time I just tell my platoon sergeant, okay, I'm going to fuel row. He's like, well, I didn't tell him it was fuel time. I'm like, yeah, we're going to fuel row. He for people to go, so I'd just go hang out at Fuel Roll and Grayling and trucks would roll up and fuel them and they'd keep going. Easy job, that's right there on the fence, right, yep, right there.
Speaker 1:Right, when you go from Garrison to where all the ranges are Okay, and how many trucks would you guess that you fueled Overall In an annual training cycle?
Speaker 2:There would be a lot of times, because the 1460 second hand is the largest tanker in the state, so I would just fuel everyone. They'd have all of us there, we'd just fuel and I'd always get the best spots. I'd be the first one, so it'd be every truck that would be out there. So hundreds of trucks every single day rolling through. I get them done in a good three, four hour window and if there's night missions, we do a night fueling or something so they can go fuel before their mission.
Speaker 2:Okay, and so you're doing annual trainings and when it's at one point you guys get activated and you go to Iraq, you get deployed right yeah, we got activated, we went to Kuwait and then halfway through the deployment and half of us got forwarded to Afghanistan and I got chosen for that as well okay.
Speaker 1:So so you find out that you're the kind of you find out you were getting deployed. Well, there's always like the rumors.
Speaker 2:Everyone's like, oh, I think we're deploying. You know all this stuff and you just don't read into it. There was that one formation where they told us and everyone's like, uh, and all of a sudden you see all the old crusty guys pulling this thing called the 20-year letter in their pocket.
Speaker 2:Like I'm going nowhere. Wife's dealt with this three times. I'm not doing it again. So clearly they didn't go. But yeah, they just told us at that formation and I just accepted it. I was like, oh, you know what can happen at some point, so Just take the punches and do it. What year was that? That was 2012.
Speaker 1:2012. And at this point, how old is your son? Are you married?
Speaker 2:At that point my son is 10. Then my daughter would have been three and I was married at that point.
Speaker 1:Yes, and what, how? How did that go at home, Like when you went and told your.
Speaker 2:Well, she didn't like the idea of it, but she knew it was bound to happen at some point If I decided to make a career out of it, which at that point she kind of realized okay, the city is going to make a career out of it, so just roll with it, give them some sport. Yeah, the kids they loved it hated it.
Speaker 1:So so you're, you're, you're getting employed, your family's going through this, you're going through this and you, could you do a pre-mob anywhere? Yeah?
Speaker 2:we went to Fort Bliss in Texas, right in El Paso, and it was a pretty good time. It was funny because when we showed up, like three days later, it snowed in El Paso and they blamed us. You guys were supposed to come down here and bring your gear, not the weather. So they shut down El Paso completely because they'd never grow on ice or snow or anything. And after the snow melted the next day they're like oh man, we should have just had you guys run public transport, drive buses around, because you're used to driving in this stuff, and what time of year was that it was?
Speaker 2:December 2011, when we actually left to go to Bliss, and then we were boots on ground January 17th of 2012.
Speaker 1:Boots on ground in Kuwait, and where did you arrive? In Kuwait we?
Speaker 2:arrived in Al-Yasaleen. Then we took 18 bus rides everywhere around the country. For some reason Ended up in Camp Arifjani.
Speaker 1:Camp Arifjani and when you got there, when you're flying in and you land and you get off the plane, tell me a little bit about that experience All that heat hit you.
Speaker 2:The heat and the smell, it's a different world over there, all the countries over there, the Middle East. It's just so hot Compared to America. I mean just the smell. It was horrible. What's the smell? Like, I don't know, like sitting in a house for six hours it just did not smell good at all.
Speaker 1:What's that due to? I have no clue. Was it like sanitation?
Speaker 2:issues. It's more likely a sanitation issue or something, and they kept telling the story like it used to be underwater and all that stuff. So everything you're walking on is like shit, poop and this stuff from thousands of years ago or whatever. I was just like whatever, I just know what it smells. Sort of the whole country smell, I guess, oh, the whole country, which is weird because, like Kuwait, if you go near Kuwait City, it's beautiful country. It's just weird. It's not like a super poor country either, because of all the oil. You can smell the oil fields burning as well too. So that was another smell I can't get out of my nose.
Speaker 1:And so when you arrived at the RF job, is that the largest post in Kuwait, the American post, the US post? Yes, I believe so. Okay, it's pretty big. When you arrived there, tell me about your living conditions, your food, those types of things.
Speaker 2:Well, it was funny because the first thing, like everyone always had this concern of getting attacked or whatever, and it was just odd and hilarious that the first thing we did when we got to Arifjana was turn our weapons in. We just put them in the arms room and never saw him again while we were in Kuwait. But the living conditions were great. We had hard structure buildings. It was kind of like it felt like a pole barn, smaller obviously. There was like 20 people there. We had lockers, so we set up kind of like room type areas. Air conditioning was great. Didn't need the heat, so if you needed the heat you just open the door because it was super hot out. But the air conditioning worked great. The food was the best food I've probably ever had because it was all contracted in. And if you didn't like what they're making, you just look to the left. There's a pasta bar, there's a salad bar, there's a burrito bar, there's a sandwich bar. It was great.
Speaker 1:And your living quarters. Did you have a roommate? I mean, how big was the living quarters that you stayed in.
Speaker 2:It was probably like a 40 by 20, like pole barn type building, fully insulated and everything. And they had, like I said, they had the lockers positioned in a way where it was like two sets of bunk beds, so four people in an area. So it was probably 10 by 10-ish 100 square foot and four people lived in that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there wasn't room.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wasn't much room but we made the best out of it. It's not like we were in a room that much. Anyway, it was being maintenance. We were always working on something or eating, or just strolling around Camp Arafatown take a dip in the pool, go to the mall.
Speaker 1:What was at the mall? What would you go to?
Speaker 2:Everything. I mean it was kind of like in other people's deployments, like everywhere has like the b people's deployments, like everywhere has like the bazaar type area, the place they call the bazaar, all the shops and stuff, and it was just an indoor the exact same thing but indoor. So they had a music store there and me being a drummer, I ordered a drum set, had that shipped over there, so I had something to do.
Speaker 1:Okay, and did you have any times outside the where Like? Did you go on any?
Speaker 2:I did not because I was maintenance. All of maintenance stayed in except the tow truck drivers. But because we were a transportation unit, all the trucks they were moving supplies in and out of them, from Aerofjohn to Beering to Isolene, they were doing all that mission. But maintenance we just sat there and the fueling was all contracted out. So, like my job, there was the environmental booster for the unit so I would control, like all the POL, any hazmat supplies we had. I had like big air-conditioned storage lockers so I just put all the stuff there. If anyone needed something they'd have to come find me.
Speaker 1:So you're in the country and you mentioned that you got moved to Afghanistan.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was about halfway through the deployment we had a big formation, informal formation. They just kind of told us hey, you are going to Afghanistan for like three, four months, so we're taking volunteers. Now, if we don't get enough volunteers, we're drawing names. At that point they needed one of the fuelers to go, and it was just me and my partner at the time and she was older than me and had a health condition type thing. From being over there she heard her own or something. So I got chosen. I was well told you were going to Afghanistan. So yeah, whatever I'll do, whatever I care. It was a pretty good car, not too bad.
Speaker 1:What was the temperature difference between?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it seems like Michigan, like the weather, they have the seasons, and it wasn't much different, like we arrived right around, so right around the 4th of July it would take a week. We arrived there the mountains were still snow capped, but it was. It was a cool country. Kuwait no, kuwait was hot. Kuwait hit 149 degrees. Yeah, that was really warm. So, being maintenance, we worked night shift so the coolest part of that day was 115. That was the coldest.
Speaker 2:Oh, funny story about Kuwait when we arrived, one of my buddies he had deployed like multiple times with other guard units and active duty, and I'm looking around and everyone's wearing a hoodie because we got in ground in January it's 100 degrees here or like 90 degrees there. I'm like, why is everyone wearing a hoodie? He goes, oh, just wait till we leave, you'll be wearing two or three of them. I'm like, yeah, right, whatever. Yeah, when we left, I was wearing a hoodie, just because you get so used to in the summer, it being 120 to 150, that once it hits 90, you're like freezing. It's so cold. Yeah, it is so cold. But Afghanistan is just like Michigan.
Speaker 1:So you get to Afghanistan and what are your living quarters like there and your food?
Speaker 2:The food was still amazing. It was great food because everything's contracted out. We did find this little secret spot. No one knew about. It was a barbecue cowball, so we'd hit that up every now and then. It was pretty cool. Everything was barbecued. It's like you were in Texas so you can get barbecue this barbecue. That it was great. Everything was barbecue. It's like you were in Texas so you can get barbecue this barbecue. That it was great. Everything was just amazing.
Speaker 2:So what was the post you were at? I was in Byron Byron Airfield, yeah, so it wasn't that bad. The living conditions they weren't horrible. Like I arrived before most of the other people that got forwarded arrived. So we were in hard structure buildings. They were. They were like 12 by 30 foot and there's like eight of us in there, just like you picture a barracks. That's just how it was. There were sets of bunk beds on each side. It wasn't too bad. The rest of the people, when they arrived, they were in like a. It's kind of like an inflatable tent. It's this weird giant tent in the middle of nowhere, so kind of sucked to be down. I was right next to the chow ball.
Speaker 1:So I loved it, Nice. And so you're in Afghanistan. How long did you end up staying in Afghanistan? I?
Speaker 2:was there about four months. I was a little shy of four months.
Speaker 1:So from from there do you go back to Kuwait and then ship home with your unit Yep?
Speaker 2:we went back to Kuwait for a little less than a month, probably three weeks, and then we all came home, Okay what was the feeling like when you, when you got home?
Speaker 1:like how to tell me a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:It was great. But it was weird Cause I was used to waking up, looking over and picking on someone. If I did that, like, why the hell would you give me if I just woke up and pick on her? So you used to having someone like sleeping eight foot from you and you just making fun of them. Then you get home and it was. It was quiet. I still have to sleep with the pain on because all the generator noise. I need that now to try and fall asleep. But it was. It was great seeing my kids again.
Speaker 1:It was amazing and uh were there. As far as adjusting, did you have any problems adjusting back to being a civilian? Well, you're not a civilian, but you're coming back here one week in a month, yeah it was kind of it wasn't the one week in a month thing.
Speaker 2:I was looking forward to that, seeing the guys and picking out them again, but just realizing oh man, I have to go back to work, I have to go do a normal job again.
Speaker 1:It was horrible. And what was your job when you came back? What'd you do? Oh geez, I don't even remember.
Speaker 2:I was more likely insulating houses, because I did that for a very long period of my life Insulate houses and I just it just sucked having to come back and do all that again.
Speaker 1:So you come back, you start doing your one week in a month again, and then how long did you do your one week in a month? And then, I know, you became a recruiter. How long were you doing that before you became a recruiter?
Speaker 2:I did the NDA the one week a month for 12 years, so from 2007 to 2019, I did that. I met that point. I was like you know what? I think I've had enough of this. You know, I got promoted a couple of times. I was an E6. So in 2019, I actually got home for four months and four days. I got out and got right back in. It was just weird being out. I'm looking at my bank account, my bills. I'm like why am I like hundreds of dollars short every single month? I'm like, oh, that drill check, I missed that drill check. And then the guys you try and keep in touch with them. But I mean, life ever is life, and something cool happens on a weekend. You call a buddy up and, oh, I have drill this weekend. I'm like, dang it. So I just got back in and that's when I started recruiting. I was on ADOS pretty much immediately once I got back, in September of 2019.
Speaker 1:So you were on ADOS, which means it was an additional duty.
Speaker 2:It was like my. It was like a civilian job, but it was prepping me to become a recruiter so you were active duty operational support?
Speaker 1:yes, I just had you explain it so that if anybody's listening to it, they can understand exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 2:There's so many like ADOS options. Yeah, it's just nuts. Every unit has some especially recruiting. They're always looking for a recruiter assistant, which is what I was. I did that until like February of 2020. That's when I became OT-OT recruiter, which is one-time, occasional tour. So it was like I was an actual recruiter with my own area, but I wasn't full-blown ATR yet. And then the following September I got the full-blown ATR during COVID. That was fun.
Speaker 1:So what? So were you out of Powell when you started fun.
Speaker 2:So what? So? Were you out of Powell when you started? No, when I was ADOS, I was a. I was a recruiter assistant for Lapeer and Saginaw. So driving from at that point I was living in Perry driving like an hour just to go to work, that wasn't fun, but the pay was nice. So I was like, yeah, I'll do it. I want to be a recruiter. So I have to go through the steps to become a recruiter and that's what I did.
Speaker 1:So you start recruiting. So tell me about a typical day in recruiting, typical month, and what all did you do?
Speaker 2:There's really no typical when it comes to recruiting other than going to the office, putting in the work and going home sometime late at night. That's the only thing typical. Every day is different. You try and set appointments, try and tell your experiences, talk to these high school students and just basically tell them how you can help them. And that's what I love most about recruiting. I didn't care about having the most numbers or anything like that. I wanted to help the most people out that I could Like.
Speaker 2:My very first enlistment was a kid that would have never joined the military if I wouldn't have done a finance presentation at Howard High School. He did that. His parents made great money. They could have paid for college, but his story was he didn't want to burden his parents. He's like if I can do this one week in a month and pay for my college, why would not? He's like if I can do this one week in a month and pay for my college, why would not? So that was like the coolest thing in the world to me. It was great helping the kids like him.
Speaker 1:So you did classroom presentations and your schools were what were your schools?
Speaker 2:I had like the eastern half of Ingham County and part of Livingston County, so like Weberville, williamson, stockbridge, gansville, fowlerville, powell, heartland. At one point I had Dexter and Pinkney as well, so it was rough having so many schools. So they had a recruiter to the office and I cut my schools in half or whatever. It was great because I could focus more on the schools themselves and the students and all that. But it was a small area so I wanted more area to match.
Speaker 1:So you spent a lot of your time in Howell. I mean, they have ROTC right, JROTC.
Speaker 2:Yes, howell High School has JROTC, so I spent a ton of time there working with the instructors there judging their drill competitions. Anything I could help the program with I would, because they would in turn help me out. I also volunteered for the Livingston County Fireworks Committee. So, like one of our events was a great event Wreaths Across America we would do it at a Fatherville Cemetery every December and they always needed more volunteers. So I would just end up calling the Howell J Rowe TC instructor and he'd bring cadets out there so they'd help fluff up the wreaths and help place the wreaths on fallen graves. So it there, so they helped fluff up the wreaths and help place the wreaths on fallen graves, so that it was a good partnership with them.
Speaker 1:Okay, so tell me, what maps did you usually go to Military entrance and processing station? What did you use for maps?
Speaker 2:I would try to use Lansing as much as possible, just because the proximity to the office is a lot closer. When we started we were only using Troy maps because it was a large map so it was very quick. You know, everything happened very fast and then it kind of turned. It shifted to where Lansing was more efficient for us. So I started using Lansing and always used at Sunset.
Speaker 1:And you, what year did you start recruiting?
Speaker 2:As an ADOS, I started in 2019. Agr was 2020.
Speaker 1:2020,. What in 2020? Was it Before or after COVID?
Speaker 2:It was after COVID, like when I got the OTOT, that was February 14th of 2020. My first enlistment was February 26th of 2020. And then, three weeks later, covid hit and that was that sucked.
Speaker 1:So tell me a little bit about how you had to adjust your recruiting strategies recruiting.
Speaker 2:At that point it kind of went to social media, which I was never good at, so I kind of struggled trying to learn it. We like we'd have tons of classes do this in your social media stuff and I'd be like, all right, right, well, what's an Instagram? I'm like, oh no, this is not going to be fun. So I just kind of because of the relationships I built up it's the entire recruiting area I had that I just named. I grew up in that area so I already had more contacts than any first day recruiter had. I already knew all the teachers at like half the schools I had, so that kind of helped me out because I would just call the teacher and be like hey, can I get into your classroom? I know it's COVID. They're like all right, mike, you know the rules, follow the rules, stay away from the kids, just do a presentation. And I was the only recruiter for like a year allowed in like three high schools.
Speaker 1:Well, it's pretty good that you had that type of relationship. Yeah, I know COVID changed a lot of the recruiting environment, so is there any anything in recruiting, any significant things that happened in recruiting that you'd want to mention?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was actually production year 22. It was my rookie year going into recruiting, which is my first full year after going to recruiting school. I got recruiter of the year and rookie of the year the same year. So my rookie year I was the rookie of the year and I was also the director of 54, recruiter of the year for the state of Michigan and I think at that time in my entire recruiting year I think I was three or four times the Vincent County recruiter of the year. So that was pretty much every year. That's good.
Speaker 1:That's a pretty prestigious award. They only give that out to how many people per year.
Speaker 2:There's 54. One for every the D54 award. Yep, Yep, there's one for every state or territory. That's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you were the one who won it for the entire state, correct? Did you go on to any other competitions after you won Directors 54?
Speaker 2:Yeah, once you win Directors 54, you go to what's called the SMAG, which is kind of like the regional. There's seven states, we all board and you compete to see who's the regional recruiter of the year and then there's the national. I went to that. It was in New Orleans. That was pretty cool to hang out right after Mardi Gras. We went down there and then all the regional winners competed for the national recruiter of the year. I did not win regional or national, I had COVID. So I was stuck in a hotel room with COVID trying not to die.
Speaker 1:So you really didn't get to enjoy.
Speaker 2:Not the regional one. No, I like I went there. It's funny because all the sergeant majors on the board they're like god, your guy's faking it. Until one of them caught it and they're like all right, he wasn't faking it, I had what he had and I just felt horrible.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so. So right now you're, you're now, are you recruiting currently?
Speaker 2:I am not a street recruiter. I'm still in the recruiting and retention battalion and what do you do at the retention battalion? I kind of show up. I'm at that point where I'm in the process of a med board getting medical out, so they just have to keep eyes on me, make sure. I'm in the process of a med board getting medical out, so they just have to keep eyes on me. Make sure I'm still kicking.
Speaker 1:And so you're gonna get out here. Do you have a date like when you're gonna go? I?
Speaker 2:do not have a date right now. I'm going through the whole process of just going to eight million people's appointments so they can see what rating I'll have dod and va side. Then once they I guess once they determine a number, that's when I get a date. So we're still waiting on that. I think it'll probably be august, september.
Speaker 1:Time time frame okay, and what's your? What's your plan when you get out, do you? Or what are some of your thoughts? At least, I have no clue.
Speaker 2:I've done this so long been in. It's just it's kind of weird to think of doing anything else. So everybody who owns a card shop, maybe I'll go work with him. I mean he owns like five companies. He's mentioned me like taking control of all five of them, running all five of them. Or I have a couple veteran organizations I've worked with. They they told me once that once I need to contact them they'll hire me, so kind of just throwing it at the wall, see what sticks what kind of card company?
Speaker 2:like trading cards. Okay, sports trading cards, sports trading cards. He he has a lot of like autographed jerseys and helmets and stuff like that. So if you're looking for a Tom Brady autographed helmet, got you I don't think I can afford that, so.
Speaker 1:So if anybody is, is there anything else you want to talk about that? We didn't ask no, we covered it. Okay. So if anyone's listening to this interview, what would you want them to take away from our conversation?
Speaker 2:I would have them go talk to a recruiter and just hear what they have to say before dismissing the idea of military service, the military world. It changes so much that, like say, if your mom, dad, uncle, aunt, brother, someone else joined, it's completely different. Now it's not the same. Like the Vietnam guys have a different story than the Desert Storm guys that I had, we all have a different story. The Desert Storm guys that I have, we all have a different story. We all went through different stuff.
Speaker 2:Basic training is completely different now than it was 40 years ago. Or shoot as different now than it was five years ago. Like everything's just so different. And if you do decide to enlist, I would just have you remember that the more you put into it, the more you're going to get out of it. If you're just that guy that hangs out in the back of the room just trying to get through the drill day, you're not really enjoying anything. Your military service is going to be horrible. But if you're the guy that wants to progress your career and do more, and get that rank and beat that guy in push-ups or whatever.
Speaker 1:You're going to get a lot more out of it.
Speaker 2:Every person I enlisted, I told them that.
