 It's something that we tell each other all the time. We let individuals know part-time service full-time benefits. So our first question is, what does the first recruiting appointment look like? What paperwork, if any, at all is given? So I could take that one. So whether it's over the phone or in person, when we're scheduling the appointment, I let the applicant know that there is some paperwork that you should bring to the first appointment. That way, it saves that applicant an additional appointment later down the line. So for the paperwork, you want to bring your birth certificate, your Social Security card, a valid photo ID, for example, a driver's license, also a high school diploma. And if the applicant is a senior in high school, what we have them do is bring a letter from the guidance counselor stating that this applicant is a student in that high school, and they are on track to graduate for that graduation date. Also, if the applicant is in college, they can bring an unofficial college transcript. And there are some other documents that applicants may need to bring, which I will make note of beforehand to let them know to bring. And then when the applicant comes in for the appointment, I also tell them bring any questions that you may have. Think it over. They may have a couple of days or a week before their first appointment, so I have them break down some questions. When we first sit down, I'll answer any questions that they have, any concerns, whether that's with them or their parents as well. So this person asked, I ship out for the US Air Force this Tuesday. I was wondering what medical stuff will disqualify me. My height and weight are good, nothing has changed. Is there anything that can stop this process? So that's good that their height and weight is still, it's good, that's something that they should remember is once they get through maps to kind of keep that standard going, make sure that they're staying fit, staying on their diet if they are on one. That's a very important one, so that's good that they're still on that. Another thing is anything medical. So if somebody gets injured, we tell them, you know your basic training date, so if you're going to the gym or if you're doing any extreme activities, make sure that you're taking caution because last thing you wanna do is roll your ankle, break a bone and now you have to go through a whole medical process from there and then you may miss your ship date at that point, you may have to push it back and who knows, now you might not be medically qualified to actually join the Air National Guard. So you just wanna make sure that you're staying safe, taking proper precautions to make sure that you can actually get to that date. I wanna go to college at URI and also join the Air National Guard, but not put that process on hold. How can I do this? Okay, so that's a great question. So we have close relationships with the advisors at all the state colleges. We offer their free tuition up to a master's degree to URI, Rick. We also provide a free tuition to CCRI. You can get your free tuition, wanna go to URI, those advisors there, those professors, because we have the close relationships, they'll actually put your actual major on hold for up to a year while you do military processing. For example, if you're a nursing major, you get to stay in that nursing program, you get to process a basic training and technical training school, get your whatever AFSCU joined, so say it's an aerospace medical technician, you're able to delay that process for up to the time it takes to process with the Air National Guard. And then in the meantime, you come back from technical training school, you do your job training, and before you know it, you're still getting that free tuition at URI. For someone who has no degree, works several dead-end jobs and has no debt, would they do well in the military? Training education benefits seem like a pretty sweet deal. Yeah, so another great one. So we have a lot of individuals in their later 20s, early 30s, they go from job to job. They try to find that niche, where they're supporting their family and supporting themselves. And to be honest, with us as Air National Guard recruiters, that's the best part about our job. We have an individual that comes in, they're kind of down on their luck, they have these families they're trying to support, they go from job to job, and we're able to sit down with them. And I don't know about Rob, but I don't really consider myself as a recruiter. I kind of consider myself as a kind of a life coach. I mean, it may sound corny, but I mean, we literally sit down with individuals and we kind of give them that path that will support them. Because like I said before, we're like an Air National Guard family. We're bringing them into these sections that we're a part of. These sections that I have my family there, my wife is in the Air National Guard, she's a crew chief for us. I have best friends for life that are in the Air National Guard. So we're bringing them into our family and we're making sure they're in the right path that they wanna go down. And that all being said, with all of that, I mean, you have 140 jobs and 40 different specialties in the Air National Guard. So no matter what you wanna do, whatever you wanna do growing up, we have that option for you. So if you're that individual walking in the door, that's in your late 20s, early 30s, and you're looking for that marketability. You're looking to build your resume and be able to get out there and make good money for your family. We have those options for you. For example, I mean, we have individuals that I'll give an example. We have a second lieutenant Alvaro Silva. He literally got his degree in cybersecurity. He went from job to job to job with internships. And he told me this story. He said he made 45,000 a year for each internship and he's trying to get these civilian certifications. These civilian certifications he's trying to get, Security Plus, Linux Plus, Network Plus, the stuff that we provide you for free in the Air National Guard. He's going from job to job to job. He joins the Air National Guard. And within a year and a half to two years, he got those certifications that took him that he was trying to obtain at these civilian employers for the last four years. So we let everyone know when they join the Air National Guard, if they join on a part-time basis, they can get these civilian certifications. And in our cyber units that we have here, from Security Plus, Linux Plus, Network Plus, the top security security clearance, high-encisco certification, these great certifications you get, they total up to almost $100,000 that you have to pay out of pocket as a civilian on the outside. We provide these things on a short-time basis by just joining the Air National Guard on a part-time basis, let the Air Force pay for it. I always tell everyone, let the Air National Guard pay for it. If you're active duty, you go off to basic training, you go to technical training school, you go to your permanent duty station and you work in there full-time. With the Air National Guard, you come back to Rhode Island and you network with the individuals that do these jobs on a part-time basis. They have jobs on the outside that they work. And that's why you get those great-paying jobs on the outside. I mean, there's probably about 30 different companies right now hiring in just cyber as a whole. So save yourself the hundred grand of civilian certifications that it'll take to get that job of your dreams and take the ASVAP, see what you qualify for and go from there. Yes, that's a big reason why I joined also. I was a senior year of college, I was about to graduate and I'm in TV and film production, it's a very competitive field. And I had no idea what I was gonna do, where I was gonna get a job or anything. And I was like, if I wanna start my career, push forward and do everything I can, I need to join the military. And at first I was gonna join the Army, but I got led to join the Air National Guard, which was the best decision I've ever made being here with you guys, it's a huge family. Of course. And now I'm working full-time here and I don't know where I'd be if I didn't make that choice. I'd be running coffee somewhere for some way. And I'm sitting here with you guys doing this and it's honestly the best decision I've ever made. Job of your dreams. Yeah, from my career, best decision I've ever made. With that PA degree you got for Sacramento State, we brought you over here, we're going the back and forth and trying to get your process, taking the ASVAP, getting the score you need to get. I mean, it was just a long process, but it all paid off. Yeah, it paid off in the end. For sure. And I always tell my applicants as well, you're always trying to look for that leg up on everybody else when you're trying to apply for all these jobs. So you're going to these schools for this degree to try to get that dream job. Well, you're also competing against, as you know, many other students that are graduating from the same school, the same degree, different schools, also the same degree. So if you're trying to apply for a job and I'm the CEO of a company or the boss and I have all these resumes in front of me, what's going to put that resume in a different pile that stands out? It's like, okay, well you have a bachelor's degree from this school, same, same, same, same. You get down and somebody has job experience and wrote out an international guard. Let me put this resume to the side and look this over even more because as somebody that owns my own company, I want somebody that's coming in with more experience because that only helps my company, probably saves me money that should train you and it just, you bring a different aspect to my job that I'm looking for. What would I need to do to go from enlisted to officer and are there any examples in our organization about that? There are lots of examples of that. The best part, one of the other best parts of being a recruiter is seeing someone, bringing somebody in, aboard enlisted and we always encourage individuals if you have a bachelor's degree and you come aboard enlisted, we have you take the AFOQT. Just to have that in your back pocket, that's the Air Force Officer Qualifying Test that is a test that's required to be an officer in the Air Force. You could take it two times, up to two times, you can only take it twice. So we encourage you to study. So that being said, for example, we had an individual, his name was Otto Finn. He is an engineer on the outside, he works for Raytheon. So he came in the door one day, he's from Akragana and he came in the door and I'm having a conversation with him at the storefront in Cranston and he's like, I wanna do there in National Guard. I said, well, you have an engineering degree. You work at Raytheon, you make great money already. Why do you wanna do that? He let me know, it's been a dream in my entire life is to serve for the United States of America. I just wanna serve. I just wanna serve my country. I love America and this is something I've always wanted to do. So, okay, no problem. So let's get the process started. We went the entire process and I said, well, you have a green card, so you're not a U.S. citizen. I said, you do have a bachelor's degree though. So let's go down the path of bringing you aboard into our engineering assistant position at the 143rd Civil Engineering Squadron. And maybe somewhere down the line, you can be an officer, maybe that's an option for you. But you have to be a U.S. citizen to be an officer in the Air Force. So I brought him aboard, excited, very happy, all smiles, him and his brother taking all kinds of pictures that enlistment day. And before you know it, he gave me a call and said he obtained a citizenship. I said, that's great, how about being an officer? He said, well, I didn't really think about that, Sergeant Rossi, I guess I can. So he took the AFOQT, he knocked it out of the park. We talked to Lieutenant Colonel Kathleen Mahoney, who's the commander of the 143rd Civil Engineering Squadron. And before you knew it, he became one of officers and he got back from officer training in school, OTS, a little over a year ago. And I couldn't be prouder of him. He's like, Sergeant Rossi, I can't wait to come back and give you my first salute. And he was just so excited and happy. And we're good friends, I mean, to this day. So just an unbelievable story. Someone that just literally just lights up a room, has leadership qualities. I saw it in him as soon as he walked through that door and he told me his story, his life story. And that's the best part of this job is literally just having somebody from off the street, bringing them aboard enlisted, no guarantees. But that option's always there. We bring people aboard, even with our pilot program. We have an individual who I served with for many years. His name is Jamie Boudreau. He's Captain Jamie Boudreau. And he was an avionics, working on the computers, the aircraft over there in 143rd Maintenance Squadron. And before he knew it, he put in for a pilot slot and he became one of our pilots. And he flies a C-130J, so he goes from working on them as a maintenance member to being a pilot for us. So it's a great story all around. In this next question, I know I'm excited for it and I want to know more about. So how does the GI Bill work? So how the GI Bill works that we have, it's called Chapter 1606. So we look at the GI Bill as essentially a book and you have different chapters. So we do offer the tuition assistance for Rick, URI, and CCRI as well, for 100% tuition, which you can start using even before you go to basic training and tech school. So if you graduate from high school and you're gonna go to URI, for example, but you wanna do a semester first, you can use that 100% free tuition and complete that semester of school before you go to basic training tech school, keeping in mind that you have to complete basic training and tech school, or so you can avoid having to pay back that money. Questions about health insurance. Am I eligible for TriCare Reserve Select immediately? I've been enlisted for a year now and I need insurance. Am I eligible for just being in? So I'll take that one. A lot of individuals, as everyone knows, the healthcare costs are kind of through the roof. I mean, if you don't have a great job or you may have a decent job and part of the benefits is they partially pay your healthcare. So that being said, with the International Guard, I've had individuals in their late 20s, early 30s that are looking for low-cost healthcare, join the International Guard just for that benefit. For example, for an individual with TriCare Reserve Select for $47 a month, you get full coverage health insurance. For a family, it's $2.38 a month. So you and your family, $2.38 a month. In comparison to Blue Cross Basic and Standard, I mean, you're paying up to $638 a month individually per month and up to $1,600 a month per family. I'm finding a lot of contradictory info on the internet regarding the VA home loan for National Guard members. What makes me qualified for the VA home loan? So I could take that one. So it'll be eligible for the VA home loan and other VA benefits. You need to be on deployment orders for at least 90 days or more and you become eligible. And then what comes with that VA loan is I've used it twice. I used it once, three years ago and I just used it less than a year ago now on my second home. And the interest rates, you can't beat them. If the market is bad and the interest rates are through the roof, using the VA home loan gets you a very low interest rate. Also, you don't have to pay for PMI and also no money down. I just want to let everybody know that when I first joined, I didn't know that there's international card. I'll be honest. I joined active duty Air Force and then I learned from the international card from my sister and I did my research and ended up coming over. So when people think about the military in general, it's a big step and I'll agree. It's a big step, whatever branch you're joining, whatever component you're joining. But just to let these people know whether they're high school senior or they're 39 years old, it's not too late. Just come to us, get in contact with us, ask any questions, any concerns that you may have and we can help you through this process. This is like Sergeant Rossi was saying, it's a hidden gem. There's so many benefits that come with it for a little commitment. One week in a month, two weeks a year to get the free education, to get another income, all the other benefits that come with it, job experience alone and just the networking that you can get with the individuals that you work with.