 Good afternoon So thank you for joining us for the contemporary military forum titled in a war for talent recruiting retention and opportunity I'm Pam Swan the vice president of military relations and business development for Veterans United home loans Veterans United is an a USA star sponsor and is very proud to be part of this professional development forum as The leading VA purchase lender it is vitally important to us to work with like-minded Organizations that support and protect our service members our veterans and their quality of life and veteran benefits Veterans United provides itself prides itself on educating our men and women that have served this great nation and Helping them with their earned benefits. This is large part as to why we also carry the highest satisfaction rating in the mortgage industry today Which is 97% I Am a little biased as a soldier's wife, but this conference is my favorite That is why we chose a USA this year to announce our new campaign hashtag Thanks to veterans you will notice that between now and veterans day our company with along with two of our former Sergeant majors of the army Kenneth Preston and Daniel Daley We will be traveling coast-to-coast across this nation starting tomorrow Helping veterans make their community stronger shoulder-to-shoulder Giving our veterans that passion that they miss after leaving service We are very proud to announce this at a USA and we hope that you get a chance to view our RV that we have up on Holly and when this event stops if you would like to run down to 1803 we have actor comedian Rob Regal doing a meet and greet So we hope you stop by 1803 and meet Rob before he ends his meet and greet We appreciate what the Association United States Army does for the army the total army through educating Informing and connecting as we see right here at a use a USA's annual meeting Thank you for being part of this program now I will turn on the floor over to the president of the women in military service an American Memorial Foundation One of a USA's distinguished distinguished senior fellows, and I'd like to say also my friend chief Warrant Officer five retired Phyllis Wilson Thank You Pam and for anybody that's standing in the back from where I'm up here There are lots of open seats, and this is a two-hour panel So please if you're looking for a place to sit take take that opportunity Yes, the Association United States Army is proud to provide forums like this one throughout the year That broaden the knowledge base on army professionals and those who support our army AUSA will amplify the US Army's narrative to audiences inside the army and Help to further the Association's mission to be the voice for the army support for the soldier of Course we cannot do this alone AUSA relies on its members to help tell the army's story and to support our soldiers and their families a strong membership base is vitally important for our Advocacy efforts on in Congress the Pentagon and the Defense Industrial Base and To the public in communities across the country through a USA's 122 chapters within the United States and eight countries overseas If you are an AUSA member, thank you and For those of you army professionals who are not yet members of your professional association We encourage you to join AUSA by visiting the membership booth number 307 in exhibit hall a or you can sign up online At a USA org Slash membership Now it's my distinct honor to introduce to you our first speaker the chief of staff of the army General James C. McConville sir Well, thank you, and thanks for inviting me to say a couple opening words and in those that know me I am very very passionate About people in the army and we are in a war for talent and When I when I think about, you know the army it is people there are greatest strength There are most important weapons system and every soldier every family member every department the army civilian and every soldier for life matters and As we take a look at ourselves We're in a very challenging recruiting environment. We've talked about those type things but we have Opportunities to offer young men and women unlike any other place and so what we want to do is make sure We're taking advantage of the talent that we have in the military We have to retain not only soldiers but families and so we have to be very very aggressive about their that and We have to manage talent differently You know at least I have three kids that are millennials that serve in the army So I got pretty candid feedback on you know how well we're doing But you know they want us to compete for their talents They want us to recognize that they're not interchangeable parts in an industrial age system and and I believe the young people today they want purpose and They want us to recognize their talents and we they want us to give an opportunity for them to grow and the armies Absolutely the right place to do that and you know that you got a great panel here They they they come all walks of life. They get some great insights But what we have to do right now one thing that I appreciate having a recruiting crisis near I mean we're calling that right now when we're coming out and saying that is this is when you can make change This is when you can do innovative things to change the organization for the future if we're doing things And in the personnel business that are 10 20 30 or 40 years old then you know we're not moving forward and and we need to make that change and we need to go out into the civilian sector and Show young men and women why they should join the United States Army You know right now 83% of the young men and women that come into the army are coming from military family members 44% come from JROTC So we need to expose young men and women to the opportunities In the military and only 23% of qualified to come in and in the secretary And I have been very clear and I want to remain clear. We are not going to lower standards To me quality is more important than quantity But what we're going to do is we're going to invest in American youth We're going to give them an opportunity I think some of you are aware that we've stood up a future soldier prep course at Fort Jackson And I think that may be the way we do business in the future. We've had already had about a thousand kids Come through that process and it gives them an opportunity to beef up their as Vav scores To get into physical condition and the initial results are very very impressive 75% of the kids that are coming that were barely meeting the standards are doing extremely well The other thing I was really surprised to see not only meeting the standards Some of these kids are really exceeding the standards have finally been given a structured discipline framework to learn and also to Work out and they're losing two to six percent body fat and they're up in their their their as Vav scores And then when they're going into initial military training as some of you know They're actually being moved into leadership positions Which for a lot of these young men and women they probably haven't ever had that opportunity So it may be the future for us and the numbers You know you might go to the assessment course and that may be a way We give a lot of people an opportunity to serve and then quite frankly if you're not fit for the military the army's not for everybody and You know it's hard to tell until you get young men and women there if it's the right thing for them But you know before we invest a lot of time and resources in them is we give them a chance to come and try out So we're gonna do that the other thing we have to do and this is for our recruiters is take advantage of the technology You know we're still doing a lot of things in an industrial age matter We are recruiters are spending too much time doing paperwork and we've got to do a better job of that and we've got to you know We've got some Systems that are coming into place and then once we're once we have soldiers in the army We have to retain them. We're investing in them and and what we want to do is manage them By their knowledge skills and behavior and And even which is blasphemous the army is Understand what their preferences are and maybe even let them go do what they want to do If if if the job fits that so we're going to do that too And I just talked to khaki today. I had a chance to talk to the ceo and If say is coming you know and that's going to help us You know move into the 21st century when it comes to managing talent the thing about talent management is you know We basically manage Officers and nco's by two variables. This is their rank and this is their mos That's not the future We need to know all their their knowledge skills and behavior and one of the best examples I've seen of that is a young specialist medic down at the software factory Who codes at the phd level? We would never know that by His mos are his grade And we have so many Talented soldiers especially in a national garden reserve that bring Incredible talents to us and we got to be able to manage those and we got to be able to play them In that position. So i'm excited about what we're doing in talent management. We're going to compete We're going to be the best at managing talent So everyone wants to serve with us everyone wants to stay and everyone wants to join the army And I look forward to hearing having this panel They're going to give you all the answers and they're going to tell you how to make this happen. So thank you Thank you, sir Now I would like to introduce our panelists to you first I'm going to be going from your left to right General gary m. Brito the commanding general of the united states army training and doctrine command Miss julie boland the united states chair and e y america's managing partner Major general johnny k davis the commanding general of the united states army recruiting command Miss stephanie miller the deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy And dr bruce orvis senior behavioral scientist of the rand corporation At this time each of the panelists will take approximately three to five minutes for opening remarks. We'll start with general brito Hey, thank you chief wilson for the opportunity And I'm sure I can probably speak for many of the panel all of the panel panel members as well That we share the same passion that our chief has for the people in our army And I would argue and suggest That modernization of our talent management systems and how we manage those three important pillars of end strength recruiting class of sessions attrition and retention Deserve as much focus in modernization as it does in modernizing our equipment in the army whether it's a new tank new helicopter What have you and without that we really won't but we'll continually fight this war on talent and the chief mentioned many of the environmental factors That we're talking to so a one-month into command very excited About being part of that and helping to manage the people for our army as we continue to have the best Army that our nation needs to continue to continue to fight our Our nation's wars And again very important The chief did mention a near term challenge and I turn prefer to flip that into an opportunity That we're having and recruiting and it's no secret that we did not meet our recruiting numbers this year And a direct impact on our end strength But we're still a very combat ready army We're going to turn this ship in an opportunity for us And I won't get into some of the other comments that may be made by uh following our panel members But lots of opportunity to do some innovative thinking on both how we run our recruiting enterprise internal To tray dock and very thankful for the assistance of the bigger army as well And I'll just highlight a couple of things that are helping us in the recruiting lane I'll talk a little bit about the 21st century talent management that the army has been doing for a couple of years And we'll continue to do as we modernize as well Then turn it over to a fellow panel member very cognizant of the time But I would like to mention the full army really do d support To turn in this recruiting challenge into a very effective opportunity And one thing we we've started doing just recently will continue to do is alignment with our fellow commands That are supporting trade off Specifically i'll give a couple examples and work with my battle buddy in force calm Where he's aligned the corp the the cores and the divisions with the the five recruiting brigades Plus plus one our medical brigade as well across the nation so that we can showcase our army Educate those who have a propensity to serve even those who more importantly don't have a propensity to serve To include their parents principles and others to show how great this army is in the 150 plus jobs and opportunities That it can offer That's with force calm doing the same with the centers of excellence across all the trade off Our battle buddies in usock and usa pack as well to reach all of the states and territories In the soldier future soldiers that may want to join the army and increase that propensity to serve And once joining the army that in the chief highlighted the future soldier prep course all great things to boost and give additional opportunities For academic proficiency and physical proficiency as well Which feed into the high quality of every single soldier and leader And our civilian professionals in some aspects as well and that there'll be no wavering on the quality And very quickly in the 21st century talent management I know this is not new and I would offer a team this management is not only limited to to our military uniform We have over 280 000 civilian professionals supporting an army as well And all these initiatives are very well nested with our army campaign plan as they should So as the chief mentioned Utilizing ksbs to help manage the knowledge skills behaviors and preferences of our leaders in the army I can highlight a few great programs We're in over 3,500 have gone through our command assessment program Of which has been tailored for command sergeant majors as well And some of the civilians work in the acquisition corps chaplains and others have experienced it to identify the very best leader Who deserves the privilege of standing in front of those young men and women and civilians that serve our great military And that's just but one aspect of it the marketplace and others again giving options given talent given preferences Uh to to the talent in that we're competing with the civilian sector And we need those great quality soldiers leaders to civilians in the army as well So I look forward to entertaining your questions throughout the day and again very honored to be on this panel. Thank you Julie before you jump in I wanted to make sure everybody in the audience knows this is going to be a question and answer heavy For them So start thinking about your questions because as soon as they finish all of their opening remarks If anybody wants to come up to the microphone Uh and start asking the questions will be ready for you And if you don't have any we do have a few that I will get started to Get your collective thoughts Flowing and be ready to answer those questions. So go ahead and down Julie Great. Well, first of all, thank you all for inviting me to be here. Um, it is a pleasure. I've been looking forward to it I actually did quite a bit of research and talked to our ey team Getting prepared for this and I will tell you it is a pleasure to see how parallel Our values are for our organization of y as well as the um armies In addition some of the the challenges and opportunities that we face So thank you. I'm looking forward to learning from everyone up here and and sharing some best practices So let let me just start, you know, and I think we'll probably all say something similar But it is an incredibly dynamic labor market Ever since the pandemic a couple statistics we've heard there are two jobs out there for every unemployed person So people who are not working have multiple choices and we've seen at least within our organization A lot of change and a lot of turn because of that because of those choices And so what we it's required us and a lot of our clients to step back and really say Okay, how do we do things differently? How do we reevaluate? How do we pull apart? How do we understand what the different generations are? How do we be adaptable and how do we make sure that we innovate around recruiting and retention? So just a level set a little bit y you know, see some of the parallelisms. Um So e y is a 45 billion dollar global organization. We have about 365 000 people around the world Last year alone. We got 4 million applications And we hired 160 000 people 62 percent Over the prior year now we had to fill in some gaps We had to fill in some gaps because we had lost people to some attrition But the the order of magnitude by any stretch of the imagination is incredible And so as we kind of we're looking we're saying what are the things we actively did and that we actually really changed And so if we think about recruiting and retention because you know retention Is just as critically important Really saying making making sure in recruiting we had a multifaceted approach that we were looking and really sourcing a pipeline of Candidates who had the skill sets and capabilities and competencies at the standards we need So how did we multifaceted? How do we break down barriers and how do we think about? resourcing people differently and then in regards to Retention making sure from a compensation of benefits. That's one thing and it's important to be market leading at least Market competitive, but also what's the culture you're trying to create? What's the culture of care? How do we care for our people and make them feel like they belong to something bigger and bigger than themselves? And so it kind of goes to your point on purpose. Um, how do we? How do we bring our purpose to life? And so our purpose at e y is called building a better working world And that really resonates the average age of our workforce is 28 So we've got a multi generational But we're also attracting in our brand as we think about That our clients like our clients on campus and our clients in high schools How do we brand ourselves? And so as we think through that retention It's bringing that purpose. How do we how do we foster a culture around diversity inclusiveness? And that's part of who we are as a firm So I looking forward to the questions because I think we go into some very tactical details on how we do that But I just wanted to kind of share the complexity of our organization Strategic talent is is probably the number one thing that we talk about And I think similar to the comments that you made earlier Same thing with our clients. We spend a lot of time with the c-suite and this tends to be the number one strategic Matter that they're facing so look forward to speaking to all of you and hearing from everyone else. Thanks Well, well first of all, thanks chief My name is johnny davis. I am I am your us army recruiting Commander and I've been in command six days And you know, I love it because I think every day I I got a lot of folks who want to help me And I appreciate that and I'm sure by the end of today. I'll figure it all out But hey, let me tell you What I see from The trenches. Uh, so I have a wonderful exceptional team of recruiters Who are stationed all around this world? They're not all in the united states every zip code has a us army recruiter Who is responsible for it? In addition to that overseas Japan, micronesia, guam You name it us army recruiters wherever they are That's the us army And I've I've listened to them And I'll tell you Uh, and based off what we've we've seen there's a lot of headwinds out there and they're seeing it These men and women are seeing it firsthand Given the you know civilian job market. Uh, as you mentioned ma'am, you're absolutely right. It's it's tough qualification requirements negative perceptions fear of harmful behaviors But let me share with you what what I'm hearing from the recruiters And when they get out as they begin to talk with their communities Which they haven't really had access to in two and a half years So think about that now they're reintroducing the united states army Back into the communities, but what they've said to me is sir most importantly the public does not know our army And so I need to share that with you because that's coming from the trenches I also Asked each and every one of these men and women within the command. I had eight simple questions Hey, if you were the commanding general, uh, let me know what you would change Or tell me about your your living conditions wherever you are. Remember these are sergeants And their families who lived on an installation selected for recruiting and now are in bozeman montana Think about that. Uh, so after two or three Pcs is now they're remote. They don't have commissary. They don't have a px. They don't have the hospital So everything they have is remote to include paying copays Toes I can go on and on so this is impacting all of these wonderful men and women. They are us And they're out there representing the united states army. So I sent out an eight question survey Within, uh, 10 days. I received 44,000 responses Uh, and what they've shared with me, uh, and I'll just share this with you and I'll pass The mic on was hey, sir. We'd like you to to really focus on the following areas and I am I'm listening to them Um, sir support and resources Uh, sir talent management Create the positive climate This is what they're telling me and I want to share this with each and every one of you Uh, reduce stress on a recruiting force So that is something they've asked me to do sir look at training Uh, so remember we have a you know a large contingent about 155 of uh, master trainers So we have to look at hey Do we need to bring them back in post covet as we introduce our army back to our communities and retrain and recertify and redeploy and then of course Increase access and that's where I would ask everybody's help for all of these men and women Representing your army help them Gain access and I can explain access based off of a probably a follow-up question And then the last thing sir drive positive change We're in a this is an opportunity the way we move forward now is the way we can change an industrial model and recruit Uh for the future and really change the way we do business. So I need your help And not again. These are the 44 000 responses for these men and women In a recruiting force and I'm listening to them and now I'm sharing that with each and every one of you Thanks. I look forward to your questions Thank you. My name is Stephanie Miller. I'm the deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy and appreciate being Invited by a usa and the army to be a part of the panel We've had the the pleasure and osd to work with all of the services But truly army most closely over the course of the last year as we try to Adjust to the headwinds that all the services are facing Um, and I will say that as you heard from general mcconville The department of the army leadership is all in on this issue. You hear it from the other panel members You know and really see some innovative practices coming out of You know usurek cadet command tray dock g1 asa mnra all the way up to general mcconville and secretary warmeth and And it is encouraging to see such an all-in spirit to try and adjust these challenges Our responsibility at osd is to try to provide lift to their effort to try to clear barriers understand the landscape And then to help work with congress to potentially gain additional authorities or to modernize the authorities that we have Such that we can be more adept at what we do We're very pleased to say across all of the services that we recruited about 170,000 American young men and women to come into the military And we're excited that they're about to join their their brothers and sisters in arms but we have a lot more work to do and This past year the only service that actually met both their active and reserve component mission for recruiting was the united states marine corps So army is not the only service that's facing this challenge. It's it's all the services And in many respects we thought well, we just need to get through fiscal year 22 We're going to turn the page it will be in fiscal year 23 But for those of us that really work these problem every day We'll say that fiscal year 23 is looking just as challenging if not more than 22 All of the services are headed into this recruiting year with probably some of the most shallow debt pools that they've ever had And the market dynamics have not significantly changed And one of the biggest challenges we have is just that propensity to serve We strongly believe in looking at the information that we have about the the market that we're trying to recruit from That they're they're really driven by a passion for purpose Relationships and a clear path to success We strongly believe that whether it's the department of the army or any of the other services we offer An opportunity to find this, you know meet those requirements head on in all three of those areas And they it's may sound trite. It's not that they're necessarily saying no and no It's just that they don't know k and o w about what those opportunities are and and how we can You know meet their drive for for passion for purpose for relationships and a clear path to success Some of the things that we've been trying to do at the osd level Particularly in working with congress is taking a look at some of those authorities I mentioned particularly in the areas of marketing and advertising Our existing authorities are largely based on kind of a 1990s telephone book model directory level information We do a lot both internally and with our strategic marketing and advertising partners To work creatively within those authorities But really what we are able to do on a day-to-day basis is nowhere near what you see coming out of the more sophisticated Marketing and advertising that you see particularly from, you know, silicon valley or chicago or boston or new york We're really a blunt force instrument in many respects and what we're able to do and we're looking to be able to be more of A precision deliver of our messaging in our strategy If you work with the generation that we're trying to recruit from or you have them in your family You know that they are very market savvy. They're very attuned to filtering out the messages that they're not really interested in They're very sensitive to what they feel like is not organic content And they have the ability to tailor the content that they are seeing to a greater degree than we've ever seen Just think about your own viewing habits on a day-to-day basis, whether it's netflix or amazon prime or espn plus There's no marketing content whatsoever Um, and so we have to work harder than ever to make sure that our marketing And in our strategies are getting in front of people where we count success in a matter of seconds The other thing that we're trying to do is work with our Our our kind of board of directors across the river if you will is to take a look at our existing authorities for money, whether it's appropriate to still try to approach some of our Appropriations as one-year appropriations or would it be better to do two-year appropriations for certain? Program lines aligned to the accession and recruiting Side of the house because with that then we can actually do earlier market buys we can get better Advertising placement just might be better for us all around The other thing that we're doing is asking for more support to kind of get a foothold back inside of The local communities in our high schools What we've seen in terms of looking at the data is we've really kind of stepped away from that high school market Part of that is kind of losing that connective tissue with them over the pandemic years where they were largely operating remotely And part of it is just because there's a heightened focus in our public and private institutions nowadays With a focus of really getting young men and women on to secondary education opportunities and colleges and universities Where sometimes going into an enlistment path in the military is looked upon as not having achieved the level of success That that we may have that may have been you know, kind of drummed into them One of the other things we see within this generation that we're recruiting from is many of their own parents or first generation graduates of college themselves And so for them, particularly in some minority or diverse populations They see not going on to a secondary education opportunity is not being successful We certainly believe that going into the military, whether it's an officer path or an enlistment path Is going to drive you along a path to success. That includes a lot of different education opportunities And we need to do a better job of making sure that we are explaining that Not only to youth and to influencers So I think that there's a number of things that we can do in terms of taking a look at our past practices Our current authorities and better understanding collectively with army and the other services Where we want to go and then helping at the osd level to get from point a to point b Um, while at the same time making sure that we're sustaining the high quality that we know that we need today and in the future To meet our combatant command and other operational requirements. Thank you Good afternoon everybody. Um, I'm happy to be here. I want to thank general dravet for inviting me to the panel I was given a bit of guidance on two areas to talk about so I will touch on that The first is some thoughts on strengthening recruiting and the second is on the design and assessment of marketing and recruiting programs joined on the analytical background So let's start with general market expansion and to echo something that general davis just said There's ample evidence from survey that youth and influencers know very little shockingly little about the military services and service in general So one thought with support and some survey did is to push basic information to youth and their influencers on the considerable breadth of jobs And training that the army offers To pique their interest and to get them then more interested in following up and learning more about service There's also been interested expressed in further penetrating the college market Something to be aware of there is that there are different subpopulations Who would need different types of programs to attract them? So for example Program to appeal to recruits who are willing to defer a college until after service That could be used with the post 9 11 gi bill in the same way That the army college fund used to be usable with the older gi bill, which was something unique to the army at that time Perhaps a program for those not willing to wait to help them work toward a year or two towards an associate degree So they would do that between enlistment and going on to active duty Increased use of marketing programs for those who are willing to enroll and attend classes While serving such as the concurrent admission program And for those who already have some college the thought is to expand the loan repayment program With lower caps on the amount that's repaid but less stringent eligibility criteria, which are pretty strict right now In terms of optimizing recruiting resources Analysis suggests over the years that suggested this that the army has over relied on enlistment bonuses. There are reasons for them You need them But they tend to be overused relative to marketing And that has a very significant effect on costs and the amount of recruits that are produced Another area is to try and use analysis that we're aware of to help recruiters improve their productivity That could be for example accounting as fully as possible for the difficulty of recruiting in local sub markets And taking that into account in recruiter assignments and missioning We can also increase Echo something you just said data-enabled outreach and CRM that would require some relief from restrictions on government use of those approaches And we can think about adding enlistment options. So one example would be An enlistment approach that offers a menu of options to prospective recruits where they're trading off non monetary and monetary options That gives them greater ability to get packages that they want But it also winds up saving recruiting resources at the same time because the bonuses offered With these non bonuses options as supplements are smaller than standalone enlistment bonuses We need to continue working towards strengthening Marketing roi that means continuing the regular assessments that the army enterprise marketing office is doing where it's looking on roi in terms of leads appointments and contracts It means increasing the detail the granularity of the data that's collected on the marketing outcomes to better distinguish Which tactics are actually the most effective ones from those that are not their issues with the data? And we also need to understand how different tactics affect outcomes differently In either different geographies or by the socio demographic characteristics Of the leads and contracts that they generate So some some would generate different types of leads and contracts than others We can use experimental variation in spending levels across marketing tactics to try and pinpoint their causal effects And we can use what's called quasi experimental designs in local marketing to try and distinguish Events and activities that are consistently effective from those that are not and do more of the former obviously In designing programs marketing recruiting we have a variety of analytical approaches available to help us do that well Focus groups and survey data the concerns There are a sufficient number of groups and sample size and appropriate composition relative to the target population Past research results are generally available and you can find ones that are appropriate for a new program That might be considered And there are simulation tools that are also often available They can look at for example the effects of changes in the accession cohort characteristics on first term performance and costs Or the optimal allocation of recruiting levels and mix for a given accession requirement instead of economic conditions In assessing effects Again a variety of measures attitude and no propensity change We need pre and post program start data to do that. We need representative samples Multi-variant analysis of outcomes such as leads and contracts and both quasi experimental and experimental designs for those approaches Which produce some of the most accurate results you need before and after results for when the program started And you need balanced test areas and comparison areas The difference between quasi experimental and experimental is you can do quasi experimental after the fact of the program To try and pinpoint what you what you get out of it experimental requires front end. So it requires lead time and More setup time to get the answer Last some additional considerations The data you need to evaluate a new program is it routinely collected or is this going to require a special effort that's going to require more setup time Let's make sure we're measuring causation and not correlation There you need balanced tests and comparison areas and controls for confounding factors And then are you measuring? Attitudinal or behavioral outcomes you have to understand what the relationship is between the two of those So for example You have to consider the relationship of a change in attitudes of propensity What that actually translates to in terms of enlistments. It is not one to one. It is much less So the enlistment rates of people who say they're come in are far from a hundred percent Much lower than that And the negative attitude of propensity group is so large that it historically has counted for at least half or more of the enlistees So there's a difference between measuring attitude and behavior and we need to be sensitive then I realized this last half was technical so i'm sticking with the area I was asked to address Apologies I never like statistics. I'm just saying But I do want to know I want to feel of who's in the audience right now Anybody that's been involved in recruiting please stand up ouch. Okay. We're gonna have fun today I'm hopeful. Thank you very much And we appreciate the hard work and and when uh, general davis was speaking about this I have never personally been Have carrying a green sheet or any of those kind of things But you're right the stressors that we place on our recruiters is tremendous And I think that's one of the things that we do have to find a way to get at So the microphones are open if anybody has a question. Well, he's ready. There we go. Come on down I picked the right seat and everything we're front loaded come on down. Yes, sir. Uh, yes, my name is uh, Matt Siegel. I am a retired reserve colonel Uh, I had three and a half years active duty 25 years as a reservist served from company committee and up to pentagon and white house staff So I've got a background. I'm the esgr uh employment outreach director for north carolina and a previous chapter of a military officers association of america chapter Also in my civilian career I spent 28 years with this little company may have heard of called mcdonald's And I worked in asia europe and the united states And the last group that I said this to ask me when the mcgrib was coming back Okay, but that's really really not my purpose But if anybody wants to talk about that we can do so after this is over anyhow When talk about recruiting and using soldiers for life and so on and so forth For example in medical recruiting uh Through a usa and some members of a usa word got to my wife and I That they were looking for a way to get into medical schools Because of covid shutdowns and all that other stuff and it turns out we knew somebody who was we arranged a meeting and we were able To get them into medical schools to recruit That's an example of the small kinds of things we can do Army recruiting battalions In the past have had community advisory boards They come and they go depending upon the commander Okay, what we did about four commanders ago was we actually raised funding To bring recruits who were not going tomorrow, but where Had signed on and their parents in for a dinner and a speech We raised funding for that unfortunately next year the jag had a different opinion On how we should we should uh go with that One other thing I do is i'm a test administrator at at uh At maps part time I go into high schools all the time And I also administer tests at maps. I think maps should be in meetings like this. They're not here They need to be they really need to be because they're an important part We deal with recruiters All the time and so That's a good thing to do And you know the chief said we have to get innovative And we really deal with these shortfalls and there are just so many ways we can do it And what I would say to you is reach out to soldiers for life like me We don't sit on committees and things like that. We're just out in the communities doing the work We can help you any way we want the last comment I would make is look at the labor participation rate Not so much the unemployment rate. There are a lot that keeps going down We can help raise that up so people That we don't reach maybe would be potential candidates for the military Well, sir, uh, first of all, thanks and thanks for your service and one thing I wanted to add Um, and that was it. There was three great comments But let me we touch on each of those and let me tell you this is what keeps me up at night and what I plan to do I just finished pinning personally pinning a note. Uh, that will be the, uh, key article for the army echoes, uh, magazine or, uh, pamphlet that goes out to all army retirees It'll go out one november to all 1.5 million And you will see my message. It is very direct specific I'll give you access to the army careers app But more importantly, I want all of them to take the next seven to 10 days And move to the closest recruiting station that we can you can locate right in the map and and offer your assistance One to access the other two education. So that's one Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with the casas and all ars to talk about that Community leader access you and I are are thinking the same. Thanks, sir And it's on my mind, but I I can't get it out fast enough And i'm trying to move very quickly With each step that is going to happen next and then I will Pen a I'm I'm almost finished with my note to all General officers and retired officers with instructions for each one of them And sir everything you've said I've captured but essentially we are this is we're taking the step forward for to educate and and connect and then Create more access Yes, sir If I could just add to that first of all, thank you for being a test administrator And while maps may not be in the room at an osd level We we do have operational responsibility for all the maps. So which maps are you at? Raleigh, okay So being a test administrator is so critically important These are the the folks that go into high schools and actually administer the asvap in high schools And then often help facilitate post test interpretation And other aspects of the program and actually where we still see a foothold inside of high schools It's usually our test administrators Because they've formed long-term relationships with the local high schools and there's a level of trust Great so glad to hear that Because as you all know recruiters are so important, but in in essence, we are turning over recruiters About one third a year in terms of coming in and so it's establishing a relationship almost every three years With a school and a high school and administrator Whereas the test administrators have often had those relationships for even in some cases decades And so I completely agree with you that there is a value in making sure that we're partnering with our test administrators We're partnering them with our recruiters To make introductions and to you know gain that level of trust And where there's more recommendations from our test administrators broadly on how to get that You know access back into the schools. I think that's a really good point When I do a test administration the last thing I say in a high school Is there anything else I can do for you? That's those are my words walking out the door. And so they're never out of our mind One last one Matt if you get more than you wanted today, this is awesome Hey, we are being innovative with our soldier for life transition program as well A job assistance or partnership with the businesses as well They're giving job opportunities for those soldiers either retiring Or getting out after their first first assignment And I think you can well appreciate, you know that that makes him a great ambassador For their time and service in the military and go back and talk to family members Bring a soldier in and that's also just exiting the service whether 20 or not with some level of dignity and respect And that's important and as you mentioned takes a very innovative thought also Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Carlos Riquea Diaz for the starters The reason I'm greeting you in Spanish is because we have more diverse country And we're getting we're going to become even more diverse So my question is very simple I've been a member of what's called Halo, which is the Hispanic lowest Hispanic American leadership organization When I got to law school I was a member of house now sign balsa, which is the black law student association the Hispanic law student association and the Native American association I'm also a magnate scholar And a president of lulac The reason I mentioned all of those chapters and organizations is because now one time Was there a government recruiter or a military recruiter? I'm a former infantry officer via OCS and after living in the military I promoted to a military spouse My suggestion to you is that we have so many Programs, whether it's minority or women programs that we are not happening to I'm a former dean of a college and I never had problems recruiting people because I know lots of folks who know lots of folks And who belong to that organization or to that group? And they went in there and recruited for me And that's how I've been successful just because you send someone to an organization That doesn't mean they're going to identify with the people you're trying to recruit Don't send a cat person if they're a dog person or vice versa. We all know How we feel more comfortable So I have to get going because I have to get my child But my suggestion is that send people to those organizations upper bound They will do the work for you Use them look up different organizations in your communities This you know the ones I'm most familiar with is the minority communities I've never had a problem recruiting folks. So I leave you with that because we're not utilizing Those wonderful resources out there Sir and I very much appreciate those suggestions and we totally concur with you Not only from a polished perspective we'll deal with that But just connecting with those soldiers who may or may not want to join in effort propensity to deserve Somebody you're comfortable talking to someone can relate to you your family conditions the whole bit So I concur with you and certainly something we're taking on both as a big army Through our sessions are recruiting task force Which is assisting us at the department of the army level within trade-off and I won't get into I know johnny can probably talk to this in detail On how we're going to do it at the street level the kitchen table level with all the communities that you just mentioned Thank you so much great suggestion though. Thank you very much. Don't be late picking up your kid though Hi, I'm Yvette Busico. I'm the acting assistant secretary of the army for manpower and reserve affairs I work with all of these wonderful colleagues on the stage and I just wanted to Add on to what general burdoz said. Um, we are We're working closely with our civic organizations. In fact, the army had a center of excellence at the national lulac Convention in Puerto Rico just a couple of weeks ago. I see the sergeant major In the front who is there speaking on on the are on our behalf We have baia. We have a lot of connective tissue with those civic organizations So I want to assure you that all that we are Actively we have in the past and we're going to continue working with those kinds of organizations in the future Mr. Beach the DASA for e and i Ecuadorian inclusion And also he is the principal advisor to the secretary of the army Reports to her through the mna and works very closely with those organizations each and every day. So we are doing that I don't have a question Thank you, ma'am sir Thanks to everybody on the panel and everybody in the audience quite frankly for your leadership your passion And the specific line of effort that you're responsible for in terms of not just recruiting But retention and opportunity and I think as I heard miss miller allude to when we talk about opportunity We're also talking about transition And so addressing You know sir as you framed and not just the challenges, but but the opportunities My name is miguel howe with the aurelian group, but more importantly i'm a soldier for life Having spent 25 years in infantry and special forces But perhaps one of the most impactful assignments I had was as the commander of the southern california recruiting battalion from 2008 to 2010 So not quite the same market environment that we face today, but nonetheless coming out of the surge challenging time Flash forward to 2013 when I retired and I had the honor to be selected to serve Under president bush overseeing his transition programs for military service members transitioning military and our veterans And at that time the crisis was veteran employment Particularly for our junior enlisted without a four-year degree Flash forward 10 years that is not the crisis now the crisis is recruiting But it was striking to me having spent times on both of those issue areas That we were really good at attacking those problem sets in different pillars But I came to find it's the same people. It's the same centers of influence It's the same issues in terms of tying together that continuum of purpose belonging and opportunity And I loved how the chief framed it an opportunity like no other be all you can be And so my question is how are we thinking and approaching The issue of recruiting but tying together the full life cycle in terms of service and retention And then the transition Because the success across all three are really integrated. Thank you I'll I'll start and I'll pass it off to my battle buddy, johnny And I definitely don't know what simplifies because this is very complicated. First of all, Miguel Thanks for your for your service both in uniform and continued interest out of uniform as well very much appreciate that Um, but part of it came to just really understanding the total environment and as you said from a future soldier at his kitchen table All the way to when they transitioned from our ocps to a suit and tie And all that needs to be put into this So I would offer up and definitely an approach that we've taken now Mr. Brucico mentioned that the task force support we're getting at the army Mr. Miller clearly represent the osd level support also reached out to academia and others so that we understand this And in our civilian professionals as well Representing a civilian market to put it back in my grunt terms though and operationalized in this solution What are you doing and what can we do in the strategic space? What can we need to be done in the operational space and the tactical space as well? Not to say that the operational approach is a solution to everything But we're the army and that's how we solve problems And this is a tough problem and we do hard stuff in in going to get it done But the the the players and all of that are not only just uniformed as well a recruiting command Working with academia working with the principals working with the hospitals as I just mentioned our policies and programs for transition for life To get at this thing and get at it quickly Before it impacts the readiness of the army, which we're not going to allow to happen I know general davis and I don't want to steal this thunder It is very much taking some very innovative approach looking internal to our recruiting enterprise, which is large And understanding the landscape understanding the problem Uh, do we need to attack the uh, look, I'm sorry. Look at the how we market Differently and I would offer yes both locally nationally and down at the strategic level as well And based off one of the questions we had also our reach out to those that we may not have in the past to give that opportunity Uh to continue to serve whether it's one enlistment 20 years upon retirement and transition with dignity and respect Johnny I've taken way too much, but I wouldn't like to give us the thoughts as well. Well, first of all, thanks, uh, sir That's a Uh, a great question and something that has been certainly on my mind Uh, because why we're beginning to really see ourselves in this environment Uh, given the challenges and it's really opened our eyes. So when I think about the ability to Uh penetrate Down across the communities Uh, we we have a bunch of agencies that exist, but we didn't really synchronize them So that's what I'm what you just said is something I am I am personally involved in in terms of how to fully utilize lever soldiers for life local marketing our Social media our partnerships one of things big uh Big thanks to the Chief was partnering A active duty division with each of our recruiting brigades. So example the 101st airborne division is directly linked with a third recruiting brigade This has never happened before in history And what we have to do with that small brigade is really leverage all of these wonderful assets Uh, and really be able to have an impact in that that brigade area of operation And and don't forget bring in school superintendents casas aras. I mean I can go down a list So when I think I call it the super summit, uh with all my teammates if you execute an event is the super summit involved and have just like you said vso's how do we bring everyone together to Maximize our wonderful impact wherever we are So thanks and I'll just add briefly because I know we have other folks who want to ask questions But on your point about transition. I think at an osd level. It's something that we're very attuned to It's not survey data that we collect it comes from someplace else, but there is some indication that Military members themselves are less likely to recommend military service to the youth in their lives We've seen that metric increase And I think for us it's very important to make sure that in a transition that it's a positive experience So that that they don't leave for whatever reasons that they're choosing to leave or it's it's a full retirement That that process is a smooth process. It's positive And that we are potentially even as showcasing opportunities. We still have to stay connected with the the military Whether full time part time Even outside, you know, the usa jobs very strict confines We are committed to that so much so that we're actually looking at right now our transition assistance programs Oversight within osd is within our readiness division. We're actually looking at moving it to my division As kind of a personnel life cycle approach. And so I think your point is extremely well made Because it does come full circle Thank you so much. I'm confident with this leadership We have all the capabilities just tying it all together as you said sir operationalizing and activating all of our networks When we look back at 2030, I hope we look back at this panel and look what look what we As an army did thank you Thank you quickly many of you may have Question cards blank cards that you can fill out if we do not get to all of them We will be collecting these and we will be sharing them with the panel asking for them To provide their remarks and comments and we'll go this push back out at a later date So don't be hesitant to complete the cards at this time. Yes, sir. Please go ahead McCarly mark mccarly Upon my retirement from this great army I returned to home a record and found myself a commissioner of my small city And within that array of civic leaders a good number supported junior rotc And lamented the fact that it was very difficult to locate junior rotc's within the school district Some attributable to political issues And others attributable to resources And so with that the question has to be is the army prepared to Direct greater resources toward that invaluable program And before general davis answers that question I have a note of gratitude In commendation for something you and your staff did With respect to recruiting And of course talking about the army and its impact You opened the aperture for 1800 retired General officers and flag officers To make contact with both your senior rotc's and your junior rotc's Now we are infusing this is from tiff con the flag and general officer organization Some of you will of course matriculate to that organization upon retirement And we are infusing those general officers and some flag officers into The jrtc the high schools for the purpose of explaining the army message Foreign policy discussions and of course reaching out for the big purpose of recruitment Well, first of all, sir, thanks, and uh, I know Um, I'm in recruiting command now, but I did depart cadet command. So I'm very familiar with junior rotc. So There is a discussions about expansion and let me just Set the stage. Let me provide context. So the program was initiated in 1916 is really stood up in this, uh, some of the States in the southeast florida some in george, uh, louisiana and it really blossomed from that over the last 100 years so about 70 percent of our j junior rotc's are sitting in the What is the florida up through virginia through texas? And that's where so there's not a equal distribution across the united states So there's a request To expand depending on decisions don't want to get ahead of our army senior leaders But up to 50 schools a year for five years, which would Impact first of all, we want to place them in areas where the army's not and impact up to 300 000 additional students So, I mean as you know, that's that's ongoing but it is It's just to give you an idea when you think about let's say, you know, georgia There's more jrtc's in let's say georgia than there are in michigan illinois wisconsin and minnesota combined so Thank you