Oregon City recruiters don’t stop at the enlistment

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Storyand photos by Sgt. 1^st Class Pete Fritsch, ORARNG Recruiter
For several of the Oregon National Guard’s newestSoldiers, the day after Christmas wasn’t spent sleeping-in or shopping at themall.
Home for their Holiday Block Leave (HBL), theirfocus was on developing a plan of integration once their Basic Training/AIT isover.  They received several briefs includinghow to fill out an ADOS packet, what is offered by the Hero’s 2 Hired campaign,and ROTC opportunities, to name a few.
“I was pleasantly surprised that the recruitersspent so much time talking with us about our plan for when we completetraining”, said Pvt. Kayla Peterson, who just completed basic training, and isin her fourth week of AIT at Fort Jackson, in Columbia, S.C.
“I don’t think that anyone else in my platoon backat Fort Jackson had this opportunity over HBL,” she added.
Under the Hometown Recruiting Assistance Program(HRAP), Soldiers who return home for the holidays are allowed to work withtheir recruiters in lieu of charged leave. The Oregon City recruiters have also elected to provide a seminar forthe new Soldiers to help them understand all of the opportunities that awaitthem when they return home after AIT.
“In Oregon, the CTAP, Yellow Ribbon and other reintegrationprograms are nationally recognized and have proven to be extremely successfulfor Soldiers returning from deployments,” said Oregon City recruiter Staff Sgt.Roger Griffin.  “We wanted to bring thosesame resources to our soldiers returning from their initial training,” he said.
The seminar concluded with Oregon Army NationalGuard Sgt. Maj. Beau Lintner, 82 Brigade S-1 Sergeant Major, who addressed the newSoldiers and shared his advice for making the most out of their National Guardcareer.  Most important, he told them howto stay on track with promotions.
“The future of the Oregon National Guard looksbright after what I saw and heard today,” Lintner said.  “These professional young Soldiers askedquestions that show me they are eager to be problem solvers and future leadersin our organization,” he added.  “It wasan honor for me to welcome them home.”
The newly-minted Oregon Soldiers are due to reportback to their various training sites including Fort Jackson, Fort Benning, Ga.;Fort Sill, Okla.; and Fort Gordon, Ga. between Jan. 1-3.  Some have as few as three weeks remaining intheir training while others will continue training for up to 11 weeks.
Participants agreed that they are eager to returnand complete their training but even more excited to have their first drillwith their Oregon Guard units.  In turn,the Oregon National Guard will be happy to welcome them back.
More informationregarding the Oregon City recruiters and their upcoming events, visit them onFacebook here.