Reserve recruiters ramp up for Pope Opening

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Scott Mathews
  • 916ARW/PA
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, NC --  As part of the Base Realignment and Closure process, Pope Air Force Base's new reserve wing will keep recruiters from around the area extremely busy all year. 

This is why AFRC has called in "back up" to ensure the recruiters from the surrounding bases can still sustain their normal needs and the AFRC recruiters can help recruit enough to support the opening of the Pope wing. 

"Charleston and Seymour will loose some of their members to Pope. It's a balance of manning to keep the existing wings stable while helping Pope stand up," said Master Sgt. Ellen Shaheed, 916th Air Refueling Wing chief recruiter. 

AFRC has implemented Operation Saturation Carolina Flight. Recruiters from AFRC are coming to the Carolinas to do a recruiting surge to help make sure all the reserve needs are met for the area. 

"Local reserve recruiters still need to keep their offices functioning properly. This surge is to create awareness to attract qualified individuals to all three units," said Sergeant Shaheed. 

There are numerous events that have already started in North and South Carolinas leading up to the surge that begins on April 9 and some will continue through the end of the year. 

Some of the pre-surge events included support for the Eastern Carolina Craftsman Fair, the job fair in Greensboro and the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston. 

"These events help increase awareness to potential recruits which greatly help our recruiting needs," said Sergeant Shaheed. 

Some of the events for Operation Saturation will include airshows and local AAA baseball games. 

On April 24, AFRC is sponsoring "Air Force Reserve Night" with the Durham Bulls in Durham, NC. All reservists will get free tickets to the game and a lucky member of the 916th Air Refueling Wing will throw out the first pitch. 

"We would love to see 916th reservists there to participate and have a good time while helping the recruiters at the same time," said Sergeant Shaheed. 

Other minor league games that AFRC will be sponsoring will be for the Charleston Riverdogs on April 23 and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on April 25. 

A media surge will also be worked in as part of the recruiting efforts. This will take place from April 9-23. 

At this time recruiters will saturate the air waves in television and radio running numerous commercials. Also many local newspapers will run Air Force Reserve ads. Pizza boxes with recruiting ads will also be targeted to colleges. 

Also as part of this process, recruiters are doing a "Zone Blitz." This is when the recruiters distribute as much Air Force Reserve advertising material as possible.
They target areas such as high schools, colleges and employment offices. 

Some of the materials include "take a penny" trays for gas stations, flyers, literature and bags. 

"All of these techniques are used as a proactive approach to recruiting and are vital in letting people know who the Air Force Reserve is and what we do. This in turn draws in qualified individuals," said Sergeant Shaheed. 

For more information contact the 916th ARW recruiter at 919-722-2258.