Commanding General hosts first Facebook town hall meeting

USAREC Commanding General Maj. Gen. Allen Batschelet spent an hour Jan. 24 answering a variety of questions from Soldiers, civilians and family members as part of his first Facebook Town Hall meeting.  Additional questions will be answered throughout the week, and another blog will be posted relaying the information.

Opening Statement: Good afternoon! I am thrilled to have had so many questions come in already. It shows you are interested in the state of this organization and how we can work together to continually improve it. I truly appreciate your courage to participate and the candor in your comments. You are asking excellent and tough questions, not all of which have easy answers.

I will do my best to respond to as many questions as possible in the next hour. If there are similar questions, I may answer them together in order to maximize the information we share. If I run out of time to address each of the topics discussed here, I will get an answer out within the next few weeks.

Q1: (Amber Heald) From Spouses of USAREC Support Page ~ Sir, will there be a more detailed work hour policy to prevent abuse?

A1: Since many of you have had questions regarding the work hour policy, I will address the topic here. The work hour policy was designed to give NCOs and their families predictability.

 I hold commanders responsible for accomplishing the mission; they must balance risk to mission and risk to force, ensuring mission accomplishment and the wellness of the force. I expect commanders to establish projected annual leave schedules ensuring Soldiers do not lose leave. I also expect them to enable Soldiers and civilians time to participate in significant personal events. The tool we use to ensure predictability is the ROP. The cap for any work week is 50 hours.
It’s difficult to address specific situations in this forum without full details. If anyone has concerns about a specific situation or location, I encourage you to call my hotline, 800-223-3735 ext. 7 or usarmy.knox.usarec.list.hq-pao-sm-mgmt@mail.mil.

Q2: (David Villarroel) - Sir, I'd love to see our technology leveraged and merged especially our calendars. I find it challenging to maintain syncronization in my RZ calendar, outlook calendar, and then my personal Gmail calendar separately. Is there a plan to fix this or at least be able to export appointment from RZ that I can email to my Outlook and only have to click accept? I can currently do this between my Outlook and Gmail.
Thank you. CPT V

A2: This is technically feasible. We are working towards this solution now. We've seen offline testing that looks encouraging. More to follow.

Q3: (Richard Loabe) - I only have one question Sir. "How can a 79R's career end after 14 years of honorable service over one unintentional administrative error that occurred during a quality control check as a Guidance Counselor?

A3: Multiple questions have come up regarding ALARACT 147, and rightly so, as it deeply impacts a good number of our recruiters and their families. In the ALARACT, the Secretary of the Army directed that reports of Type I offenses would result in immediate removal from recruiting duties. I am allowed to waive Type II offenses, but in each instance the Soldier’s entire record has to demonstrate a current ability to hold that position of trust. I personally review and adjudicate each removal packet. To date, I have reviewed more than 1,100 packets. There are still more than 1,300 packets working, but we hope that we will complete all work associated with ALARACT 147 by the end of April.

Q4:  (SFC Daniel Lindenfeld) Sir - Our predominant mission is and always has been recruiting soldiers into the enlisted ranks. OCS candidates are a special mission, and per current guidance RA OCS is closed. I would like to ask why our marketing division is publishing folders (It's more than a uniform, Female Soldiers, African American History oriented soldiers) where the soldier featured on the cover of every folder is a commissioned officer? This sends a subtle message that we are seeking officers more than enlisted, and reinforces the belief that influencers (particularly parents) hold that their son or daughter is officer material, even though they are still in high school. This is not intended to disrespect the officer corps in any way, but to more prominently feature the primary objective of our recruiting efforts in our communities and high schools - enlisted and noncommissioned officer career opportunities. Thank you for your consideration of this, sir

A4: The specific folder you mention was part of a national awareness campaign, Defy Expectations, and while some of the printed materials did focus on the Officer Corps, the supporting TV commercials and materials were more heavily focused on the enlisted mission. Beyond these national efforts, the USAREC staff has a team dedicated to developing tailored products to support each of the brigades' missions. If there are specific materials you require to support your mission, please forward your suggestions or requests through your chain of command.

Q5: (Becky Cranford) - I was informed today by my husband, who is AGR, that there is a change in our SDAP from what other active duty recruiters are receiving. It was supposed to be $300 for everyone starting 01February but the email he received said all AGR recruiters are only going to receive $187 starting 01 February 2014 and in 2015 it will go away completely. We are stationed in the DC area and I don't know how we are going to survive without SDAP. It's also not fair that AGR recruiters are getting less pay to perform the same job and there active duty counterparts. We are feeling very frustrated!

A5: HRC sent out inaccurate information on that issue. ALARACT 014/2014 on SDAP directed a phased reduction of SDAP. AGR recruiters will not be treated any differently than active duty recruiters.

Q6: (Nicole Vogel) Is there a plan/timeline to implement small unit recruiting USAREC-wide?

A6: Small unit recruiting (SUR) did, in fact, go command-wide in December 2012.

Q7: (Darren Smith) My Question to the CG is... When will the ALARCT 147 Hold be concluded? “Type 2-1 – 2-10” Why are PCS orders being canceled if the CG is willing to Waive Minor Offenses?

A7: As mentioned a few minutes ago, ALARACT 147 has had a great impact on this command. I am working hard to review each packet, so each individual Soldier has an answer as soon as possible. While we are working through the process, the majority of USAREC PCS-related actions for our current force, to include reassignments and extensions, have been temporarily placed on hold. A temporary hold on an assignment is NOT in any way a sign of projected ALARACT-related disqualifying conduct.

Q8: (Jonathan Welch) Sir, I have been in USAREC for over 5 years, 2 companies and 3 centers. Since I have been in recruiting it has been very difficult to get orders to go to different schools that help soldiers stay motivated and achieve the level of elite leadership that is demanded by our Army. My question is, can you help to get us more school funding and slots for things like combatives, Ranger School, Airborne School, Air Assault, SHARP, Resilience and Guidance Counselor? While I know that some of these schools may sound a little out there, they all do the same thing and that is allow a soldier to maintain forward progress. When soldiers come out on assignment or when we stay out on recruiting duty it is easy at times to feel stuck or that you are not able to progress as a soldier. I believe that implementation of better training opportunities will solve a lot of issues and help to maintain the connection with the operational and “line” Army. Soldiers feel disconnected from what they have committed their lives to and it is our jobs as leaders to remind them every day that they are still a part of the worlds most powerful and elite fighting force and implementation of greater training opportunities would help leaders be able to strengthen that bond for a lot of young leaders. What are your thoughts on this and do you also believe that soldiers can feel disconnected from the Army after assignment to USAREC? Do you believe that it is important for soldiers to have more opportunities for training even though it may not directly relate to their current position but may provide a greater benefit to the overall command and mission?

A8: Leader and Soldier development is important to us and we seek training seats in these schools. The allocations that USAREC has available are not near what we desire. We are working with TRADOC to increase our authorizations.

Q9: (Rob N Sharon) It seems as though nearly half of the potential applicant pool here fail the drug test. How does/will the continued push nationwide for marijuana legalization affect recruiting in the future?

A9: DoD bases its prohibition against marijuana use in federal law, so until that law is changed, recruiting standards will not change.

Q10: (Anthony Cruz) Sir, one thing I have noticed since I have been a detail Recruiter is the lack of recognition, it seems like since the Small Unit Recruiting change the effort, motivation and determination of the Recruiters have slightly decreased due to the lack of recognition. In the short year and a half that I have been a recruiter I have seen one recruiter get an award and it was for volunteer hours. Is there a way that deserving recruiters can be recognized a little more often?

A10: Individuals are always eligible for recognition through the Army Awards Program. I have given that responsibility to the brigade commanders to manage. Based on feedback from you in the field, we are bringing back the Gold Recruiting Badge and Expert Recruiting Badge as a way to recognize Soldier accomplishments. By the way, the Gold Recruiting Badge is reserved for those directly involved in day-to-day recruiting, typically at the center level and below. This includes officers in medical recruiting.

Q11: (Amber Heald) - ~Sir, Why isn't there a truly anonymous way to report this toxic leadership? No one reports these "leaders" because they are afraid of the backlash. USAREC Command has shown over and over, in my experience, that they don't care about family and only focus on the numbers. Families are sacrificing EVERYTHING for a Command that doesn't even see us as human beings anymore, from experience they don't seem care if you're fallen on hard times. If your kids have to have surgery or that you have no family nearby to help, the only thing they care about is how many FS's you have projected to join next week. Why is that?! Where's the support system for the families that sacrifice all we have, to support our military spouse?

A11: Re: Toxic leadership, you may either contact the USAREC IG anonymously or call the CG's Hotline at 800-223-3735, ext 7.

Q12: (Natasha Sapego) I was wondering how army reserve and national guard hav budget to train their FRG leader, also they have budget for strong bonds , and all other things. However USAREC has no budget to train FRG volunteers. Where is the budget for training and how FRG leaders are expected to support families without any training ?

A12: Because of the geographical dispersion of many of our FRGs and the cost associated with travel for in-person training, we leverage technology to train our FRG leaders. In-person training for everyone is desirable, but unfortunately, it is just not cost effective. Every FRG leader should be encouraged to use the many resources on www.armyfrg.org. The site provides a link to the FRG Leader Online Training Course, which covers managing, leading, connecting and empowering and the FRG Treasurer's Training. They can access the FRG Leader's Handbook and the Smart Book to help them understand their roles and responsibilities as an FRG leader. The FRG leaders are also afforded the opportunity to participate within their commands at local training, which provide skills and information to support them.

Q13: Sir, thank you for conducting this townhall. USAREC civilians, to include those with performance rating periods ending 30 June 2013 and 31 October 2013, have not received the TOAs (or other non-monetary awards) recommended by their Supervisors. Other Army agencies have executed these awards. Any relief in sight?

A13: We just received updated information regarding FY13 awards closeouts and FY14 awards guidance from DA. As we digest this info, we will get it out to field.

Q14: (Christopher Davis) - Two questions: (1) With the "age of austerity" and budget sequestration for the forseeable future, what is the expected impact on recruiting operations, personnel, and resources? Will there be a reduction in recruiting manpower (military or civilian), or organizations? (2) What is the assessment of SUR's effectiveness?

A14: 1) The Army is on the front end of a drawdown, with a possible reduction in force of over 40,000 or more Soldiers over the next few years. As we end FY13, 129 of 176 MOSs are “balanced” or overstrength, and those and many others will continue to get further overstrength as the Army draws down. 79R is one of the handful of MOS that is projected understrength and will have a higher likelihood than most MOS for retention and promotion. The Chief of Staff of the Army and the Secretary of the Army recognize the importance of maintaining a full-strength recruiting force. Recruiting is one place where they are not willing to accept risk; however, the size of USAREC will be proportionate to the size of the Army. In FY14 we will be looking for those of you in our DA Select Recruiter force that embody the NCO Creed and are fully qualified and successful as recruiters to seriously consider converting to 79R. 2) As for Small Unit Recruiting effectiveness, that is something I am interested in as well. We have plans for our G3 Training office to begin SUR assessments next month.

CONCLUSION: I want to thank each of you for taking the time to be part of this virtual meeting. It’s important to me to understand the issues you face and how my command team and I can support you. I realize I couldn’t answer every question in this hour; however, my staff and I will continue to get answers to your questions over the next few weeks. I would appreciate your feedback on this forum. I intend to do this again – how often would like to see me or the CSM available virtually?

(Ashlee Lau Thatcher) Sir, thank you so much for taking an hour of your time to address some concerns. This is a huge step forward, and I think we all appreciate your time and the effort you are putting forth.

(Jay Are) Monthly, Sir. I think this moves us in the right direction of bridging the apparent disconnect between different echelons of the command. Also, for everyone reading affiliated with USAREC, if you are wondering why you may be out of the loop on hot info....it's because you aren't a member of the USAREC Recruiting Forum. All ranks and staff are welcome. Have a great Recruiting day! 

(Amber Heald)  Thank you Sir for taking time our of your day and answering questions for us spouse

(Louie Pineda) Thank you for opening the gates to get direct feedback from the field!