Increased College Aid Credited With Oklahoma National Guard Recruiting Success, Among Top In Nation

The Oklahoma National Guard is seeing record recruitment levels with more and more men and women enlisting every day. The Guard’s top recruiting leaders said that’s thanks to new state law increasing financial assistance for college students. 

The high marks come as numbers continue to rebound following COVID-19 disruptions.

For many, their first interaction with a National Guard recruiter was likely in a high school English class or the school cafeteria during lunch, but those in person recruiting efforts virtually came to a halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, guard leaders said they’re now seeing recruiting numbers among the top in the nation.

In July, the Oklahoma Army National Guard said was the top recruiting National Guard in the nation.

According to the National Guard, Oklahoma is the 28th largest state in the country but now has the 13th largest national guard, carrying more than their fair share of the load.

Guard leaders said factors driving recruitment include medical insurance, retirement, job skills, job placement and the much-publicized college assistance, and now after a bill passed into law earlier this year, those college benefits are more than ever, covering not only college tuition, but fees, too.

Related: Lawmakers Work To Boost National Guard Education Incentives

“Since they passed that, we’ve become a top four state with the best battalion in the nation in July and in August were fourth and I think we’re third or fourth this month,” Recruiting Battalion Commander Major Caleb Emde said. 

Sgt. Maj. Matt Brown has been with the Guard for more than 15 years. He said the current recruiting surge is unlike any he’s seen before. 

“We are in a spot in our recruiting history that we’ve never really been into and coming out of [COVID-19] it was extremely difficult,” Brown said. “ It’s nice to see that they come to the storm. They really kind of weathered it and kind of came out on top.”

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