United States Army Recruiting and Retention College (RRC) | |
---|---|
Active | July 1, 1983 - Present |
Country | United States of America |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Military Education and Training |
Role | Recruiting and Retention |
Size | Brigade |
Part of | United States Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Army University |
Garrison/HQ | Fort Knox, Kentucky |
Motto(s) | "America's Army Starts Here" "Docendo Discimus" (We Learn By Teaching) |
Unit Colors | |
Website | recruiting.army.mil/RRC/ |
Commanders | |
Commandant | Col. Rick Frank |
Command Sergeant Major | Command Sgt. Maj. Jose Hernandez |
Dean/Chief Academic Officer | Susan Troendle, MAEd |
The United States Army Recruiting and Retention College (RRC), located at Fort Knox, Kentucky, serves as the United States Army training brigade responsible for providing U.S. Army officers and non-commissioned officers (NCOs) with the knowledge, skills, and techniques to conduct recruiting and career counselor duties for the United States Army and Army Reserve at the company, battalion, brigade, and headquarters levels. [1]
With the creation of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command (USAREC) in October 1967, the teaching of the Army's recruiting and retention personnel was conducted by instructors from the United States Army Adjutant General School at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. On July 1, 1983, the United States Army Recruiting and Retention School (RRS) was activated at Fort Benjamin Harrison as the fifth Army school under the United States Army Institute of Personnel and Resource Management (USAIPRM). In August 1984, the Army reorganized USAIPRM as the United States Army Soldier Support Institute (USASSI) where it would oversee eight schools responsible for the training of all Army personnel, finance, music, and recruiting and retention Soldiers. [2]
In April 1991, the United States Congress approved the 1991 Base Realignment and Closure Commission list, with Fort Benjamin Harrison recommended for closure and units located there moved to other military bases. By October 1995, USASSI and its associated schools had relocated to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where they continued to train thousands of Soldiers annually for nearly 20 years.
In March 2014, the Army directed the RRS to be reassigned as a brigade under USAREC and relocated to Fort Knox, Kentucky, in order to improve synergy and communication between USAREC headquarters and the RRS and increase the speed that recruiting doctrine and training curriculum was developed and implemented. The move was projected to save the Army more than $14 million per year in training and travel costs by repurposing the headquarters buildings and barracks previously used by the deactivated 3d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division into a new campus for the RRS. [3] [4]
The relocation process began in July 2014 with instructors and civilian personnel beginning to move or be assigned to Fort Knox, and courses being taught at both Fort Knox and Fort Jackson. By January 2015 all courses had been moved to Fort Knox, and the RRS was formally activated as USAREC's seventh brigade on October 1, 2015; its Headquarters Company was activated one year later on October 1, 2016, to provide better mission command support to the Soldiers and civilians working at the RRS. [5] On October 1, 2017, the RRS was reflagged as the United States Army Recruiting and Retention College (RRC) as part of its incorporation under the Army University system, which integrated all of the Army's professional military education institutions under a single educational structure modeled after many civilian university systems. [6] [7]
The RRC is one of 27 Army Centers of Excellence (CoE), Colleges, and Schools under the Army University system [8] and is accredited by the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Quality Assurance Office to provide military education and issue diplomas and transcripts to military and civilian students. It is one of only 45 U.S. military and government training institutions to earn civilian accreditation from the Council on Occupational Education (CoE). [9]
Courses at the RRC have been evaluated by the American Council on Education (ACE) for awarding of civilian college credit hours towards undergraduate degrees and certificates based on ACE guidelines, [10] and the RRC has Continuing Education Degree Program agreements with several colleges and universities to provide course graduates with accelerated degree plans and college credit hours towards associate's, bachelor's, and master's degrees from those institutions. [11] [12]
The RRC campus consists of 11 buildings located on approximately 80 acres (326,987 m2) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, which house the executive, academic, and administrative offices, classrooms, and student housing, as well as three support facilities that provide dining, physical fitness and recreational activities. The campus layout provides students with an under 10-minute walk between their housing, classrooms, dining, physical fitness, and recreation, thus reducing the need for a vehicle while attending. Several campus buildings are named after historic people or events from the 3d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division units that previously used them.
Three support facilities are located adjacent to the RRC and provide services to both the RRC and the Fort Knox community:
More than 150 active duty and Active Guard and Reserve Army soldiers, Department of the Army (DA) Civilians, and U.S. government contractor employees work in the executive office, Headquarters Company, two instructional departments, noncommissioned officer academy, and 12 academic and administrative support divisions. The RRC trains approximately 6,500 Soldiers and civilians each year in one of 16 in-person or online courses covering recruiting, career counseling, staff functions, recruiting leadership, unit command, and executive leadership.
The RRC is commanded by a colonel who serves as the institution's commandant and leads its educational and operational activities in accordance with Army, TRADOC, and USAREC regulations and policies. They are assisted by a Command Sergeant Major who serves as both the RRC senior enlisted advisor and commandant of the RRC Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA), a DA civilian that serves as the RRC's Dean/Chief Academic Officer and supervises its eight academic support divisions, and a lieutenant colonel that serves as the RRC's chief of staff (CofS) supervising its four administrative support divisions and providing oversight of the RRC Headquarters Company (HHC). [19]
Senior recruiting and career counselor NCOs may be considered for instructor duty by either volunteering or being selected for screening by RRC, USAREC, and U.S. Army Human Resources Command (HRC) personnel. They must have demonstrated exceptional performance in multiple recruiting or retention leadership positions, be eligible for assignment to the RRC, and pass an interview process to be selected as an instructor. Selected NCOs typically serve a two to three-year assignment as an instructor teaching one to three individual courses, and may volunteer to serve an additional one to two years in an academic or administrative support position.
The Headquarters Company (HHC) is responsible for the health, morale, welfare, training, discipline, conduct, and combat readiness of Soldiers assigned to the RRC. Commanded by a captain who is assisted by a first sergeant and several military and civilian staff members, the HHC is responsible for providing mission command, logistics, military justice, training and readiness, administrative support, and quality of life functions for the RRC's Soldiers and students. [20]
Two instructional departments - the Recruiting Department and the Retention Department - are responsible for the instruction of nearly all courses taught at the RRC and daily management of instructors and students. Each department is led by a sergeant major and is divided into instructional divisions responsible for the teaching of specific courses, with the Dean/Chief Academic Officer providing educational oversight and the CofS providing military oversight to the departments.
The Recruiting Department provides instruction to Army Soldiers selected for recruiting duty or holding the recruiting military occupational specialty (MOS) code 79R (Recruiter). It is led by an Army recruiting sergeant major and divided into five instructional divisions led by either a first sergeant or master sergeant, with each division's instructors teaching specific recruiting courses to students. [21] [22]
Divisions 1, 2, and 3 teach the Army Recruiter Course (ARC), a seven-week basic qualification course taught to all Soldiers selected for recruiting duty, and is the largest course taught at the RRC. The ARC teaches students the principles of adaptive leadership, eligibility, technology systems, interpersonal communications, Army programs, time management, prospecting, interviewing, and processing. Students must graduate from this course to be awarded the Army Recruiter Badge, Army Skill Qualification Identifier (SQI) code 4 (Non-Career Recruiter) and be authorized to perform recruiting duties.
Division 4 teaches the Recruiting Station Commander Course (RSCC), a four-week basic leadership course managed by the RRC Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) and taught to recruiting NCOs who volunteer to change their MOS code to 79R and permanently remain on recruiting duty in a leadership or staff capacity. Students must graduate from this course to change their MOS to 79R, be awarded the Army Additional Skill Identifier (ASI) code V6 (Station Commander), and be authorized to lead recruiters and manage recruiting offices.
The Recruiting Live Fire Exercise (RLF) is a one-week capstone exercise conducted on the final week of each ARC and RSCC class that sends students to Army recruiting station throughout the United States to execute what they have learned through practical application in a real-world environment. The ARC and RSCC classes are combined, with RSCC students assigned five to eight ARC students each and given responsibility and task of managing the ARC students as if they were recruiters working at that local recruiting station, including area research, missioning, prospecting, lead generation, and processing. The RLF is managed by the RRC's Futures, Assessment, Integration, and Research Division (FAIR) with ARC and RSCC instructors supervising and evaluating the students throughout the week. Any real-world leads or applicants that students generate are handed over to the local recruiting station for further processing and enlistment. [23] [24]
Division 5 teaches seven advanced recruiting and recruiting leadership courses:
The Retention Department provides instruction to Army Soldiers selected for career counselor duty or holding the career counselor MOS codes 79S (Career Counselor). It is led by an Army retention sergeant major and has one instructional division led by a master sergeant and several instructors teaching retention courses to students. [26]
The RRC Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA) provides leadership training to recruiting and retention NCOs selected for promotion to sergeant first class and recruiting NCOs that have volunteered to permanently remain on recruiting duty. The NCOA is led by the RRC command sergeant major who serves as the academy's commandant and a first sergeant that serves as the deputy commandant and provides day-to-day management of the academy's courses, instructors, and students. The NCOA also provides oversight of the Recruiting Station Commander Course (RSCC), with NCOA instructors certified to teach both SLC and RSCC courses. [27]
The NCOA teaches the Army Senior Leader Course (SLC), a three-week Army MOS-specific leadership course that trains recruiting and career counselor NCOs selected for promotion to Sergeant First Class. Soldiers selected for promotion to Sergeant First Class must graduate from this course in order to be promoted. The course materials are a combination of Army leadership lessons developed by the United States Army Sergeants Major Academy (USASMA) and MOS-specific lessons developed by the RRC that train students to lead at the platoon, company, and battalion levels.
There are 12 staff divisions that manage the academic support and administrative support functions of the RRC. The divisions are split between academic support divisions managed by the dean/chief academic officer, and administrative support divisions managed by a lieutenant colonel that serves as the RRC chief of staff.
Eight academic support divisions provide curriculum development, training management, instructor training, and faculty support to the RRC, and doctrine and career field support for the RRC and Army Reserve retention courses taught at the 83rd United States Army Reserve Readiness Training Center (ARRTC) located at Fort Knox, and Army National Guard recruiting and retention courses taught at the Strength Maintenance Training Center (SMTC) located at Camp Robinson, Arkansas. [28]
Four administrative support divisions that provide the day-to-day execution of all student operations, administration, budget, logistics, and information management functions. [31]
Ribbon | Award | Period of Service | Army General Orders No. |
---|---|---|---|
Army Superior Unit Award | 1 October 2005 - 30 September 2006 | 2017-21 | |
Army Superior Unit Award | 1 October 2015 - 30 September 2016 | 2019-24 |
Dates | Commandant |
---|---|
July 2021 - July 2023 | Col. Kevin Polosky |
July 2019 - July 2021 | Col. Christopher Stallings |
August 2017 - July 2019 | Col. Carter Price |
July 2015 - August 2017 | Col. Isaac Johnson |
April 2012 - July 2015 | Col. Terrence Murrill |
Jul 2005 - April 2012 | Col. James Comish |
August 2003 - July 2005 | Col. Jack Collins |
August 2002 - August 2003 | Lt. Col. David Gill |
June 2001 - August 2002 | Col. Michael Hoff |
March 2000 - June 2001 | Col. Gary Carlson |
August 1995 - March 2000 | Col. Wayne Stephens |
August 1993 - August 1995 | Col. Bruce Terrell |
August 1991 - August 1993 | Col. Charles Benson |
July 1989 - August 1991 | Col. James Farmer |
September 1986 - June 1989 | Lt. Col. Alan Paczkowski |
July 1983 - September 1986 | Col. David Sholly |
January 1983 - July 1983 | Col. David McMillon |
Dates | Command Sergeant Major |
---|---|
November 2019 - August 2022 | Command Sgt. Maj. Craig Russell |
October 2016 - November 2019 | Command Sgt. Maj. Joseph Multunas |
December 2015 - October 2016 | Sgt. Maj. James Nicolai |
November 2014 - December 2015 | Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony Stoneburg |
September 2012 - November 2014 | Command Sgt. Maj. Troy Hendreith |
August 2010 - August 2012 | Command Sgt. Maj. Donna Punihaole |
May 2008 - May 2010 | Command Sgt. Maj. Peter Moody |
July 2006 - May 2008 | Command Sgt. Maj. Jack Peters |
October 2004 - July 2006 | Command Sgt. Maj. Anthony Gales |
August 2001 - October 2004 | Command Sgt. Maj. Thomas LePuma |
May 1999 - August 2001 | Command Sgt. Maj. Harold Blount |
May 1998 - May 1999 | Command Sgt. Maj. David Swartzentruber |
August 1994 - May 1998 | Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Fernandez |
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