Master Sgt. Rick Gottschalk, a recruiter with the 116th Air Control Wing, is the Region III Production Recruiter of the Year for fiscal year 2002.

He will receive a gold recruiter’s badge, which signifies his being the best among his peers, during the annual Air National Guard Recruiting and Retention workshop scheduled for April in St. Louis, Mo.

Gottschalk competed against more than 150 Air National Guard recruiters from 12 states to win the Region III competition. His selection automatically places him into the national competition for Production Recruiter of the Year for FY 02. He is one of five Air Guardsmen from across the U.S. and its territories hoping to earn that honor.

The winner of the national title will be named during the annual workshop.

Gottschalk began his military career in the information management field of the Air Force Reserves in 1995 at McConnell Air Force Base, Kan. Upon moving to Oklahoma in 1996, he joined that state’s Air National Guard, and in 1997 switched his career field to recruiting. Gottschalk transferred to the Georgia Air National Guard in 2002 and was assigned as a recruiter with the 116th.