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Lieutenant Col. Pete Vanamberg, commander Georgia Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Division (left), and Pvt. Matthew Eubanks of Company H, Long Range Surveillance Unit, display the first of two $1,000 checks Eubanks earned as a Guard recruiting assistant. (Georgia National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Roy Henry)

Eubanks Scores First Check In G-RAP Program

A Soldier from Jackson is the first Georgia Army National Guardsman to receive payment for enlisting a new recruit under the nationwide Guard Recruiting Assistance Program (G-RAP).

Private Matthew Eubanks, an infantryman with Company H, Long Range Surveillance Unit (LRSU) at Fort Gillem in Ellenwood, looked pleased as Lt. Col. Pete Vanamburgh, commander Recruiting and Retention Division Georgia Army National Guard, handed him the first of two $1,000 payments. The second payment will come later this year.

The Army National Guard's new recruiting initiative rewards individual Guardsmen for helping to recruit qualified men and women into the ranks of the Army National Guard. National Guard recruiters have acknowledge that the men and women who wear the uniform of the National Guard are often the best recruiters, and now a significant cash award is available for current Army Guardsmen who bring in qualified applicants.

The ceremony marking the occasion took place, Sunday, Jan. 22, at the 171st Aviation armory on Dobbins Air Reserve Base. The event was part of the monthly drill conducted by the Georgia Guard’s Recruit Sustainment Program (RSP).

“This will go a long way toward doing some ‘upgrading’ to my truck,” the 20-year-old Eubanks said after he shook hands with Vanamburgh. “The majority of the money, though, will be invested and used for school.”

Eubanks, who came home from Airborne School at Fort Benning to receive his check, will pocket the other $1,000 when his best friend, 18-year-old Pvt.Wesley Burford, also of Jackson, enters basic training. The two have been friends, or “been getting into trouble together,” Eubanks said with a laugh, since the fifth grade.

Burford, who has been assigned to Company H, will attend Army Basic Combat Training in March at Fort Leonard Wood, M0. Afterward he, like Eubanks, will receive infantry training at Fort Benning and eventually airborne training. Burford said he’s looking forward to the experience with great anticipation.

“There’s nothing like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane to get your heart going,” Burford lamented with a grin. “Especially when you love doing what Soldiers do for this country the way I do.”

And like his buddy, Burford has also signed on as a recruiting assistant.

“Sure, the money is a great incentive, but like Matt I want to know the Soldier standing next to me is a quality individual,” he said slapping his friend on one shoulder.

The Guard’s Recruiting Assistant Program was begun last year to help the organization achieve its mission of 70,000 enlistments, and meet its goal of end-strength goal of 350,000.

Through the program, Soldiers who aren’t recruiters by trade, seek out new recruits, on their own time, from among people they know within their communities. And as recruiting assistants (RAs) they work through an independent contractor, not the recruiting office. Once a potential recruit is identified, the RA gets that person with a local recruiter, and then works with the new Soldier to get him ready for military life.

“It’s called ‘achieving strength from within,’” said Sgt. Shannon Johnson, a recruiter with the Georgia Guard’s Team 5. She and her fellow recruiters are responsible for recruiting efforts in Butts, Henry, Lamar and Rockdale counties. Johnson has 11 RAs, Eubanks among them, with whom she works.

“Like Private Eubanks, the RAs who work with me, work hard and believe me when I tell you they’re a great help,” she said. “Through they’re efforts and the incentive the Guard Recruiting Assistance Program offers, we continue to build the Georgia Guard, the National Guard as a whole, into an even better organization than it already is.”

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