Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Carmen Fleischmann | SGT Mark Miller, a Clay County recruiter with the Florida Army National Guard's...... read more read more
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – More than 10 years ago, Mark Miller enlisted in the Florida Army National Guard, twice in fact. He first enlisted in 2009 while he was attending Jean Ribault High School in Jacksonville. Unfortunately, he was kicked out of school before he was able to graduate and go on to attend basic training. Undeterred by the setback, Sgt. Mark Miller pushed on and a short time later received his GED.
In 2010 he finally departed for basic training, armed with expert knowledge he received from attending months of Recruit Sustainment Program. RSP is a one weekend a month program designed to prepare applicants for basic training and keep them on a track to improve their mental, physical and emotional well-being.
When he finally arrived at basic training, Miller said it was a breeze mainly because he was so physically fit, but also because he was familiar with all the training requirements. After graduation, he returned home, and couldn’t wait to get to work at his new unit as a 91C, Utilities Equipment Repairer or AC mechanic.
He was so ready in fact that he had spent a great deal of time preparing his new beret to look as sharp as possible for when he walked in the door. Unfortunately, just days prior, the Army transitioned back to the patrol cap, an item he had not packed. “So, I showed up, like alright, I’m here. Then I had to go right back home,” said Miller.
First impressions notwithstanding, he found out on his first drill that his unit, Company E, 1st Battalion, 111th Aviation Regiment, was deploying to Iraq.
“I was over there with a lot of guys that have been in for a while,” said Miller. “Great knowledge, great mentors over there. Some of them are still there. That’s my home, that’s where I originate from, and actually the unit I do retention for, so when I go there, I can’t go in there for five or 10 minutes, if I go in, it’s for five or six hours, just talking to the Soldiers and leaders there.”
Although he came from a military family, his father, an Air Force veteran, wasn’t too excited about the prospect of his son joining the Army. He pitched it to his family, however, that it was his way of alleviating the burden of them paying for college. That was his excuse anyway. In reality, his desire was more rooted in self-preservation.
“I didn’t want to die or go to jail. Jacksonville, Florida is a pretty crazy place sometimes. You could be doing the right thing and still something bad could happen. If I put this uniform on, that separates me from my peers,” said Miller.
His mother told him, if you die for your country, you’re honored, if you die here in the neighborhood, you’re just another statistic. In the end, they supported his decision, as did his girlfriend who later became his wife. Their daughter was born shortly after he returned from his first tour in Iraq. She just turned 10 earlier this week.
“Her and my wife are the reason I go so hard,” said Miller. “They support me in my career and make it easy for me. Sometimes I have long days, they see that I just have a heart to help people. Recruiting, not recruiting, I just want to do what I can to give that person what they need.”
Over the last 14 years, he’s had quite the journey, filling roles in every type of employment the National Guard offers. He started in ADOS, a temporary type of active-duty orders, a federal technician, and finally serving on AGR.
“I always wanted to be a recruiter, but I didn’t know how to get there years ago,” said Miller. “Now that I’m here, I can better help these junior Soldiers coming in and know what can happen through my experiences.”
It was actually his supervisor while on technician status that recognized his potential for recruitment. After he deployed, he continued to work for his unit on ADOS, then on orders with the Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Response Force Package or CERF-P until he was hired as a technician at Camp Blanding Joint Training Center.
Through their relationship, and Miller’s networking, Chief Warrant Officer 4 Andre Davis had heard Miller’s story so many times and watched him bring Soldier after Soldier into the technician field. He saw the caliber of the Soldier he brought in and saw that same light. Ten to 15 people came to work for Chief Davis, nearly all are either AGR or still technicians.
“I would see, they’re great Soldiers, but they just don’t have that mentor or that opportunity that I had to network,” said Miller.
Davis said that although he didn’t want to lose him to recruiting, he recognized that Miller possessed a love and skill for it. He continued that a great leader never tried to hold someone back from what will bring them success.
After receiving an endorsement from the Recruiting and Retention Battalion, the only obstacle left in Miller’s path to becoming a recruiter was his GT score. He took an ASVAB test course in January of 2019 and ended up improving his ASVAB score from 35 to 88, with a GT score of 135. He then went back to the technician world as a 92A, but COVID shut down that schoolhouse he needed for training. When he returned to school in 2021, he finally got the offer to join R&R.
“I’m screaming, I’m up in the room, I’m celebrating by myself,” said Miller. “Why are all these good things happening?”
He took an assignment in Clay County, just outside of his hometown. Being a recruiter in Florida, even if slightly out of his hometown, means that he can reach kids that he resonates with and that goal is solidified when he sees teachers and school administrators from his past. He has nephews that are gifted in sports, and through them his path crossed with a previous dean that used to stay on his case.
“I was a knucklehead growing up,” he said. “He used to stay on me, get on to me really good, like a father figure. When he saw me for the first time a few weeks ago, (after 13 years) he lit up seeing me in my uniform.”
He said that he hugged him so tight people thought it was his dad. The dean asked him to come back and speak to some of the kids at his old school. While he currently recruits outside of that area, he never turns down an opportunity to speak to future leaders. He said he also likes to bring in his recruits that have recently completed training to talk to younger applicants, to hear from their peers first-hand about the National Guard experience.
“It means more to serve in your community, where you grew up at, in the schools you went to,” said Miller. “You have kids growing up in a certain area so you can cultivate and make sure that area is going to be a great area for your kids to be brought up in.”
His first year out the gate, he enlisted 10 people, which was just shy of his goal.
“To me, that was the first time I actually failed something,” said Miller. “I want to be here, I tell everybody I want to be here, but I didn’t prove it.”
Being in a new environment, not sure if he did in fact belong, he said he felt like he did his first day at the 111th holding a beret in a sea of soft caps. Instead of retreating, he stepped up to the challenge.
“This year, I have to make my mission, and I want to make sure my team does well,” said Miller who says recruiting really is a team sport, and the glory doesn’t matter if they aren’t all succeeding.
Already sitting at nine recruits for the year out of 12, he plans to continue to put in one per month and help out with any events other recruiters and staff might need him to help out with.
“These kids need to see the support, they need to see people working,” said Miller. “I don’t know about other recruiters, but I’m excited about what I do. I’m the face of the Guard, and if I’m excited, I look happy and these kids are going to internalize that and think, ‘hey, I can do this.’”
Moving forward, Miller hopes to attend drill sergeant school to become even closer to new recruits, setting them on their military journey. At RSP, drill sergeants work to instill military bearing and tactical knowledge in the Soldiers before they depart for basic training.
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.03.2023 09:33 |
| Story ID: | 443895 |
| Location: | JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, US |
| Hometown: | KEYSTONE HEIGHTS, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 779 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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