Recruiters are Creators of Airmen, Facilitators of Dreams Published April 5, 2019 By Chief Master Sgt. Michael Kovach 360th Recruiting Group NEW CUMBERLAND, Penn. -- As I reflect on my 18 plus years of recruiting, I can’t help but wonder what impact I had on the Airmen I enlisted and the Air Force I served. My Air Force journey began over 25 years ago. At the time, I was a young kid looking for direction and believed I had found it through a career in the Marines. That dream came to an end when I met my Air Force Recruiter, Tech. Sgt. Richard Dehoney. There is no doubt, I would not be retiring as a Chief Master Sergeant this year, if it wasn’t for his passion for the Air Force and Marine-like demeanor. To this day, I remember him asking me to step into his office to discuss Air Force opportunities the day before I was to process at the MEPS for the Marines. Dehoney sold me on serving my country with honor, courage and commitment, while enjoying the exclusive benefits of the Air Force. Through my first enlistment, I tried to blend the disciplined nature of the Marines with the technical capabilities of the Air Force. I truly believed that the perfect warrior could be created from a blend of the two branches. I served six years before I had the desire to pay back my recruiter by serving in his capacity. As a recruiter in the same city where Dehoney had recruited me, I often challenged myself to inspire applicants interested in the Marines to join the Air Force. That challenge took on a life of its own when I established a bond with a group of influential students at North Hills High School, Pittsburgh, Penn. They were all students in their junior year who wanted to be Marines. After a “Pulley meeting”, something we now call a “DEP Call,” some of them stayed after to visit me. Their recruiter was not happy, and started to talk trash about how soft the Air Force was. I quickly shut him up by challenging him to a pull-up competition, which I won, and subsequently started the process of stealing his applicants. Long story short, I put every one of those kids in the Air Force Delayed Enlistment Program. Fast forward 16 years later, I was walking into work for one of the last times before retiring when a Marine recruiter who worked down the hall asked me how I was doing. I told him I was upset over some news about my hometown Pittsburgh Steelers. The conversation led to me discovering that he had enlisted as a Marine in 2002 from the office next to mine. But more importantly, my understanding of the impact I had on my applicants and my Air Force was about to hit me square in the face. The Marine Sergeant asked me if I knew Joseph Caskey. I responded quickly that I had enlisted him into the Air Force as a softbook (one of the North Hills kids), contracted him as a PJ, but unfortunately he injured himself before shipping. The Marine responded by saying he joined the Marines after that. I asked how he was doing, and he told me he was KIA in Afghanistan in 2010. Joe’s brothers were both on active duty; one in the Marines and the other in the Air Force. I worked hard with his brother to sway him into joining the Air Force as a Special Operator, but Joe’s calling was to be a Marine. He died doing what he loved to do...serving his country as a Marine. It took me a few minutes to shake that horrible news off before the Marine asked me if I knew Matthew Greiner. Once again, I answer quickly with a “yes, Matt was one of Joe’s friends and I stole him from the Marine recruiter to serve in the Air Force as a TACP.” He asked if I knew what Matt had done. Embarrassingly, I answered “no,” but was not ready for what the Marine would tell me. In 2014, when he was a technical sergeant, Greiner was honored with the Silver Star for an amazing act of valor that should be told in our Air Force history chapter. Greiner had progressed to JTAC status and rank of master sergeant, and was responsible for calling in direct air fire on insurgents with in close range. He was credited for the elimination of 21 insurgents, and for securing the mission and fellow special operators’ lives. His story can be viewed at www.ccshf.org/portfolio-view/tsgt-matthew-greiner. It was truly an honor serving as his recruiter. After researching this story, it inspired me to research all the Airmen I put in the Air Force. I went home and dug out my collection of DEP pictures, and began looking them up on the global. The results were overwhelming to me, as I uncovered 23 of them who were still serving our Air Force. That group included a captain, a 15-year chief, two senior master sergeants, six master sergeants, two First Sergeants, a Silver Star recipient and even a 360th RCG Recruiter. My 46 months as a recruiter, the long hours, the unbearable stress, the time spent away from my family all paid off! It can be cliché when leaders tell you how important recruiting is to our Air Force, but for the first time, with only days left in my career, I realized I made a difference. My final message to our recruiters is your sacrifice of completing one of the hardest missions in the Air Force is making a difference. You are creators of Airmen and facilitators of dreams. So I say thank you for going to work every day, and helping kids find their way in life through service in the Air Force. And a big thank you to now retired Senior Master Sgt. Richard Dehoney, the creator of this Airman and facilitator of the dreams that came true!