345th RCS gets caught up in Arch Madness Published March 26, 2014 By Lt. Col. Sharon Presley 345th Recruiting Squadron commander ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- The Scottrade Center in St. Louis was the site of the 2014 NCAA Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Championship March 6-9. Members of the 345th Recruiting Squadron on hand to highlight Air Force opportunities were Capt. Brian Kroeger; 1st Lt. Christopher Bollinger; Senior Master Sgt. Jeffrey Colvin; Master Sgts. Michael Cline, Johnny Martinez, Andrew Flores, Darlene Poindexter and Darryl Gullekson; Tech. Sgts. Daniel Hopper and Curtis Morrison; Staff Sgts. William Overton, Tyler Martin and Nicholas Miano. They were joined by Staff Sgts. Christopher Hess and Steven Zachman, and Airman 1st Class Brandon Thomas, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Airmen from the 375th Civil Engineer Squadron, and Tech. Sgt. David Lang, a KC-10 boom operator from the Tanker/Airlift Control Center's operations division. This was the first year in the history of the conference that an undefeated team, Wichita State University, entered the finals, and Hopper, the 345th RCS Marketing NCO, saw this as a prime opportunity for recruitment. "It was a great venue to sell our Air Force story," Hopper said, who noted that it was a prime crowd to locate Technical Degree Sponsorship Program and Battlefield Airmen candidates. With that in mind, Hopper reached out to his EOD and flying compatriots at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., to expand on their Air Force stories. Hess, Zachman, and Thomas arrived with an EOD-9 bomb suit and a Talon robot. The display rapidly caught the attention of all in the vicinity. In the course of four days, WSU remained undefeated and won the championship, and the 345th RCS reached more than 51,000 people via commercials, electronic advertising displays and direct contact.