Reserve Recruiter Teaches ROTC
By: Yalonda Wright, USAREC, Dallas Battalion
Nov. 10, 2015
The newest assistant ROTC instructor at Texas A&M University Central Texas is a Dallas Battalion recruiter.
Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Parks of Waco Company has been putting people in the Army Reserve for 10 years. He’s also been a drill sergeant.
As an ROTC instructor, Parker will interact with future officers, teach basic leadership skills, conduct mandatory training, SHARP, and physical training, and mentor a student body the size of a small battalion.
“The benefits of having a recruiter embedded on a college campus in ROTC is potentially a gold mine.” he said. “In essence, all of the students who don’t commission in the Active Army or the National Guard are potential candidates for the Army Reserves, i.e. Warrant Officer Flight Training, Officer Candidate School, Simultaneous Membership Program. Its precision targeting at best.”
His first recruiting assignment was in the inner city of Milwaukee where most of Parks’ prospects were underprivileged or from broken homes.
“I had no problem relating to them, because I was one of them,” he said. “In medical recruiting, I got to see the other side. It taught me how to communicate with college students who are pursuing a medical or dental career.”
Located in Killeen, Texas, just outside of Fort Hood, many of TAMUCT’s cadets are prior service or in the Simultaneous Membership Program for the Army Reserve or National Guard.
By: Yalonda Wright, USAREC, Dallas Battalion
Nov. 10, 2015
The newest assistant ROTC instructor at Texas A&M University Central Texas is a Dallas Battalion recruiter.
Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Parks of Waco Company has been putting people in the Army Reserve for 10 years. He’s also been a drill sergeant.
As an ROTC instructor, Parker will interact with future officers, teach basic leadership skills, conduct mandatory training, SHARP, and physical training, and mentor a student body the size of a small battalion.
“The benefits of having a recruiter embedded on a college campus in ROTC is potentially a gold mine.” he said. “In essence, all of the students who don’t commission in the Active Army or the National Guard are potential candidates for the Army Reserves, i.e. Warrant Officer Flight Training, Officer Candidate School, Simultaneous Membership Program. Its precision targeting at best.”
His first recruiting assignment was in the inner city of Milwaukee where most of Parks’ prospects were underprivileged or from broken homes.
“I had no problem relating to them, because I was one of them,” he said. “In medical recruiting, I got to see the other side. It taught me how to communicate with college students who are pursuing a medical or dental career.”
Located in Killeen, Texas, just outside of Fort Hood, many of TAMUCT’s cadets are prior service or in the Simultaneous Membership Program for the Army Reserve or National Guard.
