Recruiter goes from bullets to brainpower Published Feb. 14, 2006 By Capt. Stanley Paregien SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- When Master Sgt. Don Cantrell sat before a recruiter in high school, he never thought he would be on the opposite side of the table one day. His very first job in the military dealt with bullets; that is, bullets and an M-16 rifle. He started in 1988 as an active duty security forces member at Grand Forks ND. After 3 years in the frozen north, his next assignment was Clark AB in the Phillipines. In July 1991 he was on duty when Mount Pinatubo erupted. “One day there was a little steam and a little ash coming from the volcano…no big deal, but three months later I was working the overnight shift and that next morning around 9 a.m. there was an explosion and people running through the dorms yelling to get out. Outside it looked like, well, it looked like a nuclear explosion to me with a huge mushroom cloud and then the ash started falling like a gray winter snow,” Sergeant Cantrell said.He helped evacuate 13,000 personnel and all the aircraft in a little over 24 hours to Subic Bay Naval Station. On the third day three great explosions came out of the side of the volcano instead of the top. Ash and lava rolled toward the base. “We met up at a tent city that we built on the other side of this invisible line; one that the US Geological Survey team said the Lahar (mud and lava) should not reach, and prepared to leave for another site eight miles away. We went to the agricultural center and stayed there three days,” Sergeant Cantrell said. As part of the first 44 man team, he then came back to reclaim the hangars that were destroyed. There were almost four feet of ash everywhere, but he made it through that stressful challenge, and now handles the stress of recruiting by tackling it head on also. As a recruiter in the Webster Groves office over on the Missouri side of the river, Sergeant Cantrell is the first person that most people see when they start thinking about joining the Air Force Reserve. “You have to put yourself in front of people. You must be flexible with your schedule. It is not a 9-5 job. If you don’t make yourself available to recruits with questions, they’ll find someone who will,” Sergeant Cantrell commented. He is also usually the last person the applicant sees before leaving for basic training. “I try to see them off and shake their hand at the airport, or if that’s not possible, I go see them during the week,” Sergeant Cantrell said. A recent letter from one of his recruits off at basic training reminded him of the big picture: “TSgt. Cantrell, it’s funny how much you can learn in the three weeks I’ve been here. I never realized how much time I wasted as a civilian. I can’t wait to get to Scott Air Force Base. Basic military training is nothing like I expected…it is better,” wrote the recruit. The biggest thing about the job of a recruiter is pre-qualifying applicants for the Air Force Reserve. “We want highly motivated folks,” he said. That’s where brainpower and understanding the thinking going on inside a recruit’s mind comes in to play. Since he’s been there on the other side of the table wondering about his future, he’s knows what they are worried about. “I see myself as a job counselor. I have to learn what their wants and needs really are, and match up their needs with the job opportunities that the Air Force Reserve offers. If they need full-time work I’ll send them to active duty Air Force or to the Army. I know that I or another recruiter will see them again in four more years if they decide the Air Force Reserve is a better fit,” Sergeant Cantrell added. On the first day of fiscal year 2006 he put five people into the service and has not looked back since. He was at 14 for a goal of 36 in the start of the fourth month of the fiscal year. The biggest fear of many recruits according to Sergeant Cantrell is the “deployment”. He tells them about the AEF concept, where they will know approximately when and how long they will be gone. It helps alleviate their fears.