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Tajikistan military officials turn to Air Force Recruiting for ideas

  • Published
  • By Chet R. DelSignore
  • Air Force Recruiting Service Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFRS) --  Top military officials from Tajikistan visited Air Force Recruiting Service on July 18 to explore U.S. Air Force recruiting techniques as a model for their country's recruiting goals.

Brig. Gen. Suzanne Vautrinot, Air Force Recruiting Service commander, hosted General Major Akbarjon Kayumov of the Tajikistan military and six of his staff members, including a few from the Tajikistan National Guard.

The Tajikistan entourage learned how the Air Force attracts young people to the military. The guests learned about the Air Force brand concept and witnessed some of the awareness tools used by recruiters in the field.

The Tajikistan military will celebrate its 15th anniversary next year and hopes to increase interest in serving in its armed forces. The major issues facing Tajikistan's recruitment efforts are the difficulties in manning their military, as is the case with many other surrounding country's in their region according to the Tajik military leader.

"General Kayumov and his staff expressed an exceptionally strong vision for fundamentally changing their military recruiting," General Vautrinot said. "We're honored they see the U.S. Air Force Recruiting Service as a 'best practice' worth modeling." 

Tajikistan officials are hoping to instill into their country's military recruiting efforts some of the techniques they learned during their visit to Air Force Recruiting Service.

According to Tim Talbert, Air Force Recruiting Service deputy division chief of strategic communications, General Kayumov said that what he learned about Air Force recruiting will be useful to the Tajikistan minister of defense in building a workable marketing program there.

"We have a long way to go," General Kayumov said. "Not everything you do here (to recruit) applies to our situation, but we will make use of our experience from what we see here."

Randolph AFB was just the first stop for the Tajikistan dignitaries' tour. They later visited the Air Force Recruiting schoolhouse and the 369th Recruiting Group at Lackland AFB to see how field recruiters are trained.

"It was good to visit the Air Force to learn from the pros who deal with recruiting at every stage," General Kayumov said.

"We're proud of a strong Air Force awareness campaign and the talents of both GSD&M, our contracted advertising partner, and our recruiters in achieving success," General Vautrinot said. "But, the most important sharing between our nations was the Tajik military leadership's keen interest in the value and viability of an all volunteer force. I hope we can 'Do Something Amazing' to help them achieve that new vision."