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AETC honors Air Force's top recruiter

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jennifer Lindsey
  • Air Force Recruiting Service Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Air Education and Training Command officials recognized Staff Sgt. Jason Rodriguez as the Air Force's top recruiter during a ceremony April 13 honoring AETC's Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2006. 

Sergeant Rodriguez brought 69 people -- more than double his goal -- into the Air Force. He is assigned to the Killeen, Texas recruiting office with the 344th Recruiting Squadron. During his three years in Air Force Recruiting Service, Sergeant Rodriguez has also earned an associate's degree in criminal justice, coached youth soccer and baseball teams and regularly volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. 

Sergeant Rodriguez said the secret to success is to simply do what one loves and believes in.

"My recruiting career has been more than selling the Air Force," Sergeant Rodriguez said. "We recruiters must have compassion and want nothing but success for all (new recruits) who make up our second family. They are our younger brothers and sisters, and we must look out for them.

"To be successful in both work and life, we must set plans that encompass our families, education and careers, and strive to follow those plans to the end. Success is not measured by the amount of accomplishments, but by the number of lives we touch. Airmen should always remember how the Air Force changed our lives, and share that opportunity with applicants."

The eight-year Air Force veteran has earned two AFRS Gold Badges for more than doubling his recruiting goals in 2005 and 2006, won the Gold Olympiad award, and the 2006 titles as the 369th Recruiting Group Trail Boss, 369th RCG Top Enlisted Accessions Recruiter and AFRS Overall Top Recruiter of the Year.

"Recruiters dedicatedly work in one of the Air Force's toughest careers, representing the Air Force to a whole nation and finding high-quality Airmen," said Brig. Gen. Suzanne Vautrinot, AFRS commander. "Sergeant Rodriguez is the very embodiment of what it means to serve."