Recruit Sustainment Program Specialist of the Year Named

Mr. Craig Adkins of the Recruiting and Retention Battalion, North Dakota Army National Guard, receives the Army National Guard’s Recruit Sustainment Program Specialist of the Year award for Region 6.

BISMARCK, N.D. – Mr. Craig Adkins has been named the Region 6 Army National Guard’s Recruit Sustainment Program (RSP) Specialist of the Year.

Adkins, a contractor who has worked for the North Dakota Army National Guard since May 2005, monitors and provides quality control for all of the enlistment packets, ensuring each Soldier arrives at Basic Combat Training with all of the essential paperwork needed, error-free. He also carefully tracks the ship rate, or the number of Soldiers that actually go or “ship” to Basic Combat Training compared to the number of Soldiers scheduled to go; this ensures the best use of allocated funds so that no training opportunity is missed.

This prestigious award is presented annually to states’ and territories’ top RSP specialists. The award was presented to Adkins for his outstanding “ship rate” and “quality control rate” during the 2010 fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2009, through Sept. 30, 2010).

Adkins represented North Dakota in Orlando, Fla., at the national RSP conference at the end of October. He competed against other states in the Recruiting and Retention Area Command region, which includes seven other states: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. Adkins rose to the top and was selected as the RSP Specialist of the Year.

“We are extremely proud of Craig,” said Lt. Col. Daryl Roerick, Recruiting and Retention Battalion commander. “This award is a testament to his devoted attention to detail and steadfast concern for our North Dakota Soldiers.

“Because of Craig’s efforts, North Dakota has a shipper quality control rate of 95.63 percent, which puts us eighth in the nation. That means North Dakota’s Soldiers show up at their training location with very few administrative issues. They are able to go through their initial processing and begin training with fewer clerical errors or issues.”

Adkin’s dedication to his job, the RSP team and the North Dakota Army National Guard was crucial to his success this year.

“Once I retired from the active-duty Army, I missed being around Soldiers,” Adkins said. “This job gives me that opportunity again.”

“I enjoy doing what I do because of the RSP personnel,” Adkins added. “They are some of the best to work with.”

Adkins, of Moorhead, Minn., works at the Fargo Armed Forces Reserve Center. He is married and has one child, who is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force as an intelligence analyst.