Day 1: Sunday, 24 July 2011

I spent my first day at the NAACP conference manning the US Army Educational Booth.  For this year, the 102^nd Annual NCAAP Conference is held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.  The theme for this year’s convention is “Affirming America’s Promise” and attendance is  expected to exceed  5,000 including corporate sponsors, professionals, chapter leadership, youth and college students. 

The Center is divided into 3 areas.  At the entrance, NAACP members and observers register and given a schedule.  Throughout the day, schedule sessions and briefing by guest speakers are held in Exhibit Hall B, while others can tour the many different booths/outlets in Exhibit Hall A.

The different booths are composed of large business corporations providing services to the observers. Some businesses present were Johnson and Johnson, Army, Marines, Airforce, GMC, Honda, Book clubs, Nursing Schools, MacDonalds’ Restaurant, Wells Fargo Bank, University of Maryland, etc.   There is a multitude of educational booths, as well.  I recommend if you are in the area, feel free to come and visit the different outlets.

At this Convention, the Army goals are as follows:

1. To enhance the Army’s perception in the African-American community and increase the support for the Army service.
2. To increase awareness of the Army’s education and career opportunities as well as high-tech and leadership training.
3. To deliver and promote the Army’s value messaging among Youth and Influencers
4.  To educate the public on how US Army endows a unique brand of strength to its Soldiers
5. To advertise how Army Soldiers develop enduring strength through challenging training, teamwork, shared values and personal experience.

We have enlisted and officers rotating through the booth.  Some of our military personnel are as followed

1. Drill Sergeant assigned to Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
2. Westpoint Graduates branched Adjutant General Corps and Artillery
3. Local Recruiters ranging from Signal Corps, Quarter Masters, etc.
4. Active Duty Officers—Army Nurse Corps, Armor, Signal Corps

We spent the day interacting with NAACP participants and observers discussing about the different careers provided by the military.  Our target audience were focused on the different educational opportunities.  Fortunately, we had a strong representation of the different venues including Westpoint Academy, Army ROTC, and OCS (Officer Candidate School).  If a person is interested in enlistment, we have someone to talk that, too.  Besides handing out brochures and little keepsakes, we offered educational seminars to their local communities.

It was interesting to interact with the NAACP participants.  Board Members and participants are usually from a prestigious organization or community leader.  I’ve talked to parish leaders, mayors from different states, executive leaders of Fortune 500 companies, retired teachers, college professors, deans of universities, county sheriffs, firefighters, YMCA leaders, influential authors, veterans of the Vietnam, Desert Storm, OEF and OIF, etc… Overall, participants were supportive the military.   

Despite their different occupations, there were two predominant themes:

They were active community members devoted to the betterment of the impoverished, fighting for the equality of the minority groups.  As one member stated, “Our job is not only to  break the barrier of inequality, but to open the doors to our youth and prevent the reversal of what we have already accomplished.”