Hello readers, this is my first post, so allow me to introduce myself. I am First Sergent Terry Hynes and currently I'm the 1SG of the Minneapolis Recruiting Company, which is one of 8 companies in the second largest recruiting Battalion in the country. I have been in position there for 13 months now and, in August, I will have 21 years of service. Most of it active duty, but I did a few years as a reservist in the beginning of my career. I started as an MP and later became a permanent Recruiter.

Today I just returned from an outstanding Annual Training Conference for the Minneapolis Recruiting Battalion held in Sioux Falls, SD. Those conferences motivate me beyond words, year after year. The feeling I get when I spend time around so many Soldiers who just spent three days being recognized for a year's worth of hard work makes me want to live out my days in this uniform.  This uniform though, must be retired at some point. So, this is the journey to that decision. Together with you, I will be documenting the pros and the cons of Soldiering on OR moving on...

The life of a recruiter inspires both joy and tears (often in the same day). I look forward to sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly in this blog. What happens in a given day causes me sway wildly about staying in or getting out. Current retention control points (RCP) allow for me to do 29 years of active duty, at my current rank; Three more beyond that if I manage to get promoted one more time. This means I can do at least 12 more years, should I choose to. I want to stay in forever most of the time, but I must say there are days when I think I need to move on tomorrow!  

Just the other day, while running around a familiar PT track, I began to think: What are you doing old man? This could all be over, just say the word....you can do it Terry. Retire, sit on the couch, eat what you want, shave when you want, take abuse from absolutely nobody! But, is that really true? I have visions of myself suddenly working for a 23 year old guy who doesn't care much for my input, despite the fact I've been in the workforce since his parents were still in college. Not a happy thought at all. Not when I spent decades growing my sphere of influence in a great organization like the Army. A place where respect is so commonplace that other Soldiers just assume whatever you say is the absolute right answer, even if their life was literally depending on that answer.

So today I'm the guy who just spent a quality weekend with his motivated Soldiers and wouldn't trade this life for anything outside the Army. Twelve more years, here I come! Tomorrow though, will start off with a brutal conference call that will quickly remind me my "sphere of influence" stops where the next higher in the chain of command starts. I know its not personal, but it does get old after a couple of decades.

I hope this journey will reveal the pride I feel every day, as well as, the anguish a tough job can generate. I should mention that my wife of 17 years has NO DESIRE for me to retire anytime soon! She loves everything about Army Family life. We a have a 6year old daughter who, for now at least, has no reason to want me out of the Army. That will change, I  imagine when she gets a little older and doesn't enjoy moving quite as much. The many benefits we have enjoyed as an Army family with reveal themselves along the way in this blog I suspect, as they have laid the foundation for our family. I hope you'll all become part of this decision process and come with me through what will surely be WILD RECRUITING RIDE!

Until next week my friends,

Terry