At the 2023 Recruiting Commanders/Operations Conference (RC/OC), hosted by the Western Sector of United States Military Entrance Processing Command Headquarters, discussions centered around the theme of building partnerships and investing in the force of the future.

“We are all on the same team, Accession Triad. To that end, we must understand challenges and concerns faced by all stakeholders, recruiting, MEPCOM, and initial entry training, to best fill our service teams,” explained Navy Capt. Chris Carmichael, Western Sector commander.

The RC/OC is the 0-6 level conference facilitating a ladder of connections and touchpoints with recruiting partners and commands with representatives from all services in attendance, mirroring the 0-4 MEPS commander and the flag level conferences.

The conference not only addressed how to achieve future goals; it reenforced the fact that regular meetings between the accessions partners “are essential for personal connection, clear communication, trust-building, and assessing applicant potential,” according to Army Col. Janelle Kutter, Eastern Sector commander.

USMEPCOM presented wider recruitment changes and new initiatives which will involve each branch.

Discussions buzzed around future rollouts like the AI Prescreening to aid with the medical portion of applicant processing and help categorize next steps for applicants. Army Col. Kevin Cummings, USMEPCOM command surgeon, emphasized the exciting initiative to bring on three behavior health consultants, to continuously improve processes at the MEPS for applicants and medical staff.

Discussing operations and IT as a coupled initiative, Matthew Lince, Director of J-6 at USMEPCOM, noted that operations changes mean IT changes. Giving the example of recent renaming of Army bases, Lince highlighted that every Department of Defense form which featured the name of a base that was renamed, needed to be changed, showing just how detailed a single tasking can be.

Each service also briefed their unique challenges and strengths they hope to build further upon together.

The Air Force highlighted recent marketing wins, such as increases to visitor traffic to Airforce.com and expanded mobile tours and events. Marine Corps recruiting representatives focused on the need for MEPS in Las Vegas to support growing recruiting activity in the region. The Navy highlighted new approaches that blend marketing initiatives, legislation, IT improvements and community outreach to adapt to the current cultural landscape, and the Coast Guard discussed a recent rebranding effort to include a new recruiting logo.