Arizona Guardsmen picked for national recruiting campaign

By Maj. Gabe Johnson
Arizona National Guard

(12/4/09) - In an effort to attract more prior active duty servicemembers to the Air Guard, the National Guard Bureau made the 162nd Fighter Wing the focus of a campaign photo shoot here Nov. 30 - Dec. 3.

The Guard Bureau's recruiting and retention operations office sent an eight-member creative team to Tucson International Airport to turn their camera lenses on 20 wing members from different career fields and diverse backgrounds.

"We picked this base for many reasons," said team photographer Rob Trubia. "All the right ingredients are here. You have a large full-time work force from which we can select good talent, you have great weather for outdoor photo shoots, and you have top-notch facilities that we can use. I'm sure we'll come back again to feature this unit in future recruiting campaigns."

In February 2010, NGB will begin shipment of 800,000 prior-service recruiting brochures featuring 162nd members to Air Guard recruiting offices across the country. The brochures will show prior servicemembers a glimpse of life in the Air Guard through testimonials from wing members and photos of them at home, at their civilian jobs and at work on base.

Master Sgt. Teresa Denogean, local recruiting office supervisor for the Arizona Air National Guard, said the wing's participation is an effective way to showcase its mission and people.

"It's a real source of pride for our people to be in any national recruiting campaign, and the folks who helped us this week really represented the Guard well. They were extremely professional and truly reflected the Air Guard image," said Sergeant Denogean.

The images may also be used on GoANG.com, the Air Guard's recruiting Web site, and in future calendars, posters and other recruiting tools said Denogean.