MERIDIAN, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – On Thursday, Sergeant First Class Jost Seymour, Marketing Director for the Mississippi Army National Guard stopped by Digio Strategies in Meridian to talk about recruitment opportunities.
He said there’s a lot of benefits when it comes to enlisting, but the National Guard should never be looked as a backup plan.
“A lot of people need help in different stages of life. Some people need help paying for college, some people need a part-time job, some people need health insurance, and we can provide all those things, and all we require is a part-time basis,” said Seymour.
With these benefits comes a little sacrifice.
“You go to basic training for 9 weeks and 4 days. So, essentially two months of your life, and basic training is not like it used to be. I don’t think a lot of people understand that. You know, most family members, especially here in Mississippi, they have somebody that has served in some capacity, and they hear all these war stories and horror stories about basic training, and it’s just simply not like that anymore. It is a little bit of a sacrifice. They’re still going to teach you how to become a soldier, but don’t let that hamper your decision from all the benefits you can reap from this organization,” said Seymour.
Sergeant Seymour said education is important to the guard, and it may help shave some time off of your contract.
“You can do literally, essentially a one term contract which is six years, and I know in a young person’s mind that seems like a lifetime, but if you couple it with where you are in life… Say you’re in high school and you do one year as a high school senior, you don’t go to basic training until after you graduate high school. So, you’re eating up one year of that six years in high school, getting paid once a month to come to one of our drills, and we’re teaching you and preparing you for basic training,” said Seymour.
If you couple that with college or a certification, you’ll have some nice padding on a future resume.
“An employers going to look at you and say now I have an educated person, I have a person that’s used to structure, can be on-time, right time, right place, right uniform, and it gives you a little added value,” said Seymour.
For more information on how to enlist, visit nationalguard.com/ms
