Missouri Guard recruiters host colleagues from 12 states at MMA event

After defeating Josh Crouch in the Fight-Me Mixed Martial Arts League event Jan. 13 at the St. Charles Family Arena, Staff Sgt. Jason Powell, of the Missouri Army National Guard, pays tribute to the 463rd Military Police Company, a Fort Leonard Wood-based unit deployed to Afghanistan. Guard recruiters from 12 states attended the event as guests of the Missouri National Guard. (Bill Phelan photo)

Bill Phelan
ngmo.pao@us.army.mil

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Jan. 13 Fight-Me Mixed Martial Arts League event at the St. Charles Family Arena attracted more than the usual young, enthusiastic martial arts fans.

At the invitation of the Missouri Army National Guard, the capacity crowd included Guardsmen from 12 states who came to witness first-hand the recruiting benefits of sponsoring MMA and similar events. The Missouri National Guard is an official sponsor of the Mixed Martial Arts Sports League, which is headquartered in Lake St. Louis.

Missouri Guard recruiters have found that MMA events attract a largely young, fit audience, a perfect target demographic for the Guard's recruiting message. As a result, the National Guard trademark appears throughout MMA venues and even on the shorts of the competitors. National Guard recruiting ads are also shown during commercial breaks for televised bouts. Two Missouri Guardsmen, Staff Sgt. Jay Powell, of Fort Leonard Wood, and Sgt. Jeremy Koerper, of St. Louis, also competed in Friday's event.

Facing tighter budget constraints, the Missouri National Guard Recruit and Retention Battalion is targeting sponsorship of events, such as MMA, that will more effectively spread the Guard message locally, giving the Guard more bang for its recruiting buck.

"We believe you can accomplish national branding at a local level," said Battalion Commander, Lt. Col. Larry D. Crowder, of Jefferson City. "NASCAR, for example does a great job of getting the National Guard name out there, but you can use recruiting money at the local level and still reach 15,000 people and make it a recruiting event at the same time. That's what we want these other states to see."

Crowder and a contingent of Missouri Guard recruiters played hosts to fellow soldiers from Illinois, Texas, Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, Delaware, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Maine, Rhode Island and Hawaii. Also in the audience were officials from the National Guard Bureau in Washington D.C. and from the Guard's official advertising agency, and hundreds of Missouri Guardsmen.

"Mixed martial arts are what young people are watching these days so the National Guard needs to be a part of it," Crowder said. "These types of relationships are very important to recruiting and that's what we want our guests to take back with them."

That message was not lost on Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Werts, a marketing and advertising sergeant with the Hawaii National Guard, who endured a nine-hour flight for Friday's event.

"After seeing the turnout here we want to bring this event to Hawaii and hope for a similar result," Werts said. "The commitment, the dedication and the physical strength it takes for mixed martial arts are same qualities involved in being a soldier and it's all about targeting the right audience."

Equally impressed was Maj. Eric Smith, of the Illinois National Guard Recruiting and Retention Command.

"This type of event definitely attracts the demographic that we are looking for," Smith said. "So for us, this is a fact-finding mission so that if we decided to do this in the future we'll have some valuable information to pursue this opportunity. And obviously there is a correlation between the physical attributes of mixed martial arts and the qualities we look for in a soldier."

Crowder said it was an honor to serve as host to colleagues from other states and praised the work of the Missouri Guard's marketing department for its hard work in planning and promoting the MMA event, which featured 10 bouts with mixed results for the Missouri Guard competitors. Staff Sgt. Powell defeated his opponent, Josh Crouch, while Ross Cooper was declared the winner over Sgt. Koerper.

In addition to the martial arts event some of the visiting National Guard recruiters took in the St. Louis Blues hockey game Thursday night. For most in the Hawaiian contingent it was their first-ever NHL experience.

"I had no idea what the heck was going on but it was fun away," said Werts, of Mililani, Hawaii, who also offered some advice to any fellow Hawaiians who might visit Missouri.

"I would tell them to visit in January," he said smiling. "It feels like its 20 degrees below zero."

For more information about the Missouri National Guard, please visit www.moguard.com and our social media sites: www.facebook.com/Missouri.National.Guard; www.twitter.com/Missouri_NG; www.youtube.com/MoNationalGuard; www.myspace.com/missouri_ng; www.flickr.com/photos/missouriguard; www.moguard.com/blog

Recruiters from the Hawaii National Guard clown for the camera at the Fight-Me Mixed Martial Arts League event Jan. 13 at the St. Charles Family Arena. National Guard recruiters from 12 states attended the event as guests of the Missouri National Guard Recruiting Battalion. (Bill Phelan photo)