Laurie Trahan: welcome to Camo and Crayons. We are going to be talking to Sergeant Butterworth of the Army. He is a recruiter. He is one of our biggest advocates when we are talking to families on TikTok. He gives us all kinds of information and he is so generous with his time. We want to dig in with him and talk to him today about being a recruiter. My name is Lori. I am here with

Army Sherry: My name is Sherry and I'm an army mom.

Annika Lyon: My name is Annika. I am a Marine veteran and a Marine spouse. That's a that's that's a thing now.

Laurie Trahan: Sergeant Butterworth, do you want to just kinda give us a little explanation about who you are and what you do in the army?

Russell Butterworth: my name is Staff Sergeant Butterworth. I am in the Army. I have been in the Army for almost 14 years. I enlisted out of Lawrenceville, Georgia as an 88 Mike, which is a motor transport operator. Layman's terms, I drive trucks. I did that for roughly ten years. I have one combat deployment, five non-combat rotations. and then I got the opportunity to go to the United States Army Recruiting School. And I jumped at that opportunity. I've been doing recruiting for roughly Two years now, in central Texas. I absolutely love what I do. Helping people out and talking to people on a daily basis, it's it's a big passion of mine. So I thoroughly enjoy what I do. But that's about me.

Laurie Trahan: Awesome. Well we're really excited to have you here and get to talk to you. So who wants do you want to start off asking questions, Sherry? Since you're the army mom.

Army Sherry: Well, yeah, because one of the things that we come across in the military, especially on the army, is the waiver. So what is the timeline and the time frame waivers take? Because like some I was in your live the other night and somebody's like, I've been on a waiver for a year and still haven't heard back and I'm like, That shouldn't be, but can you go into detail what they use the waivers for and why they have to use those?

Russell Butterworth: the medical waivers are there to determine eligibility, right? So we have this system called Genesis, which is a it's a medical system that all of your medical records go into from the day you were born to the present day. So the days of you going to the army recruiter. or MEPS and being like, no, I've never had asthma or no, I've never had AD ADHD. Those days are done. They they see everything. So when you go to MEPS, you go there without a waiver. You sit down and talk to the medical provider. They go on through all of your medical records. and they're gonna they're gonna talk to you about specific things. If they need a little more clarification or some medical records that they may not have, they're gonna ask for those. So it's gonna delay your process a little bit. The biggest one we see is like mental health stuff, right? So they'll wanna see the medical records, the psychiatrist notes, your pharmacy records, and so on and so forth. And there's there's some like applicant statements you gotta do. And then for at like asthma. Asthma is easy. Applic it's an applicant statement. especially if it was childhood asthma, talking about this is what I these are the sports I played as a child and so on and so forth. And then they're gonna wanna see your pharmacy records for that. if you still had asthma a little bit later in life, I I know I'm digging a little little deeper than maybe we should we y'all wanted to, but if you had asthma a little later in life, they're gonna d have you do what's called a PFT, a pulmonary functions test. and sometimes they'll require a methylcholine challenge. So you've got to wait for those results to come back. going back to the behavioral health, sometimes they'll request a behavioral health consult. Which is you come into our office or you go, you travel to the doctor, you put we put you on our computer if you're in your if you're in our office, and you talk to a behavioral health professional. they're trying to figure out your your coping mechanisms, what are your triggers, what sets you off, everything like that. And then they do a whole write up determination that gets reviewed by medicals. So like when we're talking specifics for a timeline for a medical waiver, there is no real timeline, right? So I've seen waivers take twenty four hours and in my live the other day, like you like you saw, some take a year. and that's not I don't wanna put the blame on the medical professionals because it's not the medical professionals' fault. Right? So when when we ask you for these documents, like an applicant statement, your medical records, your pharmacy records, like they have to be specific, right? So each each record each page number on your medical records is labeled and numbered, page each num page is numbered. So people think they're smooth and like try to pull pull pages out of there like it's gonna like it's not gonna get caught. They're literally going from page one all the way to page I've had one that went up to like five hundred and eighty six pages. They're going through every single page. And if they catch something missing, what are you trying to hide? So they're gonna dig a little deeper. So that's why some waivers take so long. is because there's documents missing. The applicant just won't provide it. there's there's multitude of reasons of why the waivers could take as long as they do. But there's no real set time frame for waivers. They could take 24 hours. They could take a year. It's just ultimately how fast you get the the documentation back and how accurate the documentation is.

Army Sherry: one thing we learned about a waiver that my son had to do is here in Iowa they do a lot of nurse practitioners and they were like nope no nurse practitioners we want an MD So that's one thing that I learned that a lot of the military wants an MD, not a nurse practitioner.

Russell Butterworth: I ha so I haven't ran into that issue yet.

Army Sherry: Really.

Russell Butterworth: but I I always tipi typically make sure I I tell them I want your doctor's notes. The doc the notes from the doctor. So I'm very direct and concise with my my i instructions because that you

Army Sherry: Thank you.

Russell Butterworth: gotta you gotta realize at the end of the day, these are kids. Like this joining the army is a is a huge step for them. It's not normal. It's not something they do every day. You only join the army once. You only join the military once. Well, I mean, in most cases. But you gotta be very clear and concise with your instructions.

Laurie Trahan: I a question about waivers. So, like when my son was joining the Marines, he had an orbital fracture when he was younger. It didn't

Russell Butterworth: Mm-hmm.

Laurie Trahan: break anything. It well did break the bones behind his eye, but he didn't require surgery. So when they were looking for the information for the waivers for that, it actually had gone past the seven years that the doctors had to hold on to the medical records. And it took us a long time to get all the information and his recruiter had to go down to the hospital. How do you as a recruiter deal with that? Especially when you're perspective, you know, soldier or marine or whoever's sitting in front of this recruiter is getting antsy. My son was starting to get really frustrated because it was the only thing holding up his journey, you know.

Russell Butterworth: Yeah. so that's one thing one reason I'm thankful for Genesis. I know a lot of people aren't a huge fan of Genesis. I personally love it. It stores all your medical records from the day you were born to the to the day they pull it. so Genesis is on my side. I I like it. but not necessarily all of the medical records we need are in Genesis. So if like you just gotta stress the importance. Like you gotta explain it to break it down. I like to call it break it down Barney style, right? So they don't they don't understand what what what do you mean they have to look at my medical records? You just break it down, let know what they're looking for, like for orbital fracture. It was it wasn't gonna be anything crazy. They just wanna make sure that I guarantee you the main thing they wanted to see was the clearance letter, that everything was completely healed and he could was cleared to f return back to full duty. Which more than likely is gonna come from a physical therapist, right? So that's that's all they're looking for. You just gotta let know exactly, hey, this is what they're looking for, this is what they wanna see. Go get it for me. And it it if if they run into a hard time trying to be able to get the documentation, that's where I'll step in and I will help them with with t speaking to the doctor or sending up a typing up a formal request with the with the Department of War letterhead on it and everything. so I do step in if I have to and help them out. But I I like to let them act as grown adults. even though they're kids, I like to let them act as grown adults so they can learn this is exactly what I need to do and figure out the process for themselves. As far as the antsy part portion, you just gotta s remain consistent with your communication as a recruiter and ensuring these people are informed. I like to keep my people informed of every step along the way. Does that mean I'm calling them 14 times a day and saying, hey, your waiver went to this person. Hey, your waiver went to this person. No. But if it's been a few days, I'll reach out and let them know, hey, this is where your waiver's at. They haven't sent anything back and to me no news is good news. So if they haven't kicked it back yet, we're good. I'll let you know if anything changes and I'll let you know if I needed any any additional documents. I appreciate you being patient and and and continuing to go through this process. It's as simple as that. To me it is.

Laurie Trahan: So my question to you is you have so much to share about being a recruiter, you're so kind, you answer all these questions, and you're like, I don't really know what I have to share. And I was like, You have a lot to share, right? Because you are the first contact these kids have with the branch that they're going into or wanting to go into. And then You hold so much of their life in the palm of your hands. You can direct it in so many different ways, sometimes without them even knowing, you know, and and you're just a really nice guy and you don't do those things. But my question is, is what can you do for these kids to encourage them to have good communication with their recruiter and what to look out for to make sure that that what their wants and their needs are being fulfilled?

Russell Butterworth: joining the army is one of the biggest decisions, or the military in general, that you'll ever make. It's one that you're gonna have to live with long after you leave the recruiting station. It's not something that's just one and done. to me a good recruiter isn't there to sell you on the military, so to speak. They're there to help you determine which path is correct for you. To help you realize your goals and show you the opportunities available. I always tell any future soldier that I deal with that it's their career and their decision. so I always encourage them to ask all the questions they can to make sure you're as informed as you can be. To me, a good recruiter wants the right fit for the the military, not just they don't want to just fill a position. And if you are if you're that kind of recruiter, you're in recruiting for the wrong reasons. The best enlistments happen when the applicant is is is the most comfortable and when they trust you, when when you have that relationship with them. just be open and honest. With every single person that you come into contact with. That's not how you build relationships and and create a productive military.

Army Sherry: What do you do when you have that recruit that comes in, but they also want to bring the mom and dad or whoever in? Do you encourage that? Because we've had a lot of people that have come to us and said, my recruiter doesn't want my parents involved. They don't want this. They don't want that.

Russell Butterworth: If your recruiter does not want your parents there, that is not the recruiter for you. I encourage every single person that I have, bring your parents. Bring your mom, bring your dad, bring your grandma if you want to. I've had grandmas in my office. That's fine. That's awesome. But if if your recruiter is telling you don't bring your parents, why? That's a question you gotta ask yourself. Why doesn't he want me to bring my parents? I want my parents to be as educated as they can. Cause if I'm looking at this from a future soldier aspect, the more educated my parents are, the less questions they're going ask me. So if they're there and they're getting the same information I have, that's good for them. That's perfect. That's the least amount of questions they're going to ask me. But it's like, especially like so where I'm at here in central Texas, parents are my best friends. I I love the parents. Because they're on my side. Because nine times out of ten, you're dealing with prior service parents that can sit there and reassure what I'm telling their child is true and accurate. So to me, parents are a recruiter's best friend. Have them come in anytime that you possibly can. And if your recruiter is telling you don't bring your parents, it's not the recruiter for you, find another one.

Laurie Trahan: Important because we did have a kid, like Sherry was saying, you know, the parents are like the recruiter flat out says I don't talk to parents. So how easy is it for a young person, young man, young woman to say, you know what, now I need to go get a new recruiter? Can they pick somebody in your office? Can they pick somebody in a different office? What are the rules around that kind of stuff?

Russell Butterworth: So I back when I was station commander, I have extremely high standards for the recruiters, right? So if you're not gonna sit in my office and BS the applicants, that's that's not gonna happen. So I had extremely high standards. If I heard them saying something that wasn't true or that was misleading, I would interject in a professional manner. I'd go over there and stand there for a minute and offer some advice to steer it away from the path it was going. But to me, like as an applicant or a future soldier prospect, whatever you want to call it, this is your career. Your career, not that recruiter's, not your parents. This is yours. So you need to take it seriously if that recruiter is not answering the questions for you in an adequate manner, whether it be a new recruiter in that office, a new recruiter in another station. You need to get somebody else to talk to. So to me, like if I'm looking at from the applicant's perspective, it w it should be very easy to be like I need to find something else. They're not they're not answering my questions directly. They're not they're beating around the bush. The biggest one is they don't want my parents here. That's a instant red flag. Immediately red a red flag. So I mean to me it it should be easy to realize like They're beating around the bush. I'm also very good at reading body language. So if you're sitting here blowing smoke and I know you're not telling the truth, I can tell it. Because you're like you're avoiding eye contact with me, so on and so forth. I can tell you're not being truthful with me. So I mean, I'm good at not everybody is like that, but read your read your recruiter if they're not answering your questions adequately, if they're not giving you what you feel is accurate information, fact check them. Or request a new recruiter. You that is within your right to request somebody new.

Laurie Trahan: That's good. On the flip side, when you have a recruit that comes in and is like, I'm gonna be a soldier, this is what I want to do, and mom and dad are putting the brakes on and really trying to talk them out of it and are not going with it. And now that recruit is torn, really wants to join, really wants to be a soldier, but mom and dad are pulling them back. How do you as a recruiter deal with that? How do you encourage this kid to step out of that box and then go after their dreams? Because like you said, this is their life, their career.

Russell Butterworth: Mm-hmm. So initially I'm not gonna I'm not gonna focus on the applicant. I'm gonna focus on the parents. I'm gonna cause at the end of the day though we call them influencers. They're the biggest influencers in that applicant's in that applicant's life. They're not gonna listen to anybody more than they listen to those two people. I'm gonna dissect them and I wanna figure out why are you so against this? I'm gonna figure out as much information as I can to be able to pull up either in black and white or online or just word of mouth. Hey, this is this is why you're wrong, but you gotta do it in a professional manner. You don't want to make them mad and make them feel stupid. That's the last thing you want to do. You gotta do it in a nice professional, manner, as as to where they still feel respected and everything like that. So as long as you figure out the root of the issue and you can get the parents on board, you're gonna get the child every single time. And nine times out of ten it's happened. I haven't had it not work yet, but talk talk to everybody like their people. Be open and honest. Just with the with the applicant, the same as you are with the parents. And then that applicant's gonna hear what you're saying and realize that this is the good decision for them.

Laurie Trahan: Yeah, that's good because you know the parents' feelings are real and valid, so you know

Russell Butterworth: One hundred percent.

Laurie Trahan: concerns are concerns. And I know as a as a parent while I was on board with my son joining the Marines, I was scared out of my mind too. You know, it's it's scary. But so that's good. I'm glad that you do that.

Annika Lyon: I have a quick question, curiosity between the branches. Did you choose to go recruiting? 'Cause I like in the Marine Corps we have like the hist. I don't know if that's I d am not very knowledgeable when it comes to the other branches with their B billets and things along those lines. Is it something you wanted to do? Was it you're like, I'm gonna be a recruiter, th this like inspired me, or was it I got voluntoled for recruiting and now I love it?

Russell Butterworth: So I've actually been on recruiting orders for recruiting twice. My first one was I had a date to go to school. I have a hit a pass. I've had an article fifteen in the past. and when I submitted my packet, I didn't know that I needed to submit character references and everything like that with the packet. So that one was ultimately denied. I they canceled my orders. but that one I volunteered for. I said, Hey, I called my branch and I Hey, I want to go recruiting. They Okay, well you just pre screened you, you're you're good to go. We'll we'll get you a school date and everything like that. then the next one I I sent my branch manager a Teams message. I was like, Hey, I know it didn't work out the first time. I wanna try recruiting again. And it just so happened that I got a date for recruiting school. so I was in ALC Advanced Leaders Course, that's the promotion course for staff sergeant. I was in that in January of twenty twenty four. I graduated in February of twenty twenty-four and I was in recruiting school in March of twenty twenty-four. so I I I wanted to go recruiting, like I said in the beginning. I love talking to people. I love being able to affect positive changes in people's lives. 'Cause like we see people on completely different sides of the spectrum. I've had homeless people walk into my office and want to join the military because it's their last resort. And I've had some No offense, rich kids come into my office and want to join because they saw it in Call of Duty and they thought it was cool. So I I I see the different ends of the spectrum every single day. so this is it it's something that I I thoroughly enjoy doing. I love what I do every single day. There's good days and bad days, but at the end of the day, I still love what I do. And I'm I get to do this for the rest of my career now. So I'm gonna stick with

Annika Lyon: What

Russell Butterworth: it.

Annika Lyon: did you get to pick

Laurie Trahan: Cool. I love that.

Annika Lyon: where you're recruiting from? Or did you

Russell Butterworth: so in recruiting school they have you do a recruiter preference map on day zero. so on day zero you gotta fill that out and get it back up to we what we call as G one, as fast as you can and that determines the order that you speak to the G one to get your your preference or your stations. I had mine filled out in four minutes. I knew exactly where I wanted to go, what I wanted to do. I spoke to my wife before, and she I said, Where do you wanna go? She said, Florida. Or I want to stay here in Texas. I was lucky enough I got one of two spots in the Dallas battalion and I got the only spot spot in the station that I'm currently at. so I'm I got exactly where I wanted to be. I'm happy I'm here and I've had a blast doing it. It will be coming to an end at the end of next year. I will be moving on somewhere else. I don't know where that is yet, but I'm excited about it.

Annika Lyon: Cool. My husband was a drill instructor in the Marine Corps, so like I I have friends that are recruiters or war recruiters. So it's always interesting

Russell Butterworth: Uh-huh.

Annika Lyon: to me to have like lived this kind of life but then hear about everything recruiting wise 'cause I'm a people person. If I'm gonna talk, I'm I'm not gonna yell at you. I'm gonna talk to you and we're gonna have a great conversation. And so it's so fun

Russell Butterworth: Yeah. One hundred percent.

Annika Lyon: to hear like your c your story about those kinds of things and how you are where you wanna be and stuff like that.

Russell Butterworth: Course.

Army Sherry: I have a question. Are there any common misconceptions about the army that you often incur during a recruitment?

Russell Butterworth: I get asked more often than you think, is the army just like Call of Duty? No. It is nothing like call of duty. I've never once driven a truck in Call of Duty. I've never swept a motor pole in Call of Duty. I've never pulled CQ or staff duty in Call of Duty. The army is nothing like Call of Duty. That's the question I get asked the most. And then like there's this misc these misconceptions. Like I was on I was on a live earlier, talking to somebody about

Army Sherry: Yeah, I was in that one.

Russell Butterworth: joining the military, and they were under this misconception that when you live on the on a on a military base, you're living in the middle of the woods. I simply answered that question. I said, What am I in right now? And she was like, Well, a house. I said, Okay, so do I live in the woods? And they're like, Well, no. I said, So okay, so what does that tell you? Did the army provide you with housing? Yes. If they're not if you if you're not married, you're gonna you're gonna live in the barracks, you're gonna have a smaller room, you're still gonna have your own space, but you're not gonna be living in the woods under a tree, like your Tarzan. So I mean, that's one of the big biggest misconceptions is is like it's it's always we're always in the field or we're always deployed, or it's like Call of Duty. None of it's true. Don't believe everything you see on video games, don't believe everything you see in in any of the movies. It's it's not true.

Laurie Trahan: Crazy Call of Duty. So talking about Call of Duty, one of the biggest problems that we have with kids that are that parents talking to us is that they leave to go to boot camp and they are struggling because they can't play Call of Duty or video games anymore. They haven't stopped vaping. They haven't, you know, worked out. You know, so what are some of the suggestions that you have for kids that are sitting at your desk getting ready to leave for boot camp to get themselves ready for to go to Mm-hmm.

Russell Butterworth: So one of the biggest things I tell people, especially when they're getting close to that ship date, not right up on it, but they're getting close, like within a month or so, start doing things without your phone. If you go somewhere, leave your phone at home. Especially if you're a child and you have a parent with you that has a cell phone. Leave your phone at home. Separate yourself. Not just from not from people, separate yourself from technology. Because you're gonna be going at least 10 weeks without technology. Some people in today's age, that is a bit of a shock. I'm learning very quickly. That is a huge shock. What, I can't have my phone for ten weeks? No, you can't. You're not there to play on your phone and be on TikTok and do all that. another biggest mistake I see future soldiers is make is assuming that they'll get into shape once they get into basic training. The more you pre you're more prepared you are to ship, the more confident and successful you'll be. If you're gonna get there and be like, I'm gonna get in shape here, you're you're gonna be struggling and basic is not gonna be fun for you. I promise. And then like I th those are the biggest two things is separate from your phone, ensure consistent workouts. That's why so in my office and multiple recruiting offices across the country. I know the Marines it, it's called police police training or whatever. we do it we do future soldier training. So we actually do it twice a week. and that's for an hour, hour and a half, these future soldiers come and they they work out. So that way we we at least know they're getting some kind of physical fitness in. They're gonna be somewhat prepared for basic training. attend those functions. They're not there just for fun. They're there for you. Trust me, if we didn't ha if we didn't have to do future soldier training, or if this this wasn't something we wanted to do, we wouldn't be doing it. We're doing it to help you. So focus on your workouts, start separating from from technology. You don't need to spend fourteen hours on Call of Duty. You don't need to spend a whole day death scrolling on TikTok. Like separate from your phone, get out in nature. Run aw run around a little bit, do some push ups. Get yourself ready.

Laurie Trahan: That's a big thing. There was a kid on TikTok, I'm I'm sure everybody knows who I'm talking about, but he was constantly on TikTok all day long. And then he was caught off guard when he was like, my gosh, I'm getting shipped out on Sunday and he couldn't do push ups great. He was struggling with his run. But every time I turned around and I turned the app on, I saw him on there and I was like, you know, why are you not getting ready? And I'm sh I hope he's not struggling. I bet he is, but you know, he I don't I don't think he felt like he was ready. I don't think a lot of people felt like he was ready. So that's that's a good some good advice. My son used to say, get outside and meet the sun, will ya?

Russell Butterworth: Is it is it who I think you're talking about? He is doing

Army Sherry: Yes.

Laurie Trahan: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Russell Butterworth: fantastic.

Laurie Trahan: Is he? Good.

Army Sherry: Good.

Laurie Trahan: I'm glad to hear that. I am glad to hear that.

Russell Butterworth: We we've been getting we've been getting updates from him. well not from him, from one of his drill sergeants and he's doing fantastic.

Laurie Trahan: Good. Well that's good.

Army Sherry: That's good.

Laurie Trahan: That's good because I was worried about him. I would tell Sherry, I'm like God, I'm so worried about this kid.

Russell Butterworth: No, he he's doing great. He's he's actually going through basic training with one of my applicants. Mm-hmm.

Laurie Trahan: Really? Okay.

Army Sherry: Cool.

Laurie Trahan: Awesome.

Army Sherry: I know one of my son's biggest things is he's like, I wish my recruiter would have told me not to like vape and smoke, because he's like that was one of the hardest things. He goes, caffeine withdrawal, no big deal, but going through nicotine withdrawal, he was like, it about killed me. He was like, I wish the recruiters would tell kids, if they're doing that, stop doing it.

Russell Butterworth: Mm-hmm. I I give them full warning. Because it's like not not so much and it's gonna sound really weird. Not so much with cigarettes as it is vape. Vaping makes it so much harder for you to breathe. Cigarettes, they have menthol in them. By no means am I condoning smoking. By no means. But stop both of them. Stop dipping, smoking, vaping, stop it all at least a month before you go to basic training. Depending on how long you've been smoking or vaping or whatever, it's gonna be a process. It's not gonna be a fun process for you to to come down from those, nicotine withdrawals, but it it's gonna make your time in a basic so much easier.

Annika Lyon: Great.

Laurie Trahan: I have a parent right now that I've been talking to and her son keeps doing poorly on the ASBAT. And I actually heard you talking about this the other day. Can you give some advice to anybody that's trying to take that tas to get themselves into the military some pointers because some of them are just really stru this kid is really struggling, you

Russell Butterworth: Mm.

Laurie Trahan: know.

Russell Butterworth: So so I just did a video on this the other day. I I've got some study resources that I like to provide. the AsVab for Dummies. Go by the book. Don't use the app, go by the book. The bo I say the book because it's yours. You can write in it, you can draw on it, you can make copies of the practice tests and you can do over and over and over again. The app you can only do so much. You can't write on your phone. I mean you can, but it's frowned upon. ASVAB for Dummies is is fantastic. I had a success story in one of my lives the other day. He he came from a 17 on the on on a on a ASVAB and brought his all his score all the way up to a 64. And all he used was ASVAB for dummies. another one is is purple math, which it goes along the lines of what's in the title math, algebra, geometry, all that good stuff. It's a it's a it's an online program. It works fantastic. and I'm a big advocate for YouTube university, as I like to call it. ASVAB study prep by grammar heroes on YouTube. So to me, for those people that are visual learners, it really helps to see the videos up on the screen while you're able to be working through it by yourself. So it gives you a better understanding. I can see where I went wrong. I can see what I need to adjust. and then Khan Academy, K-H-A-N Academy. It's an online program. They allow you to take up to eight full practice tests. completely for free. they will they have step by step instructions for whatever section you're going to are going through. It breaks each section down, Barney style. video references, video instruction, readable instructions. All four of those are fantastic resources. And everybody that I've pushed to use these resources has been successful.

Laurie Trahan: That's pretty amazing to go from

Army Sherry: Mm-hmm.

Laurie Trahan: seventeen to his score.

Russell Butterworth: A seventeen to a sixty four.

Army Sherry: didn't the army just come out with a new program?

Russell Butterworth: So it's it's not new. It's newer, but they have the zero nine mic program, which is for those people that can't aff quite obtain a passing score on the ASVAB. For active duty, it is twenty-four to thirty is the to qualify for the zero nine mic program. For reserves, it is twenty-one to thirty, but there's a kicker with the reserves. They have to have spots available. the reserves get a limited amount of spots. Our active duty does not. so that program, you're going to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for anywhere between three weeks to three months. You're in the military, and this is why I love this program. You're in the military, you're getting paid, and you're not only sitting there studying for the ASVAB and getting prepared while you're in this program. They're doing drilling ceremony, they're doing PT, they're they're working out, they're learning how to eat right. So it's an overall encompassed program, but your main objective in that. course is to study for the ASVAB and you get three opportunities to take it. Once you get a qualifying score, you sit down with the a guidance counselor out there and you're gonna pick your job. Once you pick your job, you're gonna go to basic training. Usually they try to keep you at Fort Jackson for basic training because it's lower cost for the army. You're already there. They just got to move you right down the road. But if they do have the option like for like 11X infantry recruit, they're gonna send you to Fort Benning for your OSAT and you'll go through the whole process. The it is a fantastic program and I push it to everybody I know that cannot get a passing score on the Azvab.

Laurie Trahan: That's awesome. That's awesome. We we actually have had a

Army Sherry: Amazing opportunities.

Laurie Trahan: couple kids that their parents have reached out and told us about this and they're actually doing really well and I and I think it's amazing. Thank you for explaining that to us.

Russell Butterworth: Of course.

Army Sherry: The only other thing I wanted to ask you, you know, as you look at your career, what lessons have you learned from your career and what would you tell the younger version of you?

Russell Butterworth: That's good question. I think so. If I could sit down with my younger self, I would tell him to embrace every opportunity that you come across, stay humble and never stop learning. No matter what point in your life you're at, where you think you are, you're never too good to learn. You never know too much to stop learning. I learned something new every day. I just learned something this morning off of TikTok about a ACAS program that the Army provides from somebody that's not even in the Army. So as long as you keep your keep an open mind, you'll always be able to learn. So embrace every opportunity, stay humble. And never stop learning. That's that's what I would tell myself.

Army Sherry: I love that.

Laurie Trahan: I know you have three little ones or four little ones.

Russell Butterworth: I have two and then I have my one my my final one on the way due November.

Laurie Trahan: On the way. Okay. Your children come to you and they say, Dad, we wanna be in the army or we wanna be in another branch. What's your feelings on that as a parent?

Russell Butterworth: Go for it. If that's what you want to do, I'll support you.

Laurie Trahan: Awesome. Even in another branch.

Russell Butterworth: Whatever makes you happy.

Annika Lyon: Yeah.

Laurie Trahan: That's awesome. I love it. I love it. Practice in what you preach though to the other parents. And you know, support is everything, one hundred percent everything. Well, we appreciate you coming and talking to us today. And we thank you for your service and we thank you for being such an amazing recruiter to these young men and these young women and always answering our questions when we come bother you.

Russell Butterworth: Of course. I'm always here for y'all. Sherry asked me a question at like ten o'clock last night. We got that taken care of. You ask me questions all the time. Annika hasn't hit me up for a question, but hey, that's fine. Y'all

Annika Lyon: I'll start, don't worry.

Laurie Trahan: Ha ha ha.

Russell Butterworth: I am I am here for y'all. Anytime I anytime y'all have a question, I I'm I'm gonna do what I can to get you those answers. Of course, I appreciate

Army Sherry: We appreciate that.

Laurie Trahan: Definitely. Definitely. And if

Russell Butterworth: y'all. Thank y'all for what you're doing for the for the parent community of of the of the military side.

Laurie Trahan: You know, for us it's it helps I know for Sherry and I it keeps us connected with other parents and it you know, it it gives me it gives me personally an opportunity to share stuff that I've learned that I didn't have available to me when my son joins. So I like being able to share it with other people, you know? That's what it's all about.

Annika Lyon: So it's funny.

Russell Butterworth: Absolutely. Absolutely. anytime I have any parents come into my life I always tell them, Hey, go check out Lori, go check out Army Sherry. She go she goes live all the time. Give her a follow and check her out.

Laurie Trahan: I love it. I appreciate it. Something you said

Russell Butterworth: Of course.

Laurie Trahan: a few minutes ago is that you're always learning and you know that is something that I always tell the parents too. We're always learning on this journey. We don't know everything. That's why we need people like like you. We need people like the other ones that we bring, other active duty and veterans come in because we don't know everything, but you know, together we can make it a stronger community for everybody if we all work together.

Russell Butterworth: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Laurie Trahan: Well, thank you for your service and thank you for joining us.

Russell Butterworth: Thank y'all so much for having me. Y'all have a good Of

Annika Lyon: Thank you.

Laurie Trahan: Thank you. Come back and visit us anytime.

Army Sherry: Yeah.

Russell Butterworth: course. Let me know

Annika Lyon: Yeah.

Russell Butterworth: whenever you want me to come back. All right. Of course. Y'all have a good one.

Army Sherry: We will. Thanks.

Laurie Trahan: Absolutely. Thank you. All right.

Annika Lyon: Perfect.

Army Sherry: You too. Bye bye.

Laurie Trahan: You two. All right.

Russell Butterworth: Bye.

Laurie Trahan: Thank you.

Annika Lyon: Ladies and gentlemen, we've heard you have heard us talk about this before, but one thing we want to do as a segment on this lovely podcast we have brought to you today is we would like to do a military spotlight. We want to show off your kiddos. Those your loved ones that are in the military serving have served all of the above. So if you would like, there will be a Google form in Sherry and Lori's Linktreeze that you can go in, submit your loved ones' name. a little bit about them, a photo of them, a video of them. There's all the all of the the form has everything you'll need and we would love to talk about your loved ones when future episodes.

Laurie Trahan: thank you for joining Camo and Crans today. I hope you enjoyed listening to Sergeant Butterworth. We enjoyed talking to him. So don't forget to like, follow, share, and subscribe. And next week you're gonna want to be here because we are actually going to talk to Sergeant First Class George. He is an army drill instructor and we have so much to talk to him about boot camp in the army. So don't forget to join us next week when we talk to him. All of our show notes that we talked to with Sergeant Butterworth are going to be in the notes. All of the recommendations for the ASBAP and all of the links that he talked about will be linked in there and our Google form will also be linked in there for our Spartlight. And if you have any questions or you would like to make a suggestion or be a guest, please don't forget to email us, which will be in the show notes also. Have a great day and we're glad you joined us.