FORT KNOX, Ky. –
Leaders and staff at Fort Knox’s Recruiting and Retention College said goodbye to one leader and welcomed another during a change of commandant ceremony here July 8.
After two years in the position, Col. Christopher Stallings relinquished the responsibility of training Army recruiting officers and noncommissioned officers to Col. Kevin Polosky.
Maj. Gen. Kevin Vereen, who commands the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, hosted the ceremony.
“While serving as RRC commander, Stallings oversaw the training of nearly 20,000 students in two years – 6,000 of those students were trained during the COVID pandemic,” Vereen said. “Also during his tenure he successfully acquired accreditation with the Council of Occupational Education.”
During Stallings’ tenure, the RRC expanded the Recruiter Live-Fire exercise to encompass the entire USAREC footprint. The RLF exercise is a culminating training event that occurs in the final week of the Army Recruiter and Station Commander courses, which provides recruiting NCOs an opportunity for practical application of the skills and knowledge they’ve obtained throughout their courses. During the COVID 19 pandemic, Stallings successfully leveraged the virtual space to continue the RLF to train recruiting NCOs in safe way.
“From the first day that we shut down due to COVID, the team was focused on converting as many courses as possible to (distance learning) so we could continue to train and develop the USAREC operational force to get after the mission,” Stallings said. “Within two weeks, the RRC was back up and training. Within 90 days, the RRC doors were back open and receiving NCOs and officers with almost no risk to mission or force.”
Stallings is retiring from the Army after 27 years of dedicated service.
As the new commander, Polosky noted that the transition was seamless and he is looking forward to working with the team.
“There are a lot of people that will walk through the RRC doors that don’t like it, that don’t like being in USAREC, and our job is to make them love it,” Polosky said. “I promise you that I will do everything that I can, everything within my power, to make every one of those Soldiers walk out of the RRC with the fire and flame that they will absolutely love, what I think, is the greatest command in the United States Army.”