The Iowa National Guard’s top recruiter in 2007 is an assistant high school wrestling coach in northwest Iowa. Staff Sergeant Anthony Duong of Sioux City helped enlist 31 soldiers in the Iowa Guard. Iowa National Guard Adjutant General Ron Dardis.
Dardis says Duong’s recruiting number is "amazing" given that he did it in Sioux City, one of the state’s smaller metropolitan areas. Duong is an assistant wrestling coach at Sioux City North. "They know that he is there to do more than just recruit for the Iowa National Guard," Dardis says. "He is there to invest in their schools and invest in the lives of the young people in that community." Dardis made his comments Tuesday during a speech at the Iowa capitol.
Dardis also singled out Sergeant First Class Steve Groon for helping to expand the Guard’s numbers. Groon won a national award for recruiting new soldiers. "His sole mission was to talk soldiers into leaving active duty and then coming to Iowa where they could attend an Iowa college and serve in the Iowa National Guard and he did this better than anyone else in the nation.
Many of us talk about ways to get people to come to Iowa. Sergeant First Class Groon did more than that. He turned talk into action," Dardis said. "He delivered 30 new Iowans to the state last year alone." Groon a native of Akron, Iowa.