An Army Reserve program designed to build goodwill with communities while assisting with reserve recruitment is seeking both former service members and civilians to join its volunteer ranks.
The Army Reserve Ambassador Program, a decades-old initiative, relies on American volunteers from across the U.S. and near some U.S. bases in Europe. Volunteers donate about 10 hours a month to reserve outreach and community connection tasks within their personal and local networks, said Army Lt. Col. Jeku Royce Arce, who manages the program for the Office of the Chief of the Army Reserve.
The program has dozens of volunteers nationwide but does not currently have a volunteer in every state, Arce said. He hopes to change that, he added.
Volunteers attend local events and help civilians understand what the reserve is while serving as a link between uniformed reservists and the communities from which the service recruits new members, Arce said.
“Our Army Reserve Ambassadors really connect the dots — they’re a bridge between local communities and the Army Reserve,” he said.
Nine states currently do not have a volunteer ambassador: Alaska, Hawaii, Delaware, Idaho, Vermont, South Dakota, New Mexico, Wyoming and Wisconsin, Arce said.
Volunteers are brought into the program as special government employees, go through a vetting process and, once cleared, are given the Department of the Army Protocol Precedence List VIP Code 5, he said. Equivalent to a two-star general, that precedence is the same as U.S. judges and county sheriffs, according to an Army protocol fact sheet. Arce said the honorary rank helps volunteers fulfill their role by giving them access and authority in civilian settings.
Army Reserve ambassadors typically volunteer for three-year terms, with most serving two consecutive terms, Arce said, and can attend a training weekend hosted by the Army Reserve. Many ambassadors also volunteer with other veteran service organizations or nonprofits, integrating their reserve ambassador role with those efforts, he explained. While many volunteers are retirees — the current average age of an ambassador is 67, Arce is looking to recruit more individuals in the early or middle stages of their civilian careers to help the program connect with younger groups.
Among the program’s newest volunteers is former Army Capt. Jon Pan, who left active duty in 2010 after serving in Afghanistan with the Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
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The youngest current Reserve Ambassador at age 41, Pan is a successful game programmer with an impressive resume that includes leadership roles at Amazon, Meta and Walmart. He joined the Reserve Ambassador program in July after founding Exia Labs, a defense contractor that develops war games.
Pan said his volunteer work has helped him link-up with other veterans and gain a deeper understanding of his own military service. This summer, he connected officials from the Reserve’s 88th Readiness Battalion with Amazon leadership to discuss ways the company could better support its reservist employees, he said.
The program has also given Pan the opportunity to share his Army story with young adults and high school students.
“For people who don’t know much about the military, it might seem potentially like a scary thing or kind of hardcore,” he said. “But I think my military service helped me get where I am today.”
Pan said he hopes former troops who served at the same time he did will consider joining the ambassador program as a way to stay connected to their military experience and engage with their current communities.
“It’s been quite rewarding,” he said. “If I wasn’t an Army Reserve Ambassador, I couldn’t just walk up to a high school, find out what they’re doing on Veterans Day, and talk to students about that. The ambassador program has been a great reason to connect with my community.”
