Inspiring Recruitment

Recruitment After Readiness: Guardians of Ohio Confront the ASVAB Crisis 

In the wake of COVID-19, the Ohio Army National Guard’s Recruiting and Retention Battalion faced a dilemma that went deeper than declining enlistment numbers. They were staring down a fundamental readiness challenge: a five-year drop in average ASVAB scores across the state. Despite recruiters’ best efforts, fewer candidates were qualifying for military service—especially in key technical roles. That data trend wasn’t just bad news. It was a potential signal of future force failure.

Enter Guardians of Ohio, a team of students from Carnegie Mellon’s Lean Innovation Lab. Their mission was as sobering as it was urgent: understand why enlistment eligibility is falling, and find interventions that can improve the pipeline without lowering standards. It wasn’t about fixing the test. It was about fixing how the Guard meets the moment.

What Was at Stake 

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) isn’t optional. It’s the gatekeeper for most enlisted roles. When fewer Ohio students qualify, it means fewer maintainers, analysts, and logistics operators. It means greater pressure on the same shrinking pool of eligible recruits.

But behind the numbers, the team found complexity. Education disruptions, socioeconomic disparity, and unclear communications between the Guard and its recruiting ecosystem were compounding the problem. Their work illuminated something the sponsor knew but hadn’t fully mapped: the recruiting pipeline isn’t just leaky—it’s opaque.

Learning from the Field, Not the Desk 

Armed with a CMP Innovation Fund grant, the team engaged directly with Ohio National Guard leadership, education partners, and recruiters on the ground. They traveled across the state, visiting regional command offices, conducting interviews, and mapping the real-life journey from high school interest to enlistment.

The key wasn’t more marketing—it was better insight. Guardians of Ohio built early prototypes of a data aggregation platform that could identify drop-off points across school districts, demographic segments, and outreach strategies. Their tools allowed battalion staff to visualize which interventions were working, and which were quietly failing.

More importantly, the team created the foundation for a repeatable feedback loop—one that could surface localized barriers and enable field recruiters to adapt with speed, not just paperwork.

Operators of Another

Deev Patel led the team’s systems architecture and user research, drawing from prior experience in civic tech and education analytics. He served as the team’s connective tissue between problem sponsors and technical solutioning. Supporting teammates conducted regional data analysis, stakeholder mapping, and developed the pilot dashboard interface used during testing in central Ohio.

The team was advised by Professor David Riel, a longtime Lean educator at Carnegie Mellon, who pushed them to validate their insights through first-hand engagement with Guard personnel.

Next Moves and Lasting Impact 

While Guardians of Ohio is not spinning out a venture, their deliverables were transitioned directly to the Recruiting and Retention Battalion and are now informing how Ohio’s National Guard evaluates future outreach and eligibility efforts. Their work is a reminder that not every defense solution is a product—sometimes, it’s the clarity to see what was already there.

Advice to Future Students

 “Go to the field,” Deev said. “You’ll find the answers aren’t buried in data—they’re standing right in front of you, if you just ask.”