Financially speaking, things are tough all over. I went to town the other day and saw a street gang, due to the high price of gasoline, perform a walk-by shooting on a rival gang.

Not sure how funding will affect the gangs’ recruiting efforts, but the United States has built the greatest military in the history of the world – completely staffed by volunteers. Recruiting plays a huge role in maintaining that influx of volunteers.

If some politicians have their way, the National Guard will no longer focus its recruiting dollars on a handful of professional sports, including bass fishing. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., and Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. have attached an amendment stating so to the 2013 Defense Appropriations Bill, which has already passed the House and is now headed to the Senate.

This has the FLW organization caught up in a cross fire of sorts. They have leveraged a huge amount of support from the National Guard to fund teams and tournament trails for years.              

FLW noted in an open letter, “sports sponsorships have long been part of the marketing mix that allows recruiters from every branch to consistently hit the enlistment numbers needed . . . Despite this fact, Kingston and McCollum feel compelled to micromanage how the Pentagon spends its recruiting dollars, randomly pulling sports sponsorship from the mix.”

As for numbers to back up claims, FLW states, “The National Guard generated 26,342 leads through its FLW sponsorship in 2009, 22,709 in 2010 and 28,673 in 2011.”

The FLW letter also quotes retired Army National Guard Director, Lt. Gen. Clyde A. Vaughn as saying that 2006 (the first year of the FLW/National Guard partnership) was a “watershed year” for revitalizing the ARNG. Vaughn went on to point out that, “the ARNG now has the most experienced leadership and its youngest soldiers in its 370 year history.”

Love of fishing, NASCAR or mixed martial arts aside, should Congress be allowed to micromanage the recruiting efforts of the world’s greatest military?