Haha! The ol’ BCG’s! They have rather normal looking frames now, so its not as bad…but, way back in the dya when the army docs first told me I needed glasses I got the thick framed black ones. The first day I wore them my boss and the entire staff at the place I worked burst out laughing. I went and told my boss “I need to leave for a few hours to buy some real glasses”. Fighting the giggles she told me to take the afternoon off and do so and apologized for laughing, but I understand…man, those things were awful.
Well, there was a brief period when the black BCGs made you look trendy like Elvis Costello. That was when they went with the fugly brown frames. Have to keep our glasses-wearing troops ugly at all times!
…because it’s the army, and the army’s primary duty is sending soldiers into situations where they will be shot at? That’s why we have an army, to shoot back at the people who are shooting at us.
I’m sure that you’re aware of it, but she might also be interested in some of the AmeriCorps programs. I know for sure that the NCCC program requires you to live in a dorm - you don’t really get paid, of course, but if “serve the community and get out of the parent’s house” is what she’s looking for that could be a great opportunity for her.
The thing I hate most is when someone joins the military and they are shocked to find out they’d have to shoot a weapon (this happens mostly in the Air Force). We had this one girl who was, no shit, scared of guns. Terrified.
She pissed me off so much.
That would be these. I was issued them in the 1990s as well.
Of course, if they were given to our female personnel they were called rape prevention glasses, or RPGs.
Insults are STILL not allowed in this forum. No more of these from anybody, thanks.
SSG, I’ve been there, done that. The reason I eventually failed as a recruiter wasn’t putting butts on the bus, it was because I had a sympathy/empathy problem - Telling some hopeful kid “No” tore me up. Watching the light go out in their eyes, as you’ve just crushed their hopes - Well, it got to be too much for me, and ruined my ability for function efficiently.
Sux, du.
My Navy vet husband also refers to them as OSRs: Opposite Sex Repellent.
Schwartz…
this may or may not make you feel better, but think of this…whatever little good you may do makes a difference. I know while I was recruiting I made a difference in the lives of some kids. One of them got out after her tour and used the college fund money to go to school. Her mother once sent me a card thanking me for it. Another, well, he is still in and i ran into him a year ago. He’s looking at makingt it a career and is happy with a wife and a baby coming. So even though I hated recruiting, I can at least say I helped some people out.
It can hurt though. No one likes to be the bearer of bad news. Sarge, I hope your tour in recruiting goes swiflty and easily. I know its stressful, and man, I know it can try your soul.
Thanks, Jolly Roger. Thanks for your service and thanks for your input about Recruiting. I know I have helped some young people. I try to feel good about that. But I spent a year waiting for these two to be ready to join, they get ready, and MEPS gets stupid.
The other thing that kills me about this job is everyone is all about the Warrior Ethos, but no-one seems to remember the NCO creed. 24 months and I will be back in the real Army if the heart doesn’t give out first.
SSG Schwartz
OK Marley I got the message.
Oh, shit, I forgot that we have people to defend…persons such as yourself…(can’t think of a non-insulting term for what to call you.) I would like to know what your MOS is in the Army. Because here are some jobs in which it would be unusual to get shot at or even to have a need to shoot back:
Unit Supply Specialist
Mental Health Specialist
Light Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic
Chaplain
Operating Room Specialist
Preventive Med Specialist
Linguist
Oboe Player
Bassonist
Civil Affairs Specialist
Plumber
But to get to the point, the young lady has been seen by another doctor who does not feel she has eczema. So when I come back from leave, I will try again.
To those that I feel that I am wrong for trying to put this young woman in the Army, I hope under the new rules I can wish oppression on them.
SSG Schwartz
That would be O2H, which is exactly what I was. I had a secondary MOS for flute but I don’t recall it.
I served for about 10 years altogether, three years active duty where I was stationed in Germany and got to see a bazillion small German villages where we played lots of concerts, like four a day. Then I joined the Reserves and put myself through college. I left as a SSG. I learned a lot of really good things during my military service and I am very glad I did it.
Relax, dude. I was just trying to point out that I don’t think it’s a completely out-there line of thinking, that Army = some risk of combat; I wasn’t saying that those who think that are right or anything. A lot of people do put themselves in combat positions. A lot more are in positions that support the combat guys. It’s not surprising that, to a lot of people, that makes up the bulk of the Army.
All of which are support jobs for the primary mission, which is all about weaponry.
Not saying the military is a bad thing here, but let’s keep some honest perspective. These two girls, and probably everyone you recruit, are not Linguists or Oboe Players by trade.
Wait, what, we have Oboe Players and Bassonists in the military who do nothing but? I always wondered about those marching bands, most recently at the inauguration. Now THAT would be a career!
The issue is not that you are wrong, it is that you are showing signs of not understanding that the military in this country, unlike lots of others, reports to civil leaders no matter what.
You tell us, in effect, “America love it or leave it” because you are having a hard time meeting your quotas in what is clearly a job influenced heavily by macro politics.
I think you are being disingenuous or worse maybe when you suggest you care about this girl beyond her filling a quota for you. If the war was popular and people were racing to sign up and numbers were not a problem for you, you would send that girl packing without a second thought.
I know you don’t have an easy job, I also bet you didn’t choose it, it chose you. That would suck if true. But your situation is the price the civilians decided to have when we went to an all volunteer army and eliminated the draft. You and other recruiters are kind of canaries in the coal mine of public opinion - when your job gets tough, then the civilian leaders above you start to notice limits on their ambitions.
Just remember that your indoctrination at work probably doesn’t emphasize the really big picture about what is important to those you defend and report to. But one of them is the principal that the military reports to the civilians, not the other way around.
I told myself to stay out of this thread. Recruiting pretty much ruined my life for awhile, and I promised my family to not relive it. Thinking about it brings up a lot of memories I’d rather forget. Still, I’ll say this and go back to lurking…
Kinda not true. My job has nothing to do with weaponty. As a matter of fact, I’m behind in weapons training because of it. But I undersrtand your point.
If Schwartz is even a bit like me or any of the other recruiters I worked with the point is to teach them a trade. Since you pick your own job in the army, (depending on test scores of course…) its not under his control.
Believe me, they lead a charmed life, those damned military band members! Seriously, that is what they do, all of the time. But then infantrymen think my job is all cake.
I won’t speak for Schwartz on that. I think he probably does have an understanding. He can tell you about it himself.
I’m not backtracking through this old thread to see if Schwartz said or implied that, but I can tell you this. As a recruiter I was often under attack by people that for whatever reason resented the military. It helps generate an *“Us against Them” *mentality. It made me (at the time) really hate most civilians. Personally I didn’t care if they joined or not. But i certainly did not deserve some of the abuse i recieved. I won’t go into detail, but I’ve had dogs sicced on me, been cursed out on the street while buying ice cream, and had a guy refuse to pump gas into my car when I was in uniform. I’m not saying the love or leave it thing is right, but when people treat servicemembers like that its kind of chickenshit IMHO. Complain to the civilian government that is making you upset. The military just follows orders. ***(and I’m not going into one of those long ass discussions about following orders…it’ll only boil down to ***Godwin’s law sooner or later.)
I don’t know Schwartz personally, but thats insulting. You can’t say whether or not how he would react. Yes, recruiters get caught between a rock and hard place, but thats unfair.
Its true. I’m sure Schwartz, like myself, did not volunteer for it. He can tell me if I’m wrong.
Yet people don’t take that into account. They want to yell at and insult the military for the situation. I’m not attacking you but trying to make a point here. You said
If the war is a problem, **Schwartz **didn’t start it. No one in the military started it. We do not decide when or where to declare war. But its easier I guess to protest a recruiting station than it is to complain to the people elected in office to do something about it. I’ve had this discussion before, and I don’t expect it will change anything.
the military reports to a civilian government, which in turn should be doing the will of the people. If something is important to the people they need to let their elected reps know, and let if filter through the chain of command. I may work for the people in a sense, but I do not take orders from them, I take orders from the officers appointed over me.
Cumbersome? Yeah, I guess. But as far as recruitiing goes peope that are DQ’d like this girl are still prospects. But recruiters have to prioritize. This girl may have a chance to join, but it could take time. so in the meantime Schwartz has to devote his time to people that can join now. He’s only a human being like everyone else. But he has a mission to put X number of people in the army in X amount of time. Maybe he can’t devote all of the attention this girl needs to join right away, or maybe he has to burn the midnight oil to get her in in X amount of time because his mission says he has to do it. Its unfair to say he doesn’t care however. Believe it or not, most people in the military care a lot. Its almost impossible to do this job and not care.
Schwartz, I hope your leave is enjoyable. I’ve been on leave myself for the last few days, catching up with a few old NATO buddies. Back to work on monday though…sigh. It’ll probably suck, but I would rather be doing the obligatory monday morning 6 mile run with our crazy ass first sergeant than be recruiting again. I feel ya, bud.
Reminds me of a couple of years ago when I was applying for the Coast Guard and got turned down because I had been given a ADD drug ten years before that is used to treat depression. Up till then I was so psyched about going; I wanted to take a different direction in my life, change career paths, all that jazz, and it was yanked out from under me. I guess I could have pressed the issue, but unfortunately I was so discouraged by the news I didn’t have the heart for it.
Hijack!
I find it amusing how my original recruiter, and SSG Schwartz don’t really know what linguists do. The job can be cushy at times, but we’re not always there with the office clerks and band members. 98Gs go out behind enemy lines in unsupported teams of three lighting up the airways with all sorts of electronic signals that if the enemy isn’t retarded, guarantees we’re on the run, or dead.
98Gs are combat support, but they often do it from the other side of the line.
/hijack it’s just, my recruiter and all the other recruiters I talked to had no idea what we actually do.
And hijack back at ya–we musicians serve in combat as well. Who do you think played concerts in military zones in Vietnam? Yep, Army bands. In the first Guld conflict we had eight bands there deployed with their infantry units. They weren’t sitting around a pool drinking cool refreshing beverages. A couple of my friends who played tuba had bullet dings because of how close they were to combat as they played their concerts.
As far as military life goes, it was a trade off. On the plus side, we got a food allowance because we were never on post when the chow hall was open, we could usually get permission to live off post because our crazy hours were so disruptive to those we’d share barracks with, and we were given dress blues since they were a required part of our uniforms (didn’t have to buy them).
But we usually played four concerts a day from April through October, and did that five to six days a week. That means we got on a bus, drove to the site, unloaded the bus, set up all our equipment, played the same boring line up (which really didn’t change), tear down our equipment, load up the bus, and drive to the next one. We weren’t exempt from PT or (dare I say it) weapons qualifications either so all that had to be squeezed in around those concerts. From October to April we did fewer concerts since the weather wasn’t so agreeable to outdoor concerts–we’d do two a day.
True story. I was stationed with the 8th Infantry Division in Bad Kreuznach Germany, and we got a new commander somewhere up our chain of command. He was old school infantry and thought we were just a bunch of lazy spoiled artsy fartsy types so he came along with us in June to see for himself how lazy we were and to whip us into shape, He originally planned to tour with us for a week. He lasted two days.
Now MY hijack is over 
But my hijack is just beginning. I was in the 8th ID also, 1989-1991. I was in BK every now and then but I was stationed at Mianz-Finthen Army Airfield.