My cousin is a 3-time felon who has been in and out of the system for most of his life and who also has a bit of an addiction problem. He moved to Wisconsin to get away from the area a few years ago after his parole ran out. When in WI, he foudn that the job market BLEW. He and his wife struggled for months without him finding a job(though she had one the whole time).
So they decided to enlist together( :rolleyes: ). THis was probably 6 months before the invasion, maybe a year, but it was plainly obvious that we were going to invade Iraq-at least to myself and the rest of my family. Anywho, he told them of his checkered past and they said they were willing to look past it. THey did a local background check, instead of one in California, that (duh), came out clean, knowing full well that at some time on the future he’d be found out.
THey promised that the two of them would be stationed together, even though he’d be regular Army and she was being looked at for intelligence.
Anyhow, they neded up not enlisting, but they were a gnat’s ass away from going to camp, and all because a recruiter would have “bent the rules” to get them in. I’m confident that he’d eventually have been booted because of his past indiscretions, and his wife would have been stuck in the service.
My brother’s Air Force recruiter was okay, but right after he’d graduated from high school a Marine recuiter stalked him for months, even though he’d gone off to college. (That didn’t work out, which is why he’s in the AF now.) The guy called and called and called…apparently my brother hadn’t been quick enough to hang up on him the first time he called or something (I guess the recruiter got a list of graduates from the school) and the guy just wouldn’t quit no matter what. I bet if somebody had told him, “He’s dead,” we’d have been informed that the Marines are a great place for a dead guy.
My brother would have made a terrible Marine – for the one day that he might’ve lasted as one. He makes a pretty good techie geeky airman, though.
His AF recruiter had worked just down a hall from the Marine and while he didn’t come out and say it, it was pretty clear that he didn’t like the guy any more than we did.
I have a freind who is any Army recruiter, a very above-board honest guy and i have never talked with him about how he goes about recruiting or how others do it. But he does talk about how much pressure they are as individual recruiters to meet a quota per month. Think Glengarry Glen Ross in fatigues.
My recruiter was my next door neighbor. So he didn’t dare lie to me knowing that he would have my mother to deal with. There are bunches of things he didn’t tell me but he never lied.
The advice I give to every teenager that is being solicited by recruiters is to talk to somebody that’s already been in the service a while. Past boot camp and A school.
The school you want after basic training HAS TO BE IN WRITING. Yes it’s possible to get into a field (MOS, rating- whatever each branch calls it) after you’re in and assigned some crappy job. So is getting struck by lightning. OK maybe better odds, but in can happen so it’s not exactly a lie. A huge stretch but plausable.
I think those four years were the best thing I did for myself. Gave an ambitionless kid with no direction a lot of growing up to do.
The shortest call I ever got from a recruiter was when I was home on leave 6 or 8 months after joining. Phone rang, I answered and it was for me. The Sgt identified himself and started into his spheil. I burst out laughing and told the guy, I’m home in leave and don’t think the Navy would let me go so I could join the Marines. He said OK and would cross my name off the list.
My brother actually tested into his job (computer programming) and was guaranteed that placement, but that not the usual way it works. A recruiter who doesn’t tell them they will probably end up with one of their picks, but might not and will have no choice in the matter if so, is scum.
Get. It. In. Writing. The four word to live by when you’re dealing with a recruiter.
If you want a particular job, make sure you get it in writing before you raise your hand, and make sure you don’t give in to pressure. You can always walk away. It’s like buying a car, only it’s your life.
If you can’t get it in writing, walk away. If you go into the service open, you either don’t care what you get or you’re an idiot. Either way you have nobody to blame but yourself. The job of a recruiter is to get people to sign up. Period, end of story. If you don’t take the appropriate measures to ensure your future it’s your problem.
But remember, even then all that means is that your training in that career choice is guaranteed. Recruiters are not above telling potentials “You want to be a flight simulator specialist? Of course two years of general math are enough-you are more than qualified!” When you wash out after the second week of school(like the bastard damn well knew you would), the USAF can stick your ass anywhere it wants to. Goodbye, Computer Specialist. Hello, motor pool.
:rolleyes:
If only that were true. When they give you a job they do everything they can, everything, to ensure your success. Washouts cost a fortune, even if they wash out early. They get paid for the wasted time, they get paid for the transportation costs, and they get paid for sitting on their thumbs waiting for their new class to start.
If a recruiter sent people to school only to fail at anything resembling an observable rate they would cease to be recruiters. The military pays them to get people, yes, but not to misidentify bad candidates. If all you’re suited for is the motor pool, even the most unscrupulous recruiter will tell you, because it’s his ass if he doesn’t and you wash out. From day one until you’re trained up and deployed it all tracks back to the one recruiter.
Had 23 people in my Analog Flight Simulator Specialist school at Chanute. Some of these people couldn’t even do simple algebra and didn’t know the difference between a curcuit board and a Monopoly board. Before the first week was over, 8 of them had washed out and got to go to a new school which(what a coincidence :rolleyes: ) just happened to be in the same building. Their new job? Inspecting jet engines for popped rivets. Now I’m not saying this is common practice, but I know for a fact that my recruiter kept his job for quite a while after that, so I guess he must have done something “right”.
An army recruiter once told me I had one of the highest ASVAB test he had ever seen. I’ve never taken the ASVAB test or any test the military gives. Maybe if your smart enough not to take it you get a perfect score.
In that case, I humbly suggest that they disallow recruiters to wear uniforms. If they are not meant to be taken as authorities on what they are trying to push, then don’t give them the authority that wearing a uniform inevitably confers on them.
Military personnel, when they are representing the Military to the public, are either trustworthy and honourable people meant to be taken seriously, or they are lying weaseltongued assclowns. They can’t be both at the same time.
It is beyond disingenuous to send the mixed message to civilians that they can trust the military, but watch out for them recruitin’ yahoos. I don’t think it’s unreasonable at all that a God-fearing, flag-waving 'Merrican should think they can trust a fellow American in uniform. I don’t think it makes them an “idiot”. Especially not considering the airport-ful of baggage that the U.S. attaches to their military.
I’m going to speak against something that was asserted in the OP. Most 11Bs aren’t sitting in Iraq feeling afraid and wanting to go home. Most 11Bs that I knew (myself included) did not mind the concept of being in a hostile area. It’s like saying a fire fighter can’t stand fighting fires. No, a fire fighter would prefer that fires never had to be fought but I wouldn’t say a fire fighter was emotionally predisposed against wanting to be involved in such a venture.
Now it’s madness to say you don’t feel fear in combat, I think everyone does to a degree (obviously you are trained to put it aside as best you can.) But I think some of you would be surprised at how enthusiastic many professional soldiers are at getting stationed in a more hostile area. It’s the arena where you can test what you’ve been preparing for your entire life.
Well said! And I think anyone who shares your view should be applauded, and should be given the opportunity to serve in the way they find most satisfying.
However…it is worth asking, when you are in a combat situation, how would you like to be standing next to someone who was suckered into the situation by an overly aggressive recruiter? Someone who’s talents lie elsewhere and would really really really rather be doing something else to contribute to the success of the military mission?
Even this is no guarantee; everything is subject to the requirements of the service, and your written contract doesn’t even make decent toilet paper when the Green Machine says, “Go.”
Hah. I got bunches of calls from recruiters throughout senior year (thanks, NCLB, for forcing my school to release my personal info!). I wasn’t usually home when they’d call (Saturday AM, for some reason; I was usually at a TKD class).
Ah, but when I did get the call (or cut PE to go and debate with them in the cafeteria) 'twas great fun. I’d let them go through their spiel, then tell them I was a lesbian. Or engage them in a debate about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’, or something like that. I’d usually get them to hang up on me. Good times.