High schoolers unfair targets of military recruiters

[question everything]

Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Editorial

High schoolers unfair targets of military recruiters

(snip)

The Army recruiting handbook, published in September, spells out the mission rather chillingly – to draw as many high school students as possible into the ranks, no holds barred.

(snip)

While few callings could be as noble as serving our country, military recruiters should be required to go through the same channels as all other career and college groups to reach a high school audience. That doesn’t happen now.

Military recruiters can pretty much roam campuses at will, with promises of free college and other benefits – all enticing to lower-income students in particular. What’s missing in the sales pitches, as a story in this newspaper showed recently, is the other side of military life – the very real dangers of combat.

Vice President Dick Cheney said it himself when he was defense secretary under President Bush’s father – the military’s mission is not to serve as a social welfare agency or a jobs program, but to wage war.

More..
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~23127~2862702,00.html#

[youspeakmylanguage]

1. While I chose not to enter the military for personal reasons...

...I do believe the recruiters have the right to do their jobs as long as they're honest and are heavily monitored. And if they remain honest when explaining the benefits and risks, then what does it matter whether or not the potential recruitee is poor?

My father grew up poorer than most and entered the Navy immediately after high school. He served three tours in Vietnam (two voluntarily to take the place of a potential draftee) and retired around the age of 40 with enough technical experience (and financial support) to enter college. When he married and entered the work force as a college graduate, we lived a comfortable upper middle-class lifestyle. Now he has two sources of retirement income and lives well. He took many risks, including risking his life in Vietnam, but he felt the potential rewards outweighed them.

I had a recruiter call me a few times. Once I made it clear that I had no interest in enlisting, he left me alone. They aren't stupid people - if clearly communicate that you aren't interested, they won't harass you.

[free_spirit82]

2. Wow

You must have had a really understanding, or really unmotivated, recruiter. I told them hundreds of times (recruiters from all four branches) that I had absolutely no interest in joining the military; not only did the NOT stop calling me, they came to my house. And then I moved to another side of town to help my grandmother, they somehow got my new phone number and address and started calling and visiting there. It wasn't until I graduated and moved out of state that I finally got a reprieve.

I still to this day do not know how they got my address and phone number after I moved in with my grandma. The school still had my address and phone number as my mother's house, and she didn't tell them the new information.

[Joey Liberal]

4. Wrong!

They aren't stupid people - if clearly communicate that you aren't interested, they won't harass you.
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Recruiters do not have the option of giving up on a potential enlistee unless that potential enlistee is unqualified. They are not stupid people. They are people under pressure to meet their quotas. If they fail, it could ruin their careers. And yes, I have been on recruiting duty. It sucked. They expect you to lie. All their commanders care about is results. Hence, the recent recruiting scandals. I've met some real good recruiters. There are good ones out there that will steer a recruit in the right direction. But in the case of the Army, they will bullshit anyone to get them to sign on the dotted line. Unless Bush pulls out of Iraq, a draft will be necessary. We don't have enough troops, plain and simple. And it appears that we are moving our forces closer and closer to Syria. A confrontation with Syria would break the back of the Army. Bush lost the support of this nation after he lost focus on Bin Laden and went into Iraq. It's another Vietnam, and this country simply will not support it.

[youspeakmylanguage]

7. So you pursued kids that expressed absolutely no interest...

...and specifically told you to stop calling and hounding them? Did the good recruiters do that?

[Joey Liberal]

13. Listen up

...and specifically told you to stop calling and hounding them? Did the good recruiters do that?
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No, the good recruiters did not do that. A good recruiter is someone that will not bullshit a kid and will steer them in the right career field.

[Joey Liberal]

3. You must be joking

And if they remain honest when explaining the benefits and risks, then what does it matter whether or not the potential recruitee is poor?
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Do you honestly think a rich kid is even going to listen to a recruiter? Our High Schools are for learning, not for filling the ranks of the armed services. If Bush had not invaded Iraq for oil, the military would not be having trouble recruiting. When the schools have career days, the recruiters should be allowed to take part. But they should not be roaming the halls. And I have yet to meet a recruiter that didn't lie.

[youspeakmylanguage]

6. Where do you think military officers come from?

Do you think they appear out of thin air? Not all of them rise from the lower ranks. The military has to recruit young men and women from all walks of life, including college graduates.

My original post was specific in that I think recruiters should be heavily monitored and should remain honest at all times. If a recruiter is caught lying, then they should be banned from campus.

I think the war in Iraq was based on lies and I feel compassion for each and every serviceman and woman stationed there. But attacking the military and it's recruiters isn't the answer. We need to continue to attack the politicians that use the military for their own illegal and immoral ends.

[Joey Liberal]

14. Officers?

Do you think they appear out of thin air? Not all of them rise from the lower ranks.
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The majority of officers come from middle and upper income families. The majority of enlisted personnel come from middle and lower income families. Most officers are white, while a growing majority of enlisteds are black or hispanic. If you look at the commanding officers in t he Army, you will find that most are white, and the majority have black First Sergeants or Sergeant Majors. This is not a bad thing, as most of the best officers and NCO's that I served with were black or hispanic.

[losdiablosgato]

5. You hunt were the deer are.

Recruiters job is to get young people into the military schools are where the young are. As long as they are honest and tell the truth so that the kids make an informed decision then I am fine with this.

My wife is a teacher and alot of her kids ar at risk. They have very few options but the military to get into college.

[elemnopee]

8. sad thing is...

very few poor students that sign up for the military with the expectation of a college education actually recieve it.

[elemnopee]

9. here's a link to check out

http://www.objector.org/before-you-enlist/reallyget.html

[losdiablosgato]

10. That is how I got my college education

I did my time in the army. It can give you a lot (my service is one of the reasons I have my job now), but it will take from you too. You need to make an informed decision.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[elemnopee]

11. this is also not true

"My wife is a teacher and alot of her kids ar at risk. They have very few options but the military to get into college."

SOme of the other options include Pell Grants, Stafford Loans, PLUS Loans, Cal Grants, etc.

College is expensive, but not unreachable, why do so many people have it engrained in their mind, that enlisting will enable socio-economic mobility, more so than other programs that do not put one's life at risk?