Three songs for an arm or leg
The Army’s Musical Pitch: Download, Join Up
I don’t know whether to be sad, or glad. On the one hand, as this article details, the Army National Guard is giving away three downloads from the iTunes music store to anyone who agrees to be contacted by a recruiter. That’s great for Apple Computer.
On the other hand, the Army National Guard is reduced to bribing kids with exactly $2.99 worth of music, just to talk to them. And if they join up, the Guard can’t even promise kids the usual “one weekend a month, two weeks a year” of service.
I don’t necessarily blame the Guard for its use of this tactic. My brother-in-law is a former Marine recruiter, so I know that during peace time, recruiting is a tough and thankless occupation. My brother-in-law was on call 24/7 to do the bidding of his CO, whether it be driving a potential recruit’s mother to the grocery store, or hauling the candidate himself down to the recruitment center to take the ASVAB test for the fourth time. He would get calls at eleven o’clock at night, having just got home from work, and have to go out again to run some errand or other. A recruiter does whatever it takes, caters to every whim, to get a kid to sign on the dotted line.
Why? Because a recruiter is under continuous pressure to meet his monthly quota, certainly more pressure than most people in the private sector experience. Lying and cheating was rampant in my brother-in-law’s office. It was common for recruiters to “help” recruits pass their drug test, for example. They would also allow someone else to take the recruit’s ASVAB test for him or her. It can be a dirty business.
My brother-in-law left the Marines in 2002, before Iraq, largely because of the corruption within the recruiting office where he worked. I can only imagine what recruiting is like today. Parents need to be involved in every step of the recruitment process, if their son or daughter is thinking about signing up. Even though they aren’t supposed to, recruiters often make promises they know they cannot guarantee.
If you think haggling with a used car salesman is running a risk, think about the risk your son or daughter runs dealing with a recruiter? People tend to be far too trusting of these sharp-looking young men and women in uniform, not realizing that a recruiter is under the same kind of pressure—maybe even more pressure—as a used car salesman. Recruiters even take classes in salesmanship as part of their training, so the difference between them and a car salesman is really not so great at all.
The old admonition, “Trust, but verify,” is good to keep in mind when your son or daughter decides they might like a career in the military.
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I had an ex who was in the service. He told me at the time they were less-than-forthcoming about how the Navy would be–and this was way before Iraq. I don’t remember the specifics, but there was something about them glossing over the whole training bit, and completely lying about his duties in the service, I believe. (This is a bit of a big deal, because that’s everything you’re doing) He was very bitter when he made it in and saw what he’d gotten into.
But he’d always wanted to be in the service, and believed the discipline was good for him. I wonder, though, how it must be for others who went largely on the word of their recruiter?
Comment by Heather — Saturday, 15 October 2005 @ 12:53 pm
The daughter of a friend of ours joined the Navy in 2000. The recruiter gave her the whole spiel about world travel, exotic locations, money for college. The most she saw of any foreign country was Sicily, which she saw while hanging off the side of a ship, chipping paint. I think even if you go in knowing that the hype is not going to live up to the reality, you are much better off than believing the recruiter. You have to know what you’re getting in to, and that is something most kids don’t have the maturity to realize.
Comment by Matthew — Saturday, 15 October 2005 @ 9:35 pm
We had a short story about a recruiter out here, and other recruiters in the area, using more extreme means to recruit. Including having sex with potential recruits.
Marine recruiter demoted on sex conviction
Comment by Mel B. — Sunday, 16 October 2005 @ 3:27 pm
My brother-in-law told me some sexy stories about the things that went on with the female recruits (presumably this recruiter in the SFGate story was having sex with females). I left those out, because I didn’t want to seem as if I was beating up on soldiers with a lot of tall tales. People don’t believe that “our troops” can do any wrong, and I’m sure if this blog post were widely read I’d be getting hate mail and all kinds of accusatory nonsense from people who have blinders on. Soldiers are just ordinary people; many of them are kids; and few of them are morally better than anyone else.
My wife told me yesterday that an actuaintance who is in Iraq is divorcing his wife from Iraq because he is having an affair with a female fellow soldier he met while serving his country. This couple were married more than twenty years, were childhood sweethearts in fact. He had affairs previously, so he was no saint before going to Iraq; but my point is just that soldiers are just people. Just ordinary, sinful humans.
Comment by Matthew — Sunday, 16 October 2005 @ 5:18 pm