Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Is this reasonable if US military uses blatantly deceptive methods to recruit youths?

florida0214 · 03-02-2008, 07:42 PM

While I have to admit that I dod not bother to read all six pages of replies, I am a kind of expert i this particular area. I have little doubt that this conversation is going somewhat like this: They do this.... no they dont...recruiters are satan spawn... no their not.

So Maybe I can add my 2 cents. I was a military recruiter. I loved the job. I felt that I worked to make the US military a better place. I never lied to anybody. If the youth of America think that they are joining the military to run through flowery meadows kissing deer, then they have no place in the military anyway.
Also I feel you are insulting these young people if you believe for a second they are incapable of gathering their own information. Recruiters are becoming less and less salesman and more and more informants. There are too many resources available to young people for them to be completely suckered in by anything a recruiter may or may not tell them. Everything can be verified through on reputable source or another. People naive enough to sign on the dotted line without reading or properly informing themselves, again should not be in the military. The military does not need mindless drones. We need people who can think and problem solve under incredible amounts of stress. The kind of stress that few people will ever experience.
Not a single person I put in uniform has been killed. Some, however, have gotten their citizenship, gotten a college education, seen the world, and made a lot of life-long friendships.

To be fair there are bad recruiters out there. They are not limited to any branch and they give the majority a bad name. Its the 80-20 effect. Lets say for a moment that recruiters are banned from all schools (illegal to disallow access to public or government funded schools) or from recruiting at all. What would become of our all-volunteer force? The military would consist of whatever kind of person manages to venture into an entrance site. 9 out of 10 walk-ins are disqualified. If numbers could not be reached, then what? A draft? mandatory service? Would you welcome recruiters then? at least at that point your children would have a choice. I guess I feel that you can't always have your cake and eat it too. There are certain things that have to be accepted no matter what country you live in if you choose to live there. People always have the option to live somewhere else.
As far the schools allowing recruiters in. If the school receives government money then the school has to allow even access. What this means is that if the school allows any post-secondary schools access to the school they have to allow recruiters the same amount of access.
I try to be fair and i understand everybody here has the right to their opinion and the right to protest, but when you complain about something provide a reasonable alternative. I mean to completely do away with something does not always work. Please inform us as to how things can work better maybe somebody here has the power to actually put those ideas into practice. I am curious to see how people would deal with some situations.

I don't expect anybody to actually fully read this but in case you do thanks for listening and being at least that open-minded.

03-02-2008, 07:42 PM	#229 (permalink)
florida0214 Crazy Location: South Florida	While I have to admit that I dod not bother to read all six pages of replies, I am a kind of expert i this particular area. I have little doubt that this conversation is going somewhat like this: They do this.... no they dont...recruiters are satan spawn... no their not. So Maybe I can add my 2 cents. I was a military recruiter. I loved the job. I felt that I worked to make the US military a better place. I never lied to anybody. If the youth of America think that they are joining the military to run through flowery meadows kissing deer, then they have no place in the military anyway. Also I feel you are insulting these young people if you believe for a second they are incapable of gathering their own information. Recruiters are becoming less and less salesman and more and more informants. There are too many resources available to young people for them to be completely suckered in by anything a recruiter may or may not tell them. Everything can be verified through on reputable source or another. People naive enough to sign on the dotted line without reading or properly informing themselves, again should not be in the military. The military does not need mindless drones. We need people who can think and problem solve under incredible amounts of stress. The kind of stress that few people will ever experience. Not a single person I put in uniform has been killed. Some, however, have gotten their citizenship, gotten a college education, seen the world, and made a lot of life-long friendships. To be fair there are bad recruiters out there. They are not limited to any branch and they give the majority a bad name. Its the 80-20 effect. Lets say for a moment that recruiters are banned from all schools (illegal to disallow access to public or government funded schools) or from recruiting at all. What would become of our all-volunteer force? The military would consist of whatever kind of person manages to venture into an entrance site. 9 out of 10 walk-ins are disqualified. If numbers could not be reached, then what? A draft? mandatory service? Would you welcome recruiters then? at least at that point your children would have a choice. I guess I feel that you can't always have your cake and eat it too. There are certain things that have to be accepted no matter what country you live in if you choose to live there. People always have the option to live somewhere else. As far the schools allowing recruiters in. If the school receives government money then the school has to allow even access. What this means is that if the school allows any post-secondary schools access to the school they have to allow recruiters the same amount of access. I try to be fair and i understand everybody here has the right to their opinion and the right to protest, but when you complain about something provide a reasonable alternative. I mean to completely do away with something does not always work. Please inform us as to how things can work better maybe somebody here has the power to actually put those ideas into practice. I am curious to see how people would deal with some situations. I don't expect anybody to actually fully read this but in case you do thanks for listening and being at least that open-minded. __________________ "Two men: one thinks he can. One thinks he cannot. They are Both Right."