Thread: Six months of recruiting

That was definitely a good read, even for a soldier in a sweet tent in Iraq, lol. I wouldn't really consider myself to have been one of those 'last chance' people you spoke of, although I myself have a GED. I wanted for years to join the military, and did after I got my GED. It's definitely worth joining in my eyes, you get to experience thing that most people never will in a lifetime. I didn't join for college, but once my time's up, I'm going to take advantage of the GI bill. Once I'm out of the sand, I want to start doing the free college offered on post to get a start before I get out. If you care for the opinion, you seem like more than the person to do recruiting, based on this and other posts that you've made here. I really wanted to do the Corporal Recruiting myself, but that was shot down once I read that you have to have a high school diploma, or a GED with x amount of college credit hours, that I don't have and would take a while to get. I hope all goes well with your time as a recruiter, I'm sure you deserve to get away from a post for a little and interact with civilians for a while.

I myself have a GED, on the one hand it frustrates me to have to turn away people who have them right now; on the other hand I think I am developing a superiority complex when I deal with high school and even college graduates who are unable or barely able to get a qualifying score on the ASVAB. It took me years to get in due to the GED, though, so I remind those I have to turn away to be persistent.

TPLefever, Are you sure you need a high school diploma or 15 credits? Check out the USAREC site, I didn't see anything on there. For the most part, if you apply you will become a Recruiter. I'm sure the Corporal program is a little more competitive, but it shouldn't be impossible. For me, all the paperwork seemed a formality. I put Recruiter in my Assignment Satisfaction Key a couple years ago, decided to go change it to Drill Sergeant and then ended up getting orders a few months later to report to Recruiter School. Many others at the school hadn't completed their "required" paperwork. This was handled for them, or they were given a chance to take care of it when they graduated. Very few were held back in the school, and only those that made it clear they did not want to be a Recruiter were sent home. In other words, if you want to go on the program, talk to your Career Counselor and ask him to help. Also, depending on how much time you have left, you might want to check if your unit offers an education incentive for reenlisting to stay with them. If it does, you can re-up for three years (adding only a year to your contract) with your commander's permission to attend college full time for a semester. I shammed out last year from May-August, taking two online courses and a much needed break. After the first reenlistment, you can get the option with two year re-ups. I've seen at least one person take advantage of the system and get three semesters of college for adding a years and a few days total to his original period of service. When he was at school, I'd see him one every couple of weeks.

Enlistment levels have been decent, I suppose. I myself am not seeing it, but overall most branches of the military are at or over strength. Everything depends on the area; where I am at qualified people are hard to come by, in the Midwest and other areas it is supposedly much easier. A lot of people who might not join otherwise have been considering the military. Unfortunately, a few of those I've dealt with have seemed unable to commit. More than a few people will lose their job, start talking with me, then get another low-paying civilian job and stop communicating altogether. I guess in their eyes, $10/hour without benefits is better than a non-combat job in the Army making $350 a week with most living expenses covered and full benefits. Which brings me to something I forgot to mention last night:

The Guard: I've noticed the National Guard Recruiters are very good at what they do. Almost to the point of misleading some. I had one kid good to go with a qualifying score of 36. He didn't tell me he had been sweet-talked by the National Guard into retaking the ASVAB to score the 50 they require. He got down to MEPS, they saw he had retested and scored 28, and he was sent home unable to enlist in any branch. Similarly, I got out to the high schools late in the school year. The Guard almost had a monopoly on one of them, and talking to some of the kids, they seemed thrilled they were in the "Army" and asked if I knew their Recruiter. When I replied that I am active duty, at least two of them mentioned that they were going to go active, one said he was going active as soon as he completed training and was only using the Guard to get training. Big mistake. Guard and Reserves both require a release from the unit. I've seen a couple Reservists get released but have yet to see a Guardsman. I guess many people sign up for the Guard or Reserves and find that being a part-time Soldier is not their cup of tea. You can really see it in the eyes of those who just got out of training. Spend a few months in a controlled military environment, then go to weekend "training" and see what they got themselves into. Then too there is the small issue of a job. Most of those seeking release for active duty are without jobs or working for minimum wage. Part-time military compensation doesn't cover much.

Time for "work" (this week consists of 5-6 hours of training per day).