Strange military recruiter stories...

[tcsenter]

Years ago, I was interested in joining. I was 21, had just completed a Surgical Technology program (2 year AS degree) a month prior but hadn't found a job. A few months prior, my sister-in-law had sent me a newspaper article about how the Air Force was actively seeking persons interested in medical occupations, especially those who already had a diploma or degree (e.g. registered nurse, EMT, surgical tech, etc). Evidently, there was a big demand and they were offering to pay signing bonus or pay you a stipend to attend college (on top of your full tuition) in order to further your current degree, etc, in exchange for an obligation to the Air Force.

So I went into the Air Force recruitment office in Flint, MI. Told the recruiter what I had just wrote above, and wanted to learn about the options that were open to me. I repeat, this was a recruiter, who is getting paid to say "Well sure! You can achieve the rank of Captain, travel the world, be performing surgeries, tapping hot nurse and foreign hooker ass in as little as six months. Sign right here!" (exaggerating a little)

But the recruiter looks dead-pan at me and says, "Why on earth would you want to do something like that?"

Completely stymied, I responded "Umm...I don't know what you mean?"

He expounded (paraphrasing but very close), "You already have a marketable degree or skill that will result in a good job or career path in the civilian world. Why on earth would you want to join the military?"

The sub-text in his tone and delivery was unmistakable: "Look...I'm trying to do you a favor here. You already have options. The military is for those who don't. Get up, walk out the door, and don't look back. You'll thank me later."

So I was like, oookay...thanks for your candor, then left. This was May/June 1993. I actually sat out in my car for about 20 seconds going "WTF...did that just happen?"

 

[rudeguy]

Years ago, I was interested in joining. I was 21, had just completed a Surgical Technology program (2 year AS degree) a month prior but hadn't found a job. A few months prior, my sister-in-law had sent me a newspaper article about how the Air Force was actively seeking persons interested in medical occupations, especially those who already had a diploma or degree (e.g. registered nurse, EMT, surgical tech, etc). Evidently, there was a big demand and they were offering to pay signing bonus or pay you a stipend to attend college (on top of your full tuition) in order to further your current degree, etc, in exchange for an obligation to the Air Force.

So I went into the Air Force recruitment office in Flint, MI. Told the recruiter what I had just wrote above, and wanted to learn about the options that were open to me. I repeat, this was a recruiter, who is getting paid to say "Well sure! You can achieve the rank of Captain, travel the world, be performing surgeries, tapping hot nurse and foreign hooker ass in as little as six months. Sign right here!" (exaggerating a little)

But the recruiter looks dead-pan at me and says, "Why on earth would you want to do something like that?"

Completely stymied, I responded "Umm...I don't know what you mean?"

He expounded (paraphrasing but very close), "You already have a marketable degree or skill that will result in a good job or career path in the civilian world. Why on earth would you want to join the military?"

The sub-text in his tone and delivery was unmistakable: "Look...I'm trying to do you a favor here. You already have options. The military is for those who don't. Get up, walk out the door, and don't look back. You'll thank me later."

So I was like, oookay...thanks for your candor, then left. This was May/June 1993. I actually sat out in my car for about 20 seconds going "WTF...did that just happen?"

He was trying to make sure you wanted to serve your country and not have your country serve you.

 

[tcsenter]

He was trying to make sure you wanted to serve your country and not have your country serve you.

I wondered about that, for about 30 seconds. His approach to this end was completely opposite of every other recruiter I've ever heard of. Their job is to put a positive spin on your options, to tell you what the military can offer YOU. This was a write-up article that practically ended with "if you're interested in learning what the Air Force has to offer, contact your nearest recruiting office." It was obviously put-out in conjunction with the Air Force media relations department in response to a demand.

I went in to hear what was open to me, because I figured if it was open to me, then it was up to me to go get it. I seriously got the vibe that the dude was telling me, in effect, to leave and never think about the Air Force again. Pretty unconventional recruitment approach.

 

[slayer202]

and to think, if you had signed up that day you would probably have been killing bin laden a few days ago

 

[tcsenter]

and to think, if you had signed up that day you would probably have been killing bin laden a few days ago

Umm...I don't think any nurse anesthetists, physician assistants, medics or pararescuemen were involved in that.

 

[BoomerD]

When I enlisted, I told the recruiting sergeant that I wouldn't sign unless he could guarantee me that I could go to Vietnam as a rifleman in a USMC rifle company.

He looked at me across the desk, laughed and told me, "Kid, that's the easiest guarantee anyone's ever asked me for. Sign here."

 

[Farmer]

Get your reason right for joining up as an enlisted man. Unless you have absolutely no better options, career-advancement should not be your first priority.

 

[ShawnD1]

Umm...I don't think any nurse anesthetists, physician assistants, medics or pararescuemen were involved in that.

Just wait for the libs for fuck up the military. They'll demand you sedate Bin Laden and kill him as humanely as possible.


I'm not even joking. In my city, people actually complained about trees not being cut down in a humane way. It's a fucking tree.

 

[Born2bwire]

When I enlisted, I told the recruiting sergeant that I wouldn't sign unless he could guarantee me that I could go to Vietnam as a rifleman in a USMC rifle company.

He looked at me across the desk, laughed and told me, "Kid, that's the easiest guarantee anyone's ever asked me for. Sign here."

I wanted to be the first on my block with a confirmed kill.

 

[ShawnD1]

I wanted to be the first on my block with a confirmed kill.

How do you confirm those anyway? 20 guys are all shooting at the same time and you somehow know it's your bullet that killed a guy?

 

[tcsenter]

Get your reason right for joining up as an enlisted man. Unless you have absolutely no better options, career-advancement should not be your first priority.

It seems weird now that I think about it.

All the gang bangers and rednecks with 8th grade reading and math skills who obtained a HS diploma via social promotion, the first-time offenders who were offered a choice of military or jail, the jobless and in-debt types during an economic downturn, the women who magically become pregnant a month before their first deployment, the poor who can't afford college, and all the other legions of thumb-suckers the military manages to get saddled with every year, these we are glad or quick to sign without asking too many questions of their motives or reasons.

But walk in as someone who has options, and yet in spite of having other options, still expresses an interest in serving, these are the ones we really want to question about (or want them to seriously think about) their "true" motives for being there?

Nice!

 

[chusteczka]

In Navy boot camp, there was a moment when the drill instructors asked everyone to raise their hand if they joined the Navy to serve their country. He then called everyone liars that had their hands up, including me. He told us that we all had our own personal reasons and goals for being there that did not include serving the country.

It appears tcsenter was looking for information concerning opportunities that may fit his needs. Who cares about the reasons he walked through the door. It was the recruiter's job to inform him about opportunities available in the Air Force that fit his needs.

In the recruiters defense, they have such a large quantity of less qualified people going through their doors that it is a valid question why someone better qualified would want to mix their life and career with the less qualified.

 

[AreaCode707]

A friend of mine was being aggressively recruited by the military against his will. Bear in mind, this is the hippie guy with the long hair who spent his evenings standing in front of the courthouse with anti-war signs so they picked the wrong name off their recruiting list.

He lived about three blocks from the recruiting center in our small town. After about the sixth phone call he asked them to hold, ran the three blocks, and walked in on the recruiter holding the phone and said, "I. AM. NOT. INTERESTED. STOP CALLING! THANKS."

 

[Saint Nick]

At my old HS, we had a really funny Marine recruiter who was pretty cool. He was intense, but cool. He was the kind of guy who would have push up contests with the kids during lunch and yell at them when they weren't doing enough. It was totally awesome.

However, that same recruiter called me once, and I said that I had broken a lot of the bones in my body and that I am accident prone. He said the Marines weren't for me.

lol.

PS: I only said that to get them to stop bugging me.

 

[ISAslot]

A friend of mine was being aggressively recruited by the military against his will. Bear in mind, this is the hippie guy with the long hair who spent his evenings standing in front of the courthouse with anti-war signs so they picked the wrong name off their recruiting list.

He lived about three blocks from the recruiting center in our small town. After about the sixth phone call he asked them to hold, ran the three blocks, and walked in on the recruiter holding the phone and said, "I. AM. NOT. INTERESTED. STOP CALLING! THANKS."

LULZ

 

[Born2bwire]

At my old HS, we had a really funny Marine recruiter who was pretty cool. He was intense, but cool. He was the kind of guy who would have push up contests with the kids during lunch and yell at them when they weren't doing enough. It was totally awesome.

However, that same recruiter called me once, and I said that I had broken a lot of the bones in my body and that I am accident prone. He said the Marines weren't for me.

lol.

PS: I only said that to get them to stop bugging me.

Heh, my brother told recruiters that he joined the Coast Guard.

 

[tcsenter]

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't go in (for whatever reason) as it would probably have been a disaster. I was later diagnosed with a disqualifying medical condition that went undetected and undiagnosed for years.

I just posted about it because I was reminiscing last night and remembered this incident after not thinking about it at all for probably 13+ years. And it still stuck me after all these years as...WTF?

 

[ichy]

In Navy boot camp, there was a moment when the drill instructors asked everyone to raise their hand if they joined the Navy to serve their country. He then called everyone liars that had their hands up, including me. He told us that we all had our own personal reasons and goals for being there that did not include serving the country.

Yeah, this notion that the military (especially the Air Force, USMC is probably a little different) is full of people who signed up in order to selflessly serve their country is kind of silly.

 

[sdifox]

They don't want loses like these

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083131/

 

[NuclearNed]

The Marine Corps recruiter assigned to my high school was a Sergeant whose last name was Rock. Yes, Sgt. Rock, just like the comic book character.

 

[BoomerD]

Yeah, this notion that the military (especially the Air Force, USMC is probably a little different) is full of people who signed up in order to selflessly serve their country is kind of silly.

What was the US Navy's slogan?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc9g2tagYms&feature=related

It's not just a job, it's an adventure!

of course, they never show you this stuff...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL-OtsN9VdM

 

[Lotheron]

So OP, do you think your life turned out better that you didn't join up? I mean are you satisfied or do you always wonder what if?

 

[Cyco]

Unlike the other services for the most part, especially these days, it's been a buyer's market for the Air Force. Unless you're going to fit their needs and their mold, they don't want or need you.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

It seems weird now that I think about it.

All the gang bangers and rednecks with 8th grade reading and math skills who obtained a HS diploma via social promotion, the first-time offenders who were offered a choice of military or jail, the jobless and in-debt types during an economic downturn, the women who magically become pregnant a month before their first deployment, the poor who can't afford college, and all the other legions of thumb-suckers the military manages to get saddled with every year, these we are glad or quick to sign without asking too many questions of their motives or reasons.

But walk in as someone who has options, and yet in spite of having other options, still expresses an interest in serving, these are the ones we really want to question about (or want them to seriously think about) their "true" motives for being there?

Nice!

At least the recuirter was being honest. Joining the military or doing any kind of government work, really is the work of those that can't do anything else. They are the weak minded and easily manipulated.

This much will be proven when the Rah Rah Rah pro military people blast me for what I said.

 

[Train]

At least the recuirter was being honest. Joining the military or doing any kind of government work, really is the work of those that can't do anything else. They are the weak minded and easily manipulated.

This much will be proven when the Rah Rah Rah pro military people blast me for what I said.

By "Can't do anything else..." you mean like, play pro football? Run a lucrative law firm? Be a highly paid trauma nurse/doctor? Be an optics tech with more skill than the guys who work on Hubble's optics?