Military Recruiting [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

CofyCrakCocaine

11-06-2006, 10:23 AM

I found today's conversation about military recruitment fascinating, mainly because I went through a similar experience in 1999 in which I wanted to join the Marines. I was a lazy kid and I wanted to learn discipline. I was torn between joining the Marines or college; I figured without discipline college was a waste of money. The RS managed to completely change my mind. I went in and told him why I wanted to join the Marines, and he proceeded to bash all college. 'What's the point of college? So you can say "Socrates said some shit"? Fuck those faggots dude. Men don't need that shit.' He then went on to sell me on all sorts of bullshit topics that had nothing to do with why I wanted to join. They ranged from the ability to fight well in bars, go and show the 'fucks' in my high school that I'm better than them, get in the bed with australian lesbians, and 'see the whole world'. I wound up walking away scared to death that if I joined I would wind up like him. If he wasn't trying so hard to sell me on all these other so-called benefits to joining the Marines, I would have totally signed my name on the dotted line and joined. It's funny how effectively he alienated me from wanting to join.I wonder if anyone else had similar/dissimilar experiences.

A.J.

11-06-2006, 10:32 AM

If I recall, the Army recruiter who called me questioned my manhood and patriotism when I told him I wasn't interested in joining because I was about to leave for college.Actually, I now wish the Navy had called me and pitched a career in the Intel Reserve.  That might have piqued my interest rather than the "what's wrong with you for not joining" track the Army chose to take.

Jujubees2

11-06-2006, 10:33 AM

What's really scary is the way they're dropping the minimum requirements to join the services now since recruiting is down.  They're now taking people who they never would have thought about a few years ago, including gang members.<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL</a>

A.J.

11-06-2006, 10:41 AM

Jujubees2 wrote: What's really scary is the way they're dropping the minimum requirements to join the services now since recruiting is down.  They're now taking people who they never would have thought about a few years ago, including gang members.<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL</a>Nice to see we're drafting cannon fodder like <img height="475" src="http://www.wwiilectureinstitute.com/films/dozen.jpg" width="271" border="0" />

Fezticle98

11-06-2006, 11:25 AM

CofyCrakCocaine wrote: I found today's conversation about military recruitment fascinating, mainly because I went through a similar experience in 1999 in which I wanted to join the Marines. I was a lazy kid and I wanted to learn discipline. I was torn between joining the Marines or college; I figured without discipline college was a waste of money. The RS managed to completely change my mind. I went in and told him why I wanted to join the Marines, and he proceeded to bash all college. 'What's the point of college? So you can say "Socrates said some shit"? Fuck those faggots dude. Men don't need that shit.' He then went on to sell me on all sorts of bullshit topics that had nothing to do with why I wanted to join. They ranged from the ability to fight well in bars, go and show the 'fucks' in my high school that I'm better than them, get in the bed with australian lesbians, and 'see the whole world'. I wound up walking away scared to death that if I joined I would wind up like him. If he wasn't trying so hard to sell me on all these other so-called benefits to joining the Marines, I would have totally signed my name on the dotted line and joined. It's funny how effectively he alienated me from wanting to join.I wonder if anyone else had similar/dissimilar experiences. If that line was believable, I would be tempted to sign up. Recruiter is one of the worst jobs in the military. They are under such pressure to make their numbers, many will say or do anything. The suicide rate is really high amongst recruiters.Recruiters were calling me when I was in high school but I kept telling them I was going to college and my friend was really interested in becoming a pilot or something. But when they called him, he would tell them to call me. It went on for a while.I've heard stories of recruiters calling people who are already in the military.These recruiters tried to sell me under the guise of getting into bed with samoan lesbians:http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/8518/mormon072105ll9.jpg

ChimneyFish

11-06-2006, 11:55 AM

The year after graduation, the Army recruiter that had been bothering me for months on end set up an appointment to come by my house.My friend and I were doing the usaual. Right before the guy shows up, we smoked a huge joint. The guys trying to sell both of us on all this crap. How you can "do whatever job you want to do", which, even at 18, I knew was bull. He's showing us all these pictures of this Camaro he's been working on. All the while the place had to reek of weed.I actually took this written test blazed out of my skull. Needless to say, he was very disappointed when we told him we didn't want to join. He said " I don't understand why you called me out here, if you knew you didn't want to join." I didn't "call him out there", he harassed me for over a month and wouldn't take "I'm not interested" as an answer.

ChrisTheCop

11-06-2006, 11:56 AM

"yeah, Ive gotta go. My fugitive daugher's here. But listen....we're running a little short on Australian Lesbians for my men, see what you can do."<img height="481" src="http://timdorr.com/images/Lost/thatsjustsayid.jpg" width="450" border="0" /> __________________________________________________ ______ After I took an exam, my recruiter told me with scores like that, I'd be qualified for 97% of the jobs in the U.S. Navy. At the time, I was pretty flattered...now I realize it was just a sales pitch. Sigh. 

This message was edited by TheMojoPin on 11-8-06 @ 9:12 AM

reeshy

11-06-2006, 12:11 PM

When I joined the service...I remember the recruiter telling me that I would have to change my name to Sally and that I would be scrubbing toilet bowls with a tooth brush.......I couldn't sign up fast enough!~!!!!!

PapaBear

11-06-2006, 01:24 PM

My Navy recruiter told me to lie about my pot use. He didn't actually say the word, "lie". He used phrases like, "Why don't you just say...".

UnknownPD

11-06-2006, 01:52 PM

My Air Force recruiter never lied to me. He just left out a lot. ...and until we get a draft and start making political and business leaders kids serve expect more and better BS from recruiters.

Captain Rooster

11-06-2006, 05:11 PM

Do your own research. Never let a salesperson give you the "facts."  Never place your life in the hands of a person paid and trained to get people to join. Of cousre they are going to focus on any tactic to get you in. Use YOUR brain, read the facts, talk to VETERANS. This coming from a FORMER Airborne, Ranger, Infantry Captain. Rangers Lead the Way!

feralBoy

11-06-2006, 05:36 PM

I was joining the reserves, and during that time the recruiter told me so many lies.  I knew they were all bullshit though.  I asked him, what if I moved, would I have to still go back to the same reserve base, or could I choose one closer to my new home.  He said, "let me tell you a secret that they don't like everyone to know.  If you don't like the reserves, you can just quit.  It's not like joining active duty."  ok.Anyway, I actually was taking my physical at fort hamilton on september 10th/11th.  So they bring us to the base at night, but then they ship you off to buses to a hotel in staten island.  So, the first bus leaves and then comes back, and it's like 8pm.  And we are like, can we get on the bus and go to staten island.  And they are like "No."  When I asked how come, the answer was "because the bus is scheduled to leave at 10pm."  We had to sit around for two hours, staring at the bus.  That's when I realized the army wasn't for me.  In the morning, as I was taking my physical, that's when the towers were hit.  Crazy shit.

CofyCrakCocaine

11-06-2006, 08:29 PM

Captain Rooster wrote:  Do your own research. Never let a salesperson give you the "facts." Never place your life in the hands of a person paid and trained to get people to join. Of cousre they are going to focus on any tactic to get you in. Use YOUR brain, read the facts, talk to VETERANS. This coming from a FORMER Airborne, Ranger, Infantry Captain. Rangers Lead the Way! Amen to that. Much respect to you sir, by the way. 

This message was edited by CofyCrakCocaine on 11-7-06 @ 12:31 AM

johnniewalker

11-06-2006, 09:19 PM

Jujubees2 wrote: What's really scary is the way they're dropping the minimum requirements to join the services now since recruiting is down. They're now taking people who they never would have thought about a few years ago, including gang members.<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL</a> How do you become a racist?  It must be kind of tough to do it full time, isn't it?

PapaBear

11-06-2006, 09:29 PM

After I took an exam, my recruiter told me with scores like that, I'd be qualified for 97% of the jobs in the U.S. Navy.I scored really high, but it ruined everything for me. I wanted to go into the Navy as a photographer. They had a very good photography program, and two of my photo mentors both were Navy Photogs. After taking the ASVAB, they told me I scored too high to be a photographer. They talked me into Cryptology.Though I had no intention of joining if I couldn't get photographer, they made the Cryptology sound exciting, so I signed up. The excuse they gave me for not being able to be a photographer (that I'd be too bored with it, and thus they'd be ruining the training on an unhappy student), that's exactly what happened with Cryptology. It bored the fuck out of me, and I left the Navy after a year. They wasted a shit-load of money on my training and security clearance, and I never became a photographer.

Billy Staples

11-06-2006, 10:21 PM

Rooster Welcome back...Thank god your OK and thank God for men and women like you. Those of us who had the pleasure to know you, well I personnally feel it is an honor to hang with you, talk with you and well...welcome home soldier<img height="260" src="http://www.agd.state.tx.us/36id/56bct/images/galleries/toa/Dsc_2324.jpg" width="329" border="0" /> Billy PS: That is not our Rooster, but a salute to yuo rooster and everyone else. side note....even on google.  I got curious and under images tried all different combinations of soldier salute casket etc. all different names, words combos....I'll be a sn of a bitch, I couldnt find any.  Not saying they arent there, but They don't seem to be easy that's for sure.found this for Moe and anyone else...pretty funy what you find when you search for the above...love the parental warning***Mojo edit*** Sorry Billy, but the size and placement of that pic was screwing up the page layout so you couldn't read it easily.  Please link it instead.

This message was edited by TheMojoPin on 11-8-06 @ 9:11 AM

EffinC

11-07-2006, 02:06 AM

I was a kid who really liked discipline. When I asked for information about joining the Marine Corps or Army, I was flooded with mail and telephone calls constantly. I would get recruiters coming to my house regularly, without scheduling an appointment or talking to me before hand. I didn't entertain the BS of , "You can choose any job you want!" or the college money incentive. I just wanted the basic information, which no one seemed to be willing to talk about.Shortly after graduating from high school I took the civil service test and was hired as a police officer almost immediately after getting my scores back. After graduating from the academy, a recruiter showed up to my house and kept badgering me about joining. When I explained to him that I just started a new career he basically laughed at me and demanded to know why I was "hiding on the home front" and "what difference I was going to make as a cop". Up until this point I still considered joining as a reservist, but I was so turned off by the whole experience that I'll gladly stay home now. Hard to believe that anyone signs up nowadays. I can't believe this topic got me to stop lurking heh

CofyCrakCocaine

11-07-2006, 06:01 AM

Yeah, I was also tempted by all those romantic notions of honor and doing something to be proud of, on top of getting much needed discipline and straightening my life out but everyone I spoke to who had been in the military were against me joining the Marines. Screw them, I said.That RS was sitting there, sucking on a cigarette like Sgt.Apon from Aliens sucked on that cigar, and he just really was too aggressive. All he had to do was talk about honor and disicpline and all that stuff and I would have been completely sold. It took his over-the-top selling and guilt-tripping to really get me to turn around on the subject. In some ways, I guess I owe him for that. Though I have to admit that a year or two later I was wearing a Marines T-shirt while jogging one morning (it was given to me by a teacher pending my graduation) and a fellow jogger yelled 'Semper Fi' to me. I had no right to yell it back at him, but I also felt like dirt for not calling back. Never wore that shirt again. So in some ways I still feel guilty for not joining up. But I made my decision and I'll stick with it.

BYOBKenobi

11-07-2006, 11:29 AM

I wanted someone to lie to me about 4 months ago.  I actually reached out to a recruiter and because I missed one call I've never heard back.If he had just said, "you won't do it" I would have enlisted.I graduated from one of the top colleges in the nation and have had just about the worst luck with jobs.  I've taken chances and been burned over and over... now that I've been out of school for 3 years and had 3 different jobs I can't find shit.  I mean I was getting turned down to be a sales assistant, data entry, construction labor (he tells me, "fuck you, you're not serious... you went to college, got a great degree, and are coming off a job as a stock broker?  You wouldn't last a week" to which I replied "I'm a 325lb ex pro football player and I can swing a hammer... I need work... please hire me."  he finished the conversation with laughter, a fuck off, and a hang up).My chick of 5 years left me about a year ago, I started falling for a new girl who got raped at a party in NYC, and my family moved away.  I'm sitting here alone with bills piling up and no jobs even slightly interested in me.  I contacted the Army because I always wanted to serve and have always wanted to be a mechanic.  I figured I'd get a guaranteed job and learn what I've always wanted to know.  Well, I missed the call, and I am too much of a pussy to go down there, so I stuck it out.  I got a new job with my friend's dad and it's been going ok, but I still think I'd go if someone would have just said to me it was the right thing to do.  I wasn't even going to go in as an officer.  I just wanted to sign up and go.

Captain Rooster

11-07-2006, 03:05 PM

Thanks a lot, Billy. I miss you guys. Chat soon.

Contra

11-07-2006, 09:54 PM

Well it's true, the recruiters lie abundantly, and if you sign up you'll probably be going to Iraq and go the way of an IED. However without the folks willing to risk their lives to protect us (I don't mean in Iraq, or the government aganda, I mean in general) we'd be open to a lot of threat in America.I just think although some of us have had some bad experiences with recruiting, people shouldn't rule out the military.Just ask clear questions, get clear answers, and get EVERYTHING in writing.As for myself, call me Rodney cause I'm a lover not a fighter, unless you really piss me off.

TokeOne

11-08-2006, 05:02 AM

Jujubees2 wrote: What's really scary is the way they're dropping the minimum requirements to join the services now since recruiting is down.  They're now taking people who they never would have thought about a few years ago, including gang members.<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL">http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL</a>Very disturbing. I remember reading about something similar in Stuff or Maxim. And then if you try and clean out the Steven Greens and Lyndee Englands before they commit rape/murder the lemmings label you as unpatriotic.

Crispy123

11-08-2006, 11:00 AM

I find it interesting that the guys who didn't join are the quickest to bash recruiters and not the other way around. CofyCrakCocaine wrote: I found today's conversation about military recruitment fascinating, mainly because I went through a similar experience in 1999 in which I wanted to join the Marines. I was a lazy kid and I wanted to learn discipline. I was torn between joining the Marines or college; I figured without discipline college was a waste of money. The RS managed to completely change my mind. I went in and told him why I wanted to join the Marines, and he proceeded to bash all college. 'What's the point of college? So you can say "Socrates said some shit"? Fuck those faggots dude. Men don't need that shit.' He then went on to sell me on all sorts of bullshit topics that had nothing to do with why I wanted to join. They ranged from the ability to fight well in bars, go and show the 'fucks' in my high school that I'm better than them, get in the bed with australian lesbians, and 'see the whole world'. I wound up walking away scared to death that if I joined I would wind up like him. If he wasn't trying so hard to sell me on all these other so-called benefits to joining the Marines, I would have totally signed my name on the dotted line and joined. It's funny how effectively he alienated me from wanting to join.I wonder if anyone else had similar/dissimilar experiences.