Making tomorrows Military today: Lets kick the pants out of an article

Lets kick the pants out of an article

Lake Tahoe!

Military recruiters aggressive with teens

On March 13, Jimmy Coalter and his family were celebrating his 18th birthday with a turkey Thanksgiving-like dinner when the phone rang. It was a military recruiter asking if the teenager-turned-adult ever considered enlisting.

"We were eating dinner and he called," Coalter recalled. "My mom said 'hang up on him' so I did and he called right back."

This is aggressive?

Since there isn't a recruiting station in Tahoe, recruiters from Carson City and Placerville make trips up to the basin. Staff Sgt. Jeremy Funk, an Air Force recruiter in Placerville, hits South Lake Tahoe twice a month. He visits the high school and Lake Tahoe Community College to speak with interested students.

He also asks businesses if he can post a flier describing the benefits of enlisting in the Air Force, such as 100 percent tuition assistance for college and a possible $12,000 signing bonus.

Funk has been working the county for seven months enlisting a dozen future soldiers. It's on target, Funk said, since he works in a rural county and has an expectation of enlisting at least one future soldier a month.

This is aggressive?

Whittell High School graduate Patrick Rafferty decided to join the Navy this year after some indecision. He said $4,000 was pledged to him for signing up although he hasn't received the money. Money for college tuition was also promised.

A recruiter visited his campus but "he really didn't talk me into my decision. I just made it on my own," he said.

He leaves for boot camp Aug. 7.

"I don't like the feeling of being in combat," he said. "I would have probably joined the Army if it wasn't for the war."

None of this is aggressive. These journalists do not know what aggressive is. The kid in the last paragraph was promised a 4,000 bonus for enlisting AND completing his initial training, known as A-School for the navy (AIT for the army, etc). OF COURSE he has not received the money. He still has a chance of getting injured and not being able to commit to the Navy. If we were giving money willy-nilly like this journalist-Field General wants, recruiters would have no such thing as DEP losses. Then it would become a desertion thing. The field general journalist would then cry foul that the military was getting the local police to do their dirty work of getting people into boot camp. We cannot win with these people.

My call to all of the local journalists: spend a day, not a phone call, with your local recruiter. The field guys. Not the Station Commander. Spend it with the guy kissing babies and shaking hands every day. Follow him (or her, don't e-mail me) to see what the street recruiter goes through. From getting people in to getting soldiers out, the days are getting longer and longer, but more and more rewarding.

This week has been nice and long for my office. We have people ready to join, but issues keep coming up. No one is doing well in my area this month. All of the media attention is starting to wear on each of the branches.

Militantpundit posted @ 9:12 AM

|| Permanent Link || Comments (7)

Whine, whine...he called right back while we were trying to eat dinner! Bwhahahah! Evil recruiters! Keep up the great work!

Posted by loboinok @ 10:23 AM, July 24, 2005

You should see This

Posted by loboinok @ 10:29 AM, July 24, 2005

Please come by and congratulate our blogburst of the week winner.

Posted by loboinok @ 7:55 AM, July 26, 2005

Would you update your link to us? we are now at http://www.stoptheaclu.com

Thanks, Jay

Posted by loboinok @ 2:27 PM, July 27, 2005

Oh my, and we all know that recruiters like put you in chains and force you to sign your name under threat of... having to have dinner with Hillary Clinton or something. *rolls eyes*

Posted by Politics of a Patriot @ 6:33 PM, July 28, 2005

Government intrusion SUCKS! Telemarketing SUCKS! But if there were EVER a practice that served to describe the benefits of leaving both to be legal acts; this exemplifies it!

I swear to God, it sounds like these people would rather have a freaking DRAFT. If that's what they want, then so BE it. Not my 1st choice, but it is what it is.

Freakin' WHINERS...

Posted by The GTL™ @ 9:41 PM, July 28, 2005

Hi there! Thanks for serving and great site!

Posted by Alexandria Knox @ 9:04 PM, April 18, 2008