Military recruiters

[bara]

In the US we have to sign up for the selective service.. see draft board by the time we hit 18. I enlisted and was happy to do so and enjoyed my time in. Not for everyone though.

[PepperElf]

he had the opportunity to move up in rank more quickly if he got friends to join up

Yes I had that offer too when I was in the Navy. I couldn't use it though. The offer only lets you get up to E3 and I was an E3 from the day I started (although they still called me "Recruit!" in boot camp).

However... perhaps because I'm female but... I've never seen recruiters in this day & age harass anyone. All you have to do is tell them "No thank you" and they leave you alone.

As for the "opt out" forms, I found one online but... it only states that the school cannot release the information to the military (or colleges), not that the military will not contact you. They do have access to public information of course.


Plus they don't always call you right after high school. When I got called it was 4 years later when the local recruiter was looking over old asvab scores and wanted to see what I was doing, plus a lot of ratings had opened up to females during those four years as well. It worked too because I ended up enlisting and I don't regret that one single bit.

[DrFaroohk]

I hate the recruiters. They either A) flat out lie to you. "Hey yeah, come join the army, its like going on a cruise! At our finest training facility you will spend all day playing volleyball, drinking beer and staring at honeys!"

or B) they trick you. They got my brother to sign some stupid ass form with the understanding it was NOT him signing up to the military. of course he didn't read it properly, but still. when they called and said "Get on the bus in the morning or go to prison" he was rather distraught.

I'm not raggin on soldiers - I hate the military, but I respect the hell out of the people who can survive in that awful shitstorm of idiocy.

[PepperElf]

not all recruiters are cut from the same cloth.

i can honestly say mine didn't always tell me *everything* but he never lied to me and even set me straight on misconceptions I had - for example I figured I'd get housing right away and could come home right after boot camp for leave. No and no - my housing would be in barracks (so no pets!) and it would be a while before I earned the leave to come home to visit.

They wouldn't even let me sign up that day - they wanted me to wait a few days to think about it.


My own personal advice - go in looking like you're there for a job application. And really think about what you want. Never settle for "undesignated" unless you really want it. (not many people do however).

And of course, pay attention to what you sign. (something that applies even more so to this site considering the retail side of things over at CS)

[blas87]

How pathetic is it that if you hold the door open for men in uniform, they look at you like you're nuts?

Maybe it's cuz I'm a girl, or maybe it's because of the rampant anti-American, anti-military mindset people have. Not sure.

It's just sad.

[Greenday]

How pathetic is it that if you hold the door open for men in uniform, they look at you like you're nuts?

Maybe it's cuz I'm a girl, or maybe it's because of the rampant anti-American, anti-military mindset people have. Not sure.

It's just sad.

Probably because you are a girl.

[Kheldarson]

How pathetic is it that if you hold the door open for men in uniform, they look at you like you're nuts?

Maybe it's cuz I'm a girl, or maybe it's because of the rampant anti-American, anti-military mindset people have. Not sure.

It's just sad.

It's actually a combo of things. I asked my brother (he's a Marine officer), and he said that one, when they're in uniform, they're already prepped for negative comments. So getting a positive comment or positive action throws them off.

And on top of that, you're a girl. The standard is that the guys hold the door open for the girls. So now you're making them awkward. Plus you've also denied them the chance to do the same for you which makes them even more awkward.

Essentially, you broke the trope and they don't know how to respond.

[Mytical]

The little hamsters that powers us guys brains are easily spooked.

It's not really that you are a girl though. I get some odd looks too, because I am an equal opportunity door holder. Men, women, children, heck even people dressed in clown costumes. Get some very odd looks.

[wolfie]

Was it actually the school that gave out the number? Or did your son possibly give them his number for some other reason?

They buy access to other databases as well. For the kid with the "egg donor's" last name who never gave out the landline number, did he have a driver's license? If so, they could have used the DMV database.

One case I read about dealt with an ice cream shop where kids could sign up to get a free cone on their birthday. One kid figured that 2 cones a year was better than 1, and committed fraud - he filled out a second registration for an imaginary friend who lived at his address. Everything was fine and tasty until the imaginary friend's 18th birthday, when a letter arrived reminding him (the imaginary friend) that he was required to register for selective service.

[MadMike]

They buy access to other databases as well. For the kid with the "egg donor's" last name who never gave out the landline number, did he have a driver's license? If so, they could have used the DMV database.

That's a possibility, although I'm not sure if we supplied the landline, or my son's cell number. He's had his own since he was 11.

One case I read about dealt with an ice cream shop where kids could sign up to get a free cone on their birthday. One kid figured that 2 cones a year was better than 1, and committed fraud - he filled out a second registration for an imaginary friend who lived at his address. Everything was fine and tasty until the imaginary friend's 18th birthday, when a letter arrived reminding him (the imaginary friend) that he was required to register for selective service.

Well, then some day someone might call here for "Bob Walker", an alter ego that my son created years ago as a joke. He actually had some of the people at his school coninced he had a twin brother. Not sure how he explained them having different last names, but it was pretty funny. Some of the people in the office were in on the joke, and one day when I came to the school to pick him up for a doctor's appointment, they paged "Jacob (last name) and Bob Walker" to the office. He also photoshopped a picture of himself sitting next to himself as "proof" of this twin.

Apparently his "twin" got put on some kind of mailing list, because a magazine subscription offer for "Bob Walker" arrived at the house a year or so ago.