Airforce recruitment help

[Patches1]

I was a United States Marine Corps recruiter from 1976-1979 and I never lied to anyone I enlisted. For example, if a kid wanted to be a helicopter pilot but dropped out of high school in the 10th grade, I would tell him the truth: you must graduate from high school, get at least two years of college, and then apply for flight school in the Marine Corps and even then, there is no guarantee that you will be accepted to flight school. My fellow recruiters called me, "hard core", because I refused to tell a kid that he could be a Marine Corps helicopter pilot with a 10th grade education, and frankly, I seldom made my monthly quota of new recruits. But, strangely, as poor a recruiter as I was, it seemed that my, "honesty, quality control, integrity, and knowledge of Marine Corps Recruiting Regulations", was enough to warrant my Commanding Officer to offer me the post of Operations NCO for the Area.

I did not have to lie to enlist anyone...the simple truth and a full understanding of programs offered and test results sufficed. I learned early that you never offer anything that you cannot deliver, and for an example...I received a phone call from a fellow in boot camp I had recruited who had an "MP" guarantee, and he said he received orders for Infantry! I took all of the pertinent information from him and made a call to Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, and was directed to a Corporal who was in charge of assignments. I explained the issue to him and within 24 hours, the fellow I had promised "MP" duty, had new orders assigning him to MP School.

So... the phrase I understand as... never trust a recruiter...should be modified to...make sure you fully understand what your recruiter is saying.

Recruiters are salesmen...they sell you six years of your life. If you don't understand that, then you had better ask your recruiter more questions because a good recruiter will have already explained that to you. When you enlist, you enlist for a period of six years with a portion of those years (2-4 years usually) on active duty, and the remainder to be served in the active, or inactive reserve.

Each service has guarantees, or programs, into which you may enlist depending upon your test scores, and being guaranteed you will go to a certain school may not mean that you will be assigned to that school's field once you graduate from that school. However, enlisting into a program means that you may be assigned to any one of the fields within that particular program according to your test scores. Make sure you understand the differences between schools and programs, and make sure your Recruiter explains them to you, fully.

I could go on and on, but I am afraid that I am well over 30 years out of touch with recruiting.

Educate me.


 

[Ratsy]

Patches1 - thank you for your service.  By your description of that service, you are a rare bird, indeed.  You did the right things because it was the right thing to do.

This thread specifically calls for advice on recruitment.  I think we could justly apply the responses here to many institutions in our modern world...any bureaucracy, financial institution, sales, marketing, etc.

So toning it down a little, the advice would be "vet the person, then trust if justified".

The tragedy of blindly trusting a recruiter (or any other functionary) is found in the years of commitment that follow a bad decision.  I believe that you could tell us many stories of personal desperation that drove bad decisions made before enlistment.  I certainly met a number of members that regretted their decisions while I was a member and a dependent.

Last.  Thank you again for your service.

 

[EskimoJoe]

My Army recruiter was much like Patches. Very honest and forthcoming, and for that I was thankful.

That being said, the way it worked for me is your recruiter will do so much as guide you through until MEPS, at which point you will talk to the recruiter/liason at MEPS to do the selection and basically the signing of your contract. If she's feeling sketchy about the shady office recruiter, it might be worthwhile to have a sit-down with the liason at MEPS before she signs her contract.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

[FLOOB]

My recruiters never lied to me either, actually quite helpful.

[Bored123]

Thank you for all of the replies.

Haha, yes, there is no such thing as a "Former" Marine, once a Marine always a Marine. But most of the guys i know etc when asked say Former Marine. Basically, im not on active duty anymore, haven't been for a few years now.

Update: Seems like we've got a deal in place that she is happy with now. 6 year contract, which guarantees E3 after bootcamp. 2000$ signing bonus, and she got the job she wanted. Looks like she will be headed out Monday.

[redcatcherb412]

Each service has guarantees, or programs, into which you may enlist depending upon your test scores, and being guaranteed you will go to a certain school may not mean that you will be assigned to that school's field once you graduate from that school.

So very true, but they try their best.  I joined in 66 with a guarantee of radio school. I loved electronics and jumped at it. Well after radio school then AIT I was ready to change the world.  Since I enlisted on my 17th birthday I had a year for schooling since they wouldn't ship me to Vietnam till I hit 18.  When I did go to Vietnam, well they didn't lie, I was an 11bravo infantry rifleman, but joy of joys, my additional 05bravo radio MOS entitled me to carry the platoon PRC25 radio and extra batteries (of course in addition to my basic load). The only thing radio school neverr taught you though was that in combat the first thing the enemy tries to take out are the radiomen easy to spot by their ever wiggling antennas  .  It did work out when I returned stateside and spent my last 18 months in a cushy job monitoring NASA Apollo flight electronics and communications at a monitoring station in the middle of freaking nowhere in the desert outside of Ft Huachuca AZ on the mexican border.

In retrospect, the recruiter never lied or embellished, I received the schooling I wanted and ended up working the majority of my enlistment in that field.

[Ramesis]

Well... how about lying by omission?
Not exactly lying...but damn close 
Ramesis/Osiris