A True Story, Military Recruiters Lie----............

He, the recruiter was a "Ranger", one of the elite, very handsome and seductive.

My young friend was very impressionable, very smart and lacking in self esteem and she was looking for a path to grow into.

Fade to black, the line in the movie......
"you almost had me...."

She resisted for weeks and then she relented. My young friend went for the all day physical and mental tests and she passed with flying colors.

"They" called her into a "special" office. "They" told her she was so smart they wanted to send her to a special language school and put her in a very elite class. For some reason, at the last moment, my friend refused to sign on the dotted line. She had the smarts to ask where she would be based when she had passed through "language school". She did not like what "they" told her.

That evening she told the recruiter to get lost and she never looked back. Has she ever regretted that decision? Yes and no. Yes, she may have had the opportunity to travel the world, but at what cost to her soul. She is still my friend and I'd love to help her find the SOB, military recruiter, "Ranger", that represented the military to her, to this very day. He should be crucified. He tried to take her to bed, he was married, he was a slime.

All the while, the "ranger" tried to take her to bed.

It is a very personal story.

My friend was me.

This happened in late 70's.

it takes a lot of courage to speak out against authority.

Your talents will take you lots of places. You don't
need the military for that.

Very thoughtfully written.

Had a talk with someone this mornign who used to be in the Navy, who actually had the job of assigning MOs - he said he had wanted to be a Air Gunner Assistant, or something like that, but got made a fireman instead. He was pretty caustic about how the Navy assigned assignments, and said that if you went in first in the morning you had a chance, but if your file was on the bottom of the file, you'd likely get stuck with whatever they wanted a lot of.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

have no clue. It is a true story for whatever it is worth and very sad. "They" could have had me had it not been for a recruiter that was a slime ball.

n/t

Share your stories here.

Nominated.

My recruiter was a great guy and I owe him a lot. He really helped me make some really great decisions early on. I'd shake his hand today if I knew where to find him.

You, on the other hand, should have been so lucky. Linguistics school is incredible. I don't blame you AT ALL for making the decision you made though. Unfuckingbelievable, this guy!

an amazing one at that. He (the recruiter) made me run for the hills. I probably should thank him for being a dog. That is why I am committed to helping keep all youth from signing on the dotted line.

It's all a lie.

My military experience was incredible. Granted, I wasn't a grunt. I was in the Air Force and fixed avionics equipment. It paid for my bachelor's degree too. I met the most wonderful people EVER. My Air Force friends are as close to me today as they were ten years ago.

The military isn't a bad thing, but I will say this, I would NEVER serve in *'s military. Not one fucking day!

Young people wanting to join the military just need to be smart about it. Rather than actively discourage people, perhaps actively helping them get ALL the information they need would be better.

I owe a great deal to my Air Force career...truly.

sentiment. Can we please just take it down a notch or two. Our military is to serve and to protect the US. Not to be all over the world involved in all the wrongs "our" military have been involved in.

See Stan Goff.

I don't doubt you owe much to the Air Force, but please read Smedley Butler and "War is a Racket". Then get back to me. In addition read Eisenhower's farewell speech, when he warned this nation of the military/industrial complex. Protect your sons and daughters, best as you can.

This nation has gone to shit. "we" didn't listen and we've paid no attention to our history.

"Our military is to serve and to protect the US. Not to be all over the world involved in all the wrongs "our" military have been involved in."

You're absolutely correct.

I've read both Butler and Eisenhower. Ike's farewell speeches is one of the most important (and overlooked) speeches by any president.

I do, however, think it should be acknowledged that our servicepersons also do great things. That's all I'm saying.

go to airamericaplace.com or have ipodder download this past evening's Majority Report. They talked to a kid who was either a junior or senior in high school and wrote for his school's paper. He had proof that recruiters do what the orginial poster said with an audio tape (probably one of those mini one's).

I've seen it first hand. Guys would tell me some of the shit their recruiters told them and I'd just be floored. I was just fortunate to have a very honest one.

I was too nice to say no to his face, though I definately had no plans to enter the Military at the time, or ever. He ended up following me to class, calling at odd hours, even past 10 pm. Also, during one of these calls, I told him I wasn't very physical(Fat at the time) and would wash out in boot, he said, "no problem, you don't have to go into boot camp, you scores(What fucking scores, I have no idea where he got my SATs or anything) make you perfect for intelligence work." That's when I was fed up and called that bullshit right there, I said do NOT call again, or I file charges for harrassment.

the anti-war group i'm in at the U of Minnesota campus is tacking this, since they feel it is a vulnerable spot for the military, not to mention we have the possibility to save young people's lives. i'm quite excited for it.

n/t

I think I'm going to try and find his name and call him out. What do the rest of you think? Should I?

I was sick of being a secretary and wanted to see what all the boys were getting shot up and dying over, but mostly I wanted an education. I passed the tests and was told that I was qualified for any job that I wanted, but that a girl who looked like me would probably be assigned as a secretary in the Pentagon or perhaps become a recruiter. He had no idea how awful that kind of job sounded to me. Also, at that time, a woman had to serve four years in the service to earn one year of college tuition. My dad signed the papers, but I wouldn't. The recruiter took me out to a bar and bought me a beer (I was underaged) then drove me to a dump and parked. He was hoping to seduce me, of course, but he just wasn't on my wavelength.

I had a couple of friends who were in the Marines (women) in the late 1970s, and any that were good-looking got routed immediately to secretarial jobs. The brass-hats want some purty young thing fetching their coffee and answering their phones. And after your 8 hours is done, you got to sweep and mop the floor to defend your country. Um, thanks, but no thanks!

intentionally interviewed with a recruiter recently just to get the goods on him. I didn't catch the details. Anyone else hear this story?

**thanks for posting your story anarchy1999, I tried to nominate it but it's too late.

For some reason, the powers that be had my graduating class take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Test not once, but three times. I could never find out why, the school administrators acted very squirrely when they were asked why we were taking this test AGAIN.

So the third time, after bombing very badly on the test twice (spatial relations is really not my thing, and this test was mainly that), I sat with some buddies and copied the answers from my friend's test. I had no interest in the military, and didn't give a crap, though cheating was not something I normally did, but I had a lot of attitude that day and thought it was funny. But my friend turned out winning a full scholarship to MIT and was some kind of mechanical/techno wizard at seventeen. We had the highest scores in the school.

The recruiters called my house at all hours of the day and night. They drove up, unannounced, and knocked on the door. Many of them (male) acted like they were asking me out on a date and tried to get me to go for drinks with them (I was only sixteen and they knew it). It was a constant deluge until I finally just started telling them that I'd copied off of Pete's test and to check out the two previous times I took it - where my score was worse than what a rutabaga would make it if had taken the test.

It didn't entirely slack off for about two years though - I still got calls, sometimes as late as eleven at night, while I was in college and a couple of times recruiters showed up at my college campus and knew where I would be at certain times, which was a frightening thing indeed. Students' schedules were supposed to be confidential.

They wanted me to be in helicopter repair. I pity anyone who had to be in a helicopter I fixed. We wouldn't be able to walk for the bodies and busted helicopters.

This was in 1977. As far as I know, no real reason to be so crazed about recruiting at that time. My brother experienced the same thing two years later - did well on the test, and was constantly bombarded by recruiters (female in his case). Until he told them he was completely blind in one eye! Then they would hang up on him - which broke his heart, because he would have dearly loved being in the military.