My very scary call from the Department of Defense

I received a phone call from Princeton, NJ, last Thursday. The woman gave me her name and then said, "I am calling from the Department of Defense and we are doing a survey. First, will you tell me if I have reached a home or a business?" I said, "A home." She then asked, "We are surveying young people ages 17-21 to ask them about their plans for education and for the future. Do you have anyone in your home age 17-21?" I said, "No." She then said, "We are also surveying adults who have influence over the decisions of children ages 17-21. Do you know someone that age that you have influence over?" This question gave me the creeps and I hung up.

Would you believe that the same woman called me again the very next day? This time I was ready and asked her, "Will you please tell me the list of questions that you intend to ask on your survey, and then I'll decide if I want to answer them?" She would not. I told her it sounded like a draft. She said it wasn't. So I again asked for the list of questions up front, and she again refused. Has anyone else received these calls? Would you allow a stranger to "survey" your teenager about their plans for the future if they refused to give you the questions? Why is the Department of Defense doing this? Is this what we pay taxes for? What is going on in this country? I call it a predatory draft. A draft on the young, the poor, the uninformed, and the defenseless. And it is wrong. If there are people in this country who truly believe that this war in Iraq is worth it, and I do not, then let those who believe in it send their own children, and leave mine alone.

(This is a copy of the LTTE I sent in today about my phone call)

This smells like kkkarl's happy horseshit, how many of the ? % bought this lie.

They should call me and ask if their budget needs cutting.

and WHY wouldn't she tell me the questions! The whole thing is freaky.

technically, he's the "Department of Defense" but he's just trying to make his quota

Why the hell would a recruiter call someone in Georgia from Princeton, New Jersey? Your theory makes no sense. Recruiters ONLY handle their local areas. Period.

When my parents in New Mexico call me using their phone card, it says Atlanta on my caller-ID.

Anything is possible.

If her particular area was under the recruiting quotas by enough, the DoD may use a more successful area's phoneback to see if their methods are better.

Something else to consider:

There are still a lot of people, in their target demographic, that would sign up then and there if they really believed the government called them for help.

That's idle speculation on your part. I know for a fact that the military recruiter's offices come up on caller IDs as US GOVERNMENT. Besides she could have garnered where the caller was calling from by looking up the area code. The story doesn't mention... Whatever. The DoD pays big money to train recruiters and they are not going to "use a more successful area's 'phoneback' to see if their methods are better." I won't consider speculation when I am aware of the recruiting tactics taught and used by the military. I spent enough time in the Army to be fully aware of what does/does not happen. And I got out just over a year ago. Speculation is pointless -- especially when you don't know what you're talking about.

1: You could be slightly politer.

2: My brother is current Army. When he was home from Iraq earlier this year, the local recruiting office asked him to help them find people in the mall. To stop by a high school, stuff like that.

He's versed in ground combat, not recruiting.

That is where my pointless speculation was coming from, my firsthand experience in seeing the yokels they have running the recruiting station, and how they treat the guys who just came back.

Not as a recruiter, mind you. But when I was in I spent a month's time assisting the recruiters. The Army also tried to get me to become a recruiter -- needless to say, I did not do it because I knew what it was all about. You want to know something? Army recruiters are actually sought out in the sales profession because they are so well trained in persuasion by the Army. That's sickening. You're right that a lot of these guys are yokels and the Army trains them that way.

As far as your "you could be slightly politer" remark. Perhaps my tone comes across wrong to you, but I am being polite. I won't recant what I said or how I said it. If you are going to speak like you know what you're talking about in a public discussion forum, make sure that you are factual in your information. You never know when someone with first hand knowledge may show up, and there is nothing worst than seeing the truth distorted by a supposed "know-it-all." I see no reason to attempt to be more genteel than what I was when people are painting the wrong picture.

So the Army Recruiting Command (there *is* a national one) gathers data and sends it off to local recruiters. Use your imagination, ferchrissake :eyes:

I know the ugly underside of this issue. Take for example, what these recruiters did in the latest news stories -- it is nothing new. It has been going on for years. Worst things have been going on for years that the public would be shocked to learn. This news story is only the tip of the iceberg. There's a reason I turned down being a recruiter while I was in the Army, because I know what it involves and it ain't pretty.

That's absolutely brilliant! Sadly, it is also very true.

They're trying to find out how to spin things when they talk to kids or their parents, and how to get kids to resist their parents' resistance to them enlisting.

It sounds like they are trying to find the right language and talking points that would persuade someone.

(cough, cough)...the shrub said so!!

Alas and alack.

Time to wake up Turtle Island (North America). Hell, it is way past time to wake up -- so snap out of it.

What lies beneath what is beneath what is above?

....I just can't understand what happen to all those war-loving right-wing Republicans and their kids....I thought the military would be turning people away by now....

from NCLB. Probably know who is a Dem, wouldn't bother Repub kids.

They are probalby just doing what they said they are doing. Looking for kids 17-21 and finding out what would motivate them into the military. Right now they are missing their quotas, and they need to get their numbers up. Or they are looking for folks who know kids that range and finding out what would motivate them.

There are problems with pay issues, insurance, recruiting fraud, etc. There is also the issue that kids right out of high school will have trouble getting jobs.


You will never get a list of questtions on a survey up front. I did surveys for a while way back when. They questions are determined by the answers you gave to previous questions. Since she is reading them off a computer screen, so she dosn't know them all anyway.

We already have one answer here on this topic. One person said they wanted "serious bling." How serious? By how much do we need to raise wages for the military in order to get more in?

care (C'mon, this stuff gets around even if big media isn't covering it). Need to bring back honor to the leadership of our military by going after the leadership when they issue illegal orders, instead of scapegoating privates ignorant enough to follow said orders.

Need to quit sticking them out in the middle of deserts without decent breaks.

Basically, changes that Republicans oppose, tooth and nail, must be made.

unlike the unjustifiable and illegal war we are doing now?

that might be a deciding factor for some recruits.

But, then again, I suppose it's not so obvious to many of the brainwashed working class members of the Republican base.

We haven't received any like the one you described, but they are getting trickier. The recruiter will ask for them like a buddy, or a study partner, and I'll hand the phone to one of them. I even woke up my oldest the other day, because I thought it was his friend on the phone.

Boy, the threat of a draft scares me to death. I'm looking into leasing land in Mexico - just in case.

and phone numbers to recruiters who came in asking for the list.

it is the law! it's in NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND.

it is also the law that the school notifies the parents that unless they sign something stating that they opt-out, the school will give the recruiters the student's information.

i just found out about this section of NCLB this past march. too late. my daughter's name was turned over last october.

we haven't gotten calls. but we get crap in the mail. (today it was the army & national guard.)

i called our school district & found out that, yes indeed, they failed to notify parents about this law & the opt-out business. the district office was not aware that the schools had not notified the parents. so now our school district has put a hold on releasing any more names to recruiters until next year.

parents need to be made aware of this law--and contact your school immediately.

even US citizens living abroad are eligible for a draft when it comes in. Your kids might escape it but they would never be able to go back.

knows better than to fall for a phone survey, but he's an exception.

He's already applied for his passport, just in case, and is telling his friends to do the same.

All the talk in the MSM about Iran does not bode well.

It was more than likely a polling/telemarketing firm. Do you have caller ID? If so, I would check where the call actually came from. Then, if my suspicious are correct, you can have your name/number removed. There is a lot of outsourcing happening in the U.S. and here.

... to meet w/Cindy Sheehan yet.

that is very scary. I'm glad u stood up to them.

I've never experienced a survey call at work, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I do think it's weird though. So out of curiosity, do you have any young people ages 17-21 in your home? It seems like a waste of a surveyors time to call numbers not knowing if its residential or business to ask for such a narrow age group. I thought surveyors would have more info in order to conduct a survey like that. :shrug:

Then again, maybe some people really do prefer to work hard rather than smart.

Misses Jenna and Barbara Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

That would explain why caller id might say "NJ" instead of "US Government." The Army used market research in 2001 to monitor children's web surfing habits.
http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41476,00.html

I'm sure there are more stories out there about private research firms being used to boost interest in the services.

yes, it's getting very predatory out there now, in the best Repug tradition.

I have been the victim of ID theft and it is not unknow for them to call a person and try to get info on them. They start with a few question totally offf the mark then go in to what they want. But you may be right it might be a recruiter looking to fill his quota. Either way you would be wise to just hang up.

I had my stereo up loud and the timing of the call (6:30PM) suggested that it was telemarketing so I left the stereo up.

Me: Hello
Them (female): Um, Have we reached a residence or a business?
Me: You called me -- you should know.
Them: The system dials numbers at random.
Me: (groan) We used to do that in grade school (and I hang up)

Not sure what they wanted but the line about "business or residence" fits with yours.

the voice was obviously a black female -- yours? My caller ID said Princeton NJ, but unfortunately by now it is gone from my phone's memory. My Mom gave me the suggestion to call back, but it was too late, the number was gone. They whole thing about her fishing for information was very creepy.

They are most often coached to say: "I'm calling FOR The Dept. of Defense" instead of I'm calling FROM... Calling for has so much more impact.

I NEVER answer telephone surveys. (PERIOD) Why is anybody surprised that the gov't along with political parties, politicians, politically active groups, professions, everybody imaginable, does telephone surveys? Just tell them NO and hang up. She probably called you back the next day because you were the only person, or one of the few, who would answer her preliminary survey questions. Not only that, but you don't even know IF she was doing a survey for the Department of Defense or for somebody else who wants to publish a survey that they hope will influence the DOD. Just tell them NO from in front and never answer anybody's questions over the phone.

This may or may not have been the DoD. Who knows who it could have been?

I'd be on the phone with a follow-up letter to my US Representative or Senator.

writing to my senator or congressman, but I live in Georgia, and they're both Repug *holes that would probably blacklist me for being unpatriotic or some other s**t.

about six months ago.

Then about four months ago I got one from the Center for Disease Control.

Freaky

which I failed to write down and is now lost. I answered the call because I do actually have a child who will be a senior in HS next year and I thought it might be a college recruiter. Usually I don't even answer the phone if I don't recognize the caller ID.