2 ms·

Should not be too difficult to solve. Go back to the old way of recruiting only from existing enlisted members instead of new recruits. Or provide a backup ra

Should not be too difficult to solve. Go back to the old way of recruiting only from existing enlisted members instead of new recruits. Or provide a backup rate as part of the original contract they sign on enlisting. Or guarantee the option of an entry-level discharge if they fail out of BUD/S.

klyrs 4y ago
From what I've heard from friends and family in the military, recruiters will tell you what you wanna hear just to meet quota. Wanna be a seal? They'll dangle that opportunity as if it's practically guaranteed. The "old way:" my dad didn't want to go to 'Nam, he wanted to join the marching band, so the recruiter spun him a yarn and he signed up. After boot camp, there was no reasonable way for him to even audition for the band. More recently, friends of mine have enlisted specifically for the GI benefits, only one read the paperwork and didn't sign that away. I wouldn't say that any of the military's problems are easy to solve, but recruitment itself is a scam.
- UncleEntity 4y ago
  Recruiters are dodgy[0] I will agree but how does one “sign away” their GI Bill benefits? IIRC I had to pay $100/month for the first year or something along those lines. Probably wrong as that was over 30 years ago and it was the old pre-perpetual war GI Bill. On the subject of TFA, if you sign up for a job with something like a 98% washout rate I don’t know what to tell you. When I was on active duty to get into Special Forces you had to be on at least your second enlistment and knew if you washed out you would just go back to being a grunt whenever they needed you. Or a medic, think they were a feeder MOS too. Honestly can’t imagine someone coming from a ranger battalion or an 82nd line company washing out though… [0] my recruiter when I signed up for the reserves told me there were no aviation units (I wanted to be a door gunner) in Arizona and on my first drill there were Blackhawks stationed literally next door to our reserve center. When I called him out on it he’s like “oh, that’s the national guard”. Probably a good thing because they were the most deployed unit because they would get called up for forest fires and such. —edit— Just remembered “Captain Cutaway”… This dude passed the Delta Force selection course three times and was never accepted because they’d start with something like 120 people, two or three would pass and there was only one slot. He was just frickin’ crazy which couldn’t have helped — we called him that because he would literally cut away from his parachute about 20 feet above the ground because, well, nobody knew.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > I wouldn't say that any of the military's problems are easy to solve, but recruitment itself is a scam. That was not my experience at all. I picked my specialty code well before a slot opened up for me to go to basic training. The contract paperwork was extremely specific, and the guy walking me through it spent a lot of time talking about each individual element I was signing. They were picky about who they'd accept, they didn't dangle pararescue as a real possibility (it was more like, give the tryout a shot only if you want to find out how close to drowning you are comfortable with). Hell, one of the things I liked most about the military was how incredibly specific they were about everything. That and the fact that if you knew how to schmooze the right chief master sergeant you could get a waiver for damn near any rule. Occasionally I still regret not at least staying in the air guard after I left active duty. It's like the best club in the whole world. I'm not even sure how you'd sign away the GI bill, short of refusing to make the contributions. Otherwise it's just a VA thing and eligibility is very straightforward.

klyrs 4y ago

From what I've heard from friends and family in the military, recruiters will tell you what you wanna hear just to meet quota. Wanna be a seal? They'll dangle that opportunity as if it's practically guaranteed. The "old way:" my dad didn't want to go to 'Nam, he wanted to join the marching band, so the recruiter spun him a yarn and he signed up. After boot camp, there was no reasonable way for him to even audition for the band. More recently, friends of mine have enlisted specifically for the GI benefits, only one read the paperwork and didn't sign that away. I wouldn't say that any of the military's problems are easy to solve, but recruitment itself is a scam.

UncleEntity 4y ago
Recruiters are dodgy[0] I will agree but how does one “sign away” their GI Bill benefits? IIRC I had to pay $100/month for the first year or something along those lines. Probably wrong as that was over 30 years ago and it was the old pre-perpetual war GI Bill. On the subject of TFA, if you sign up for a job with something like a 98% washout rate I don’t know what to tell you. When I was on active duty to get into Special Forces you had to be on at least your second enlistment and knew if you washed out you would just go back to being a grunt whenever they needed you. Or a medic, think they were a feeder MOS too. Honestly can’t imagine someone coming from a ranger battalion or an 82nd line company washing out though… [0] my recruiter when I signed up for the reserves told me there were no aviation units (I wanted to be a door gunner) in Arizona and on my first drill there were Blackhawks stationed literally next door to our reserve center. When I called him out on it he’s like “oh, that’s the national guard”. Probably a good thing because they were the most deployed unit because they would get called up for forest fires and such. —edit— Just remembered “Captain Cutaway”… This dude passed the Delta Force selection course three times and was never accepted because they’d start with something like 120 people, two or three would pass and there was only one slot. He was just frickin’ crazy which couldn’t have helped — we called him that because he would literally cut away from his parachute about 20 feet above the ground because, well, nobody knew.
rootusrootus 4y ago
> I wouldn't say that any of the military's problems are easy to solve, but recruitment itself is a scam. That was not my experience at all. I picked my specialty code well before a slot opened up for me to go to basic training. The contract paperwork was extremely specific, and the guy walking me through it spent a lot of time talking about each individual element I was signing. They were picky about who they'd accept, they didn't dangle pararescue as a real possibility (it was more like, give the tryout a shot only if you want to find out how close to drowning you are comfortable with). Hell, one of the things I liked most about the military was how incredibly specific they were about everything. That and the fact that if you knew how to schmooze the right chief master sergeant you could get a waiver for damn near any rule. Occasionally I still regret not at least staying in the air guard after I left active duty. It's like the best club in the whole world. I'm not even sure how you'd sign away the GI bill, short of refusing to make the contributions. Otherwise it's just a VA thing and eligibility is very straightforward.