Truth in advertising?

[featherynscale]

Yesterday afternoon, as triadruid and I were driving home from work, we noticed a profusion of American flags up at the funeral home next to the Masonic cemetary. They were accompanied by a large number of motorcycles, and we thought, "Ah. That must be a biker's funeral. And they all came up on the bikes, how nice." Then, as we drove a bit further, we noticed a camper with a yellow banner on the side. It appeared to be soliciting volunteers to join the Army. But surely, I thought, there's no way the Army would recruit at a funeral home. It's just, I don't know, in poor taste.

This morning, when we drove by, the bikes were gone, but the flags were still there. The camper had been relocated to a spot right in front of the building. It did, in fact, bear a recruitment banner. They are, in fact, recruiting for the Army, at the funeral home. For the life of me I cannot figure out why anyone would think this was a good idea, but I am open to suggestions.

Comments

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Even if you want to enlist that day, it takes a while to in-process, they will have to qualify mentally, emotionally, and physically. It does not help the army at all to bring in people who don't want to be there, so all the forces check and double-check for motivations and potential issues.

In one case, a young man had made it all the way through Enterance processing and was ready to ship out. The Command Gunny went to shake his hand and congragulate him for making it. (when I went in, standards were really tight) The young man's reply was that he "didn't shake hands with white men". This was something unexpected, and horrible. You can train people to do superhuman things, but you can't untrain that level of racism. In the Marines, there is no room for black or white, and for the most part, there is no difference between male and female, all are simply Marines. (If required to mention that a person is black or white, the correct terms are dark green and light green) After a bit of counseling with the young man and conversation amongst the recruiters, the young man was disqualified from enlisting.

I'm sure there are stories that can be told about recruiters doing anything to get people in, although that usually hinges on someone who wants to go in and simply has some minor legal issues (I was one of those). But if a recruiter gets caught coercing a person into the military, they are in just as much trouble as those that get caught dating potential enlistees.

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

There's been a lot in the news lately about coercing, and rape, and other stuff.

When my boys turned 18 I practically had to threaten the recruiters with a harrassment lawsuit to get them to stop calling.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

There has been a recent scandal about sexual harassment in the recruiting office. Usually this is centered around a certain station or group of recruiters. Rape is a pretty strong term to use, but it is conceivable. Unfortunately, with there being a recruiter to cover every high school and college in America, it only takes a couple to start a nationwide scandal. They still have a better track record than teachers right now, even female teachers have had a huge trend of getting caught with students.

On the recruitment, I worked the recruiter's office during my time in the delayed entry. Every time a kid came in, there were questions about who else would be interested. We (I) kept notes on every senior in my school, and if I didn't know about them, then there would be calls. This was only my list, and I was calling up because two recruits gained me a promotion. Every time someone from the area enlisted, if they were interested in the promotion, they would call around. You also have 3-5 different branches of military in most cities, and sometimes you get an overlap of recruiting 'turf' so it's feasible that each person you said no to was from a different office and they all just needed a yes or no for their list. Also, a parent's answer is not the last word once they're 18. One of the guys that earned me my first stripe had a similar story to mine, parents were hippies/flower children and were opposed to the idea, the son enlisted against their wishes. I did get my parents to agree that it would be a good opportunity, but then they called up and wanted to cancel when Saddam invaded Kuwait. The answer they got was "You can contact different civic leaders and work to get out of the contract you signed for your son, but in a month, he will be 18 and can sign the contract without you, so it may not be the best investment of your time." (Mom & Dad signed for me when I was 17)

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

Actually, I had the army call many times, I had my sons telling them no, no, no, and they didn't get their names from anyone else.

They did finally stop calling, but only after I asked who their commanding officer was so my sons could call and explain they weren't interested.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Hrm... sorry to hear. As with rape, it is -not- supposed to happen that way, and folks get in trouble for harassing calls... not as much trouble as for sexual harassment, but when a recruiting station is harassing citizens, a number of people get in trouble, from the low-level guys that call, all the way up their leadership chain.

Good call on the way to stop the calls... no one wants to have to do the carpet dance in front of the Officer in Charge. 8-)

[beccak1961.livejournal.com]

My husband worked at a MEPS station, though not as a recruiter, so I'm not without sympathy, and I know they are under a lot of pressure right now.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Probably not as much now that 42 year olds can enlist. Although good luck finding people that can meet the weight standard, unless it is similarly way the whoa out there. 8-)