COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Youth of Color
Army Recruiter Shares Challenges Of The Job
Theresa Juva, Zwire
August 23, 2007
Last Thursday began at 3 a.m. for Staff Sgt. Howard Dawkins when hedrove to Albany to pick up a General Equivalency Diploma for one of
his recruits.
The recruit was scheduled to be shipped to basic training that
morning, but could not leave without the document.
"There is no typical day," he said inside the Army recruiting
center on Jamaica Avenue.
On a recent day, he helped a 37-year-old former naval officer
sign his Army enlistment papers.
Meanwhile, two brothers, who only gave their names as Kayon and
Damian, visited the Air Force recruitment office next door.
Marine, Navy and Air Force offices share the same floor as the
Army recruitment office; sometimes the competition for recruits is
playful, but sometimes serious, Dawkins said.
Kayon, a 26-year-old from Jamaica and 8-year Air Force veteran,
said he wanted to show his younger brother the military was not just
about combat.
Kayon works as a cook and equipment and lodging manager. Damian
said although he always wanted to join the military when he lived in
Jamaica (the country), after he moved to Queens two months ago, he
changed his mind.
"I got scared," he said of the prospect of heading into combat.
ýawkins said fear rules half the young adults who step into the
office, and most want a guarantee they won't be deployed to Iraq a
promise Dawkins said he can't give. "Being in the military is not
easy. It's gonna take grit. It's not for the faint of heart."
Nor is recruiting.
Dawkins, a native of Florida, has been a recruiter for two years
and it's hard. Because "the big problem is people are not as
receptive," Dawkins' job is even more difficult.
For example, during routine set-ups in the Parsons Boulevard
subway station, Dawkins is often confronted with obscene gestures and
people shouting that he is preying upon minority neighborhoods.
"They say, 'You are here to grab these kids and put them in the
Army'," and tell him to set up shop in the white neighborhoods instead.
Dawkins doesn't dispute that many people who show an interest are
minorities, especially new immigrants. Many times he has turned away
prospective soldiers because of inadequate documentation.
Rejection is actually more common than acceptance. For every 25
people Dawkins speaks to, only 10 will pass the aptitude test.
Some candidates are disqualifed because of a criminal record and
others because of physical problems, like color blindness or bad knees.
Dawkins acknowledged that recruiters do have quotas, though he
would not disclose a specific number.
According to the Army, it recruited 80,635 soldiers in 2006,
exceeding its goal of 80,000 and surpassing the previous year.
"I would like for people to do what I do," he said. "But I don't
think I should have to be a car salesman."
Sometimes Dawkins encounters young people who don't need to be
sold on the idea.
Like Le Ron Wilson of Rosedale.
In July, 18-year-old Wilson was killed in a roadside explosion in
Iraq, making him one of the youngest to die in the war.
Dawkins remembers Wilson celebrating his 17th birthday with a
cake in the Jamaica Avenue recruiting office. Wilson was also
celebrating that he finally convinced his mother to sign his
enlistment papers.
"He acted like he won the lotto," Dawkins recalled, noting that
Wilson scored high on all his tests.
He helped Wilson with his physical training, often counting his
push-ups and sit-ups. When news of Wilson's death hit the office, the
staff of recruiters gathered in a room and cried together.
"It hurts real bad for him," Dawkins said, adding that he
retreated from recruiting in public for a couple of weeks after
Wilson's death.
But the recruiting center's routine gradually returned to normal.
Racks of glossy brochures line the hallway and American flags adorn
the office's walls.
Dawkins, who was selected to become a recruiter, said "you make
the best of it," referring to the daily challenge of showing young
people what the military has to offer.
A few lines of the Soldier's Creed, a poster that hangs above the
desks in the recruiting center, seems to sum up Dawkins attitude.
It reads: "I will always place the mission first. I will never
accept defeat. I will never quit."
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