COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Recruiting in Rural Areas
Military recruiters take pride in tough job
Deb Grayson, Lavista Sun
May 8, 2007
There are mothers who won't answer when they see the name on the caller ID.
And, there are sons who are in total awe of the uniforms, the mindset and
the chance to be just like them. They strike a commanding figure and give
off a strong sense of respect, patriotism and maybe even a little fear.
They are recruiters, and they are working hard to shed the reputation that
has long drenched their career choice in animosity and sometimes even loathing.
"A lot of people look at us like we're just trying to put bodies into
spaces," said Petty Officer Oren Tomlinson, a recruiter stationed in
Bellevue and a 1997 Creighton Prep grad who now has eight years of service
to the U.S. Navy under his belt. "The truth is, we do have an annual target
number, but we don't get paid more if we sign up more recruits."
Tomlinson mans one of four recruiting stations in Twin Creek in Bellevue.
Next door to him is Staff Sgt. Toby May with the U.S. Air Force, followed
by U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt. Andrew McDermott and in the office on the
far end is Staff Sgt. Mike Ott, a recruiter with the U.S. Army.
All four men are deeply committed to their chosen branch of service and
truly believe theirs is the best.
The high concentration of military families in Sarpy County is a hot bed
for potential recruits and each recruiter has his own style and own list of
incentives to lure the best recruits in his direction. But well before any
luring is done, the recruiters have the sometimes-difficult task of making
it past Mom.
The recruiters go the route of visiting lunch tables at the high schools,
walking across college campuses, talking to kids at the mall, going to car
shows and pretty much turning up anywhere a congregation of teens might gather.
And then they have to make the dreaded phone calls home.
"Yes, I've had some hostile parents," McDermott said. "I understand some
parents don't want their kids to join the military. But we are only doing
our job. With the No Child Left Behind Act we are required to make 100
percent contact - even if Mom says Johnny isn't interested, we still have
to ask Johnny."
Teens can sign up for military service at the age of 18. Any younger than
that, they need their parents' consent.
The average Sarpy County Marine recruit is 19, according to McDermott,
while Ott said less than 30 percent of Army recruits are in the 17-24 age
range. In fact, most are about 26 years old, he said.
"We even had one guy, 29 years old, so determined to be in the Army, he
lost 100 pounds so he'd meet the weight requirement, " Ott said. "And last
week we had a 36-year-old guy ship out."
The majority of Air Force recruits fall into the 17-27 age range, May said,
and can't be 28 years old by the time they leave for basic training.
Speaking of basic training - questions about those first few weeks of
initiation into military service oftentimes top the list for potential
recruits and their parents.
Right now the Air Force offers the shortest basic training. It's
six-and-a-half weeks now, but will expand to eight-and-a- half weeks in
October, May said.
"Every three years they evaluate the basic training curriculum. This time
they found it was time to update the field training so they can spend more
time learning such things as how to fire M-16s and survive a gas chamber,"
he said.
Navy boot camp is eight-and-a- half weeks, Army boot camp is nine-and-a-
half weeks, and the Marines lay claim to the longest and what they say is
the most difficult boot camp - 12-and-a-half weeks.
McDermott acknowledges there is a perception that Marine recruits are
brainwashed in boot camp, but says it isn't true.
"It's not a brainwashing, it's learning the Marine Corp mentality where
everyone is on the same page," McDermott said. "It's a breakdown phase
where a recruit goes from 'me, me, me' to thinking in terms of 'us.' "
Marine Corp boot camp includes a 54-hour exercise called The Crucible. The
exercise translates into little sleep, little food and more than 40 miles
of marches covering stations that test the recruit's physical and mental
stamina.
"Yes, they're sleep deprived, hungry and stressed. But successful
completion of The Crucible is a defining moment for every Marine recruit,"
McDermott said.
Usually about eight young men leave the Bellevue recruiting office each
month for the Marine Corp Recruit Depot in San Diego, five or so Air Force
recruits leave every month for basic training at Lackland AFB in Texas, one
or two head out to one of three Army bases for boot camp and the Navy sees
an average of four to six leave in the winter months, and "the summer
months are our big shipping months when we see 13-15 Navy recruits leave
every month for boot camp at Great Lakes, Ill.," Tomlinson said.
Getting young men and women from Sarpy County to sign up isn't difficult,
all four recruiters agreed - with the heavy military presence already here
and a favorable unemployment rate throughout the county.
And while the active-duty military presence may work in a recruiter's favor
sometimes, it can work against him, too.
"Things have changed since they enlisted," May said. "But some of these
parents have certain expectations and sometimes they want special
preference. I certainly have a respect for them, but I'm not going to give
special preference to anyone based on rank. It's all about job availability. "
And some of those jobs come with a hefty paycheck. Some branches call it an
incentive or a bonus, while the Army calls it an entitlement.
"We offer up to $40,000 for some jobs as well as a very generous college
tuition program," Ott said.
The largest bonus the Navy offers is $40,000 and that's for recruits who
sign up to serve as a Navy Seal. There are Navy bonuses that rank in the
$20,000 range including recruits who choose nuclear engineering as their job.
"Right now we have two local high school seniors in the Delayed Entry
Program and who have signed up for nuclear engineering, " Tomlinson said.
"The majority of the jobs offer a bonus of between $4,000 and $5,000, though."
Most bonuses are paid at the completion of schooling, while some are paid
out over a period of time, Tomlinson said.
The Air Force offers bonuses ranging from $3,000 to $12,000, May said,
while the Marines offer a few job-related bonuses of up to $10,000 or an
occasional incentive bonus of $6,000 to move up a ship date, McDermott said.
"The Marine Corps believes that if someone is signing up for the money,
they are signing up for the wrong reason," he said. "We want people who are
patriotic and truly want to be United States Marines."
Aside from questions about boot camp, financial incentives and jobs, the
big question on everyone's mind is, what are their chances of being sent to
Iraq or Afghanistan?
"I have to be honest," Tomlinson said. "We are in a time of war and if your
son or daughter joins, they will be impacted by the war. It all depends on
their job."
Ott said he won't lie, and tells potential Army recruits and their parents
the chances of being sent to war depends on what job they've signed on to do.
McDermott, who served a tour in Iraq in 2003, said he tells recruits and
their parents that there's no guarantee.
"He might go. He might not go," he said. "There is a high probability that,
yes, he could be sent over there. But we don't send anyone who isn't
prepared and we are the only branch who does seven-month tours. Any longer
than seven months an individual becomes complacent, too comfortable and
begins to make mistakes."
With graduation time nearly upon us, it's a busy time for recruiters and
all four of the Bellevue recruiters are passionate about their work. They
believe in what they're doing and will defend their career choice and
branch of the service to the end. Ultimately though, Ott said it best when
it comes to serving one's country.
"The truth is, it's one fight and we're all in this together," he said.
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