Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Well that was dumb

A little over a week ago I'd mentioned the story about a couple of parents suing the Army for their daughter's release claiming the recruiter lied and the had the mother forge the father's signature on the parental consent.

Well, turns out the recruiter really was that dumb.

From the previous account the parents were supportive of their daughter enlisting, at least to the point of throwing a party celebrating it. So, why the hell have one parent forge the signature of another? Only thing I can think of is the recruiter forgot to get PC earlier, scheduled the kid for processing, and wound up needing to scramble when someone asked for PC which wasn't there. Mom's the only one available so he gets her to sign both.

That is so freaking dumb. It's not like this is 2005 and the Army is dying for people. This happened in 2009 when the Army was making mission in like Week 2 of the RCM. The parents were for the kid enlisting, wait the day to get the father to sign it. Taking the hit for having to cancel a processor would be far, far better to the re-opened investigation the recruiter is going to get.

There will come a time when unemployment isn't flirting with double digits and the recruiting command isn't putting people into a funnel two months in advance. Until that time comes though, sweet jeebus guys, put the "way it's done" away and do it the right freaking way. It's hard enough to explain doing this bone-headed crap when things suck. Doing it when things are good is just shooting yourself in the crotch.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Hannibal King said it best...


His comment when he sees the two rotweillers pretty much sums up my feelings right now.

I have been in Arizona for a little over five years. Turns out I'm now the AGR Soldier with the longest time in the state. Guess what that means! It means I'm now on assignment notification! Yay!

Where to?

Wisconsin!

When?

November-December!

For what?

A high priority mobilization unit!

YAY!

It's not the assignment itself, although Wisconsin in December is going to suck all kinds of suck after five years in Arizona. It's the whole "no way can I maintain two residences on Wisconsin BAH". Someone recently told me that God doesn't burden you with more than you can carry. I find myself curious if I was just handling things too well recently so now let's make it interesting.

Hannibal King: philosopher.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Radio Silence

Yet another month has come and gone w/ the military recruiting forces not only achieving their missions, but exceeding them by leaps and bounds. Here in Phoenix the rumor mill has it that the Phoenix Recruiting Battalion is filling the pipeline for November-December. FSR2 reservations, which were good for only 7 days when I recruited, are now good for almost 150. There is a waiting list to enlist.

As was popular during the 90's "It's the Economy, Stupid" pretty much covers the reason for this increase. Even the success and progress in Iraq, and Afghanistan not blowing itself up, wouldn't have resulted in so many people enlisting that the services need to cease recruiting for extended periods.

Even the recruiter-suicide story has left the first pages of Google News as commands establish limits to the hours recruiters spend in the office. There is going to be a harsh wake-up for some young recruiters out there when the economy turns around or if Afghanistan goes wicked sour. In the mean time though it's interesting to see a class of stories which never made it to those first few results.

My first years on the recruiting trail, recruiting events would be covered by major-market network affiliates, the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. Now, among the first hits for Army Recruiting News is The Queens Chronicle profiling the local recruiters in a recruiting station.

About the most interesting "bad" recruiting story I've found recently is one from St. Louis about an allegation that a recruiter convinced a mother to forge a signature to allow her 17 year old daughter to enlist. Of course two days later it's reported that the Army's counter to the "THEY LIED AND TRICKED MY DAUGHTER" is the whole "The parents threw a going-away party and invited the recruiter" defense.

Hopefully the good times will keep on rolling for the fleet of soon-to-be ring-knockers.

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Silence

Well, there is absolutely no news about recruiting. All of the stories are about how the Army is benefiting from the recession. And that's about it. Speaking with the people I still know in USAREC the Army is currently working on its mission for November-December. Non-prior Service for the USAR are FSR2'd, given 150 day temporary reservations, and told to return to MEPS in October to swear in. Referral bonuses have dried up. Turns out that recruiting in 10% unemployment is easier than recruiting in 4%.

Imagine that.