Friday, August 04, 2006

Gun Shy

I've had a couple times where I've been told I needed to tighten my shot group when it comes to writing online. I do recognize that, as a recruiter, I do represent the Army and the military in the eyes of many people who are not in military communities. Because of that I don't do stupid things while in uniform or using official resources. Things like going to the local pr0n shop while driving my G-Jet, or buy large quanties of beer while in uniform are things I won't do because you never know who's watching. That, of course, applies to online as well.

Personal Web Pages, as they're referred to in most policies, are a new beast. Well, not exactly. The internet isn't exactly a brand-spanking new thingy, it's been around for a while. But there is a collision of easy-to-use software, free hosting, and a military subject while people want to read going on right now. The combination of story, publication, and viewability is what is new. 5 years ago I'd have been hard pressed to put out a product anyone could read (I'm still hard-pressed to do so, but that's an inditement of my writing ability, not the software and hosting).

Earlier this year I rambled a bit (it's down page) about how I think that blogging, public writing in general, is a good thing for recruiting. We're constantly told how we need to tell prospects "our Army Story". Well, telling that Army Story online is something which puts me in a gray area though. While I'm allowed to operate a personal web page, it cannot be used for recruiting purposes. What defines a "recruiting purpose" strikes me as a pale, fuzzy line at best. If I tell about a time in my past when I was a young Soldier full of fire and vigor, and how awesome it was to be in the Army, and that inspires a person to contact me to ask for some more info, does that constitute a "recruiting activity"? I'd like to think it doesn't. However each time I've had to tighten my shot group it was over something I didn't see coming.

The worry over what will and will not incur the wrath of the recruiting gods has made me more and more gun shy to talk about what the title of my blog says I will discuss. Hence the light writing of late, and the lack of info about the day-to-day stuff. I'd like to be cavalier enough to just go "eff it" and write about anything that comes to mind, but as Army Lawyer points out recently, if it's been online it can be found. I'm not anonymous, everyone knows who I am, and it's not that difficult to figure out how to contact people who can affect me. Hell, people have so this is nothing new.

Unfortunatly for me, this is something I enjoy doing, so I'll keep it up regardless.

Between my training last week, and family visiting earlier this week I'm way behind the 8-ball right now. With a mission of four, and a week left, there is only one solid contract. Thanks to the processing help I'm used to receiving my 09L remained, two weeks later, exactly where he was in the flow chart when I left to see Felina out in some West Texas town. So, there is no two-for-one deal lined up for me to finish off. Instead I'm left with a week to do two weeks of processing. It's insane.

However, this week I've been beset upon by a horde of people with low EST scores. They are are very interested in joining, some even committed if they pass. This is a true case of throwing it on the wall and seeing what sticks though. They're all testing in the same week, and whatever gets a good enough score will be getting stovepiped into the Army Reserve. Achieving four is going to be close, but at least I've got the names to say it can be done.

SGT Curtain is getting her send off soon. She's done her time and escaped with sanity intact. During her three years in recruiting she managed to provide the Army with a squad of highly motivated Soldiers. Good on her. I kid about the amount of people she enlisted though. She remains my hero.

0 comments:

Post a Comment