Army Strong?
My brother is in the process of signing up for the military. He isn’t joining the Army but almost everyone else who is going through the sign up process with him is. Even though none of them have yet signed the dotted line, he’s catching a great deal of hell from the rest of them because he’s joining another branch. How quickly an identity can attach itself.
The Army is now paying a $20,000 signing bonus, in part because being in the Army is a riskier proposition than some of the other branches.
Recently I’ve read a few articles about soldiers fighting who weren’t really fit to serve, but who were pushed through the process because of the troop shortage. I’ve heard some reports of very slow kids being coached through the ASVAB (the written proficiency test). My brother told me that all of the kids he talked to said the recruiters told them to lie about certain health conditions, like asthma and even sleepwalking. It isn’t a few rouge recruiters. It is a collective, unspoken practice.
Those individuals who aren’t able to serve, because of a limited intellectual capacity or a physical infirmity, are still honoring their country by trying to do their part. But how are we serving them? Are we setting them up to fail, or worse yet, get hurt or killed? How are we serving the the other soldiers who join with them to form an interdependent chain with weaker than acceptable links? Should a good soldier turn in their recruiter as soon as they sign the dotted line? The questions about what is and is not honorable become a little more gray as we become more desperate for troops.
Comment by JayBandit on 8 July 2008 at 9:14 pm:
This reminds me of kids who lied about their age during WWII to join the fight. In any field where physical prowess is considered a necessity, people will lie to achieve their goals. Potential firefighters and police officers do the same exact thing.
My own grandfather lied about a heart condition in order to join during WWII and was denied entry to all branches after medical testing…he went out west and joined the park service during the war (the recollection of this story brought his brother to tears at my grandfather’s funeral, he said Grandpa Val felt worthless for not fighting over in Europe with EVERYONE else).
I found out when I was in Jr. High that because of my flat feet, I would have been designated 4F and not accepted into the military…and it made me feel like a loser; so, I can totally see why people go out of there way to lie and cheat their way into the military. For most, it is a sense of pride and accomplishment. Strangely enough, studies show that those with flat feet actually suffer less injuries than those with normal or above average arches…
I’m not trying to condone breaking the rules, or pushing people through the system; however, I think this is one of those things that tend to occur, and people let it be. I’m sure, if you really looked, there are all sorts of people that have had safe, productive, military careers and somehow shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Comment by Brandon Ruiz on 8 July 2008 at 10:52 pm:
My girlfriend’s brother just signed with the Marine’s after not passing the Navy exam the first time. The Marines gave him tutoring and helped him study so that he passed their test. Given his recent introduction to English (4 1/2 years), I’d say it was a good thing. Low intelligence, language difficulties, or poor test-taking skills shouldn’t bar someone from the military the same way that physical conditions should.
Comment by Anonymous on 8 July 2008 at 11:31 pm:
brandon: but what’s on the test? i remember taking the ASFAB test and it being an utter joke. do we want people that are coached with the right answers to a test to join the military and be unable to perform in intense life and death situations down the line??
Comment by Brandon Ruiz on 9 July 2008 at 1:38 am:
Hell if I know what’s on the test. What I do know is that English is one of the hardest languages to learn (I think Cantonese probably has us beat…tonal languages *shudder*) and to pick it up in a few years in your late teens isn’t exactly easy, so I can cut the kid a lot of slack for linguistic difficulty.
Comment by John Bambenek on 9 July 2008 at 6:08 am:
Recruiters are paid per head so they engage in all kinds of games. In the service you hear plenty of jodies about recruiters lying to people to get them to join, the exist for a reason. I know people who were doctoring their medicals and that was back in 95. And the sign up bonus has always been in the same neighborhood as it is now. In fact, if I recall they were offering 100,000 to pilots who’d sign up for 20 in 99.
In short, nothing is new about this and Iraq certainly has nothing to do with it… It happens just as much during peacetime.
Comment by tet on 9 July 2008 at 10:16 am:
Fort Campbell cadence verse,
Soldier, Soldier
Don’t Feel Blue
My recruiter
Screwed me, too.
Nothing new here, move along.
Tom
Comment by John Bambenek on 9 July 2008 at 9:52 pm:
Thanks, tet… for the life of me I couldn’t remember any anti-recruiter jodies at the moment