Call to Colors

Today's military recruiters work hard to convince young Americans to join the armed forces.
By Mary Hartney

Nestled between a discount mattress store and an employment center advertising "We Have Jobs — Work Today, Paid Today" is the Alexandria, Va., armed forces recruiting station. Neon signs harking the different services glint in the windows. Inside, down a long hallway lined with racks of brochures and vinyl couches, past walls with hand-painted logos and metal signs marking the different services' doors, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Bettina Sellers sets down her Air Force Recruiting School coffee mug that reads "Boy! Am I Enthusiastic!" and answers the phone: "World's finest Air Force; Sgt. Sellers, may I help you?"

Opposite the cutout paper Air Force sign, a crowded bulletin board hangs. But the papers competing for space aren't standard office fare; they're letters from new Air Force servicemembers whom Sellers recruited.

"To all DEP [Delayed Entry Program] Members: Don't volunteer for element leader or dorm chief, because you get yelled at for everyone else's mistakes. Practice [taking] one-minute showers. Practice eating in less than 10 minutes."

"Dear Sgt. Sellers ... BMT [Basic Military Training] is a breeze. Why didn't you tell us the hardest part of training was folding a six-inch shirt? ... Sgt. Sellers, thanks for being honest with us."

In the late 1990s, the economy was booming, civilian jobs were flourishing, and military recruiting was down — way down. Not only were recruiters not making their quotas, but the services also were in the middle of a drawdown. After particularly disappointing recruiting numbers in 1998 and 1999, military leaders decided to make some changes. They reorganized some priorities and gave additional money and personnel to recruiting stations nationwide in hopes of making a difference.

Today the Department of Defense (DoD) employs a total of 15,000 recruiters — its highest level in more than a decade. DoD also is spending an all-time high of $11,000 on each person recruited into the military, an increase from $6,000 a person in 1994. In 2001, total costs were estimated at $2.2 billion for 200,000 new servicemembers. Many of the services also have created high-profile publicity campaigns, complete with new slogans, new Web sites, and roadside attractions (see "Glitz and Glamour," page 75).

Obviously something clicked. Today, nearly every service is making its recruiting quota. In the first half of fy 2001, all the services reached at least 90 percent of their target number of recruits; some exceeded 100 percent. While a portion of the recent success is the result of the Sept. 11 attack (The Washington Post reported that many Washington-area recruiting stations received triple the usual number of callers on Sept. 12), recruiters say they will continue using the same regulations and screening processes when selecting new servicemembers.

A noble calling

Aside from any increase in numbers resulting from the services' recruiting overtures, however, young Americans' attitudes toward the armed forces have been warming for a while. In 2000, a Pentagon-sponsored survey reported that 29 percent of males ages 16 to 21 would consider joining the military, up from 26 percent in 1998. That 12 percent jump — the biggest since the Gulf War — is aided, in part, by hardworking recruiters like Sellers who pitch the service to America's young adults.

While recruiters' backgrounds may be varied, most have arrived at their recruiting assignment of their own accord. Many report the respect they receive from their peers after a recruiting tour puts them at the top of their league. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Maurice Compton explains: "If you come off a recruiting tour pretty successful, you're the cream of the crop."

But success as a military recruiter doesn't come easily. It requires long hours, hard work, and the ability to play many different roles: salesperson, counselor, administrator, and mentor. But above all, says Army Reserve recruiter Sgt. José Santiago, a good attitude is the key to a recruiter's success. "I get up in the morning, and I start laughing. ... I'm a happy person, I guess," he says.

Santiago thinks a recruiter's failure typically results from an inability to deal well with rejection — a large part of the job. Even after a recruiter has made phone calls, sent e-mails, and visited potential recruits who have previously expressed an interest in a military career, he or she must be prepared to deal with a prospect's change of heart.

Being assertive also helps a recruiter succeed. Santiago says when he's out in his recruiting area, he tries to engage prospective recruits in light conversation. Since recruiters do not actively recruit in public (i.e., set up tables, hand out fliers, etcetera), he has devised a system: Wearing his Army uniform and official recruiting badge, he heads to the shopping mall — mornings if he plans to talk to store employees, afternoons if he plans to speak with shoppers. And it seems to work. He once went to McDonald's for lunch and asked the cashier if she liked her job. "It's OK," she replied. He gave her his card, and soon after, she called, interested in a military career.

Big man on campus

Some of the most popular locations for recruiters to find prospects are schools. Enlisted recruiters typically go to high schools, while officer recruiters target college career fairs. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer Weggan, an officer-programs recruiter based in Richmond, Va., says that although many students interested in the officer candidate program provide their contact information online, it's worth her effort to attend college career fairs and meet with them face-to-face. While most schools make students aware that military recruiters will be on campus, she says, it's tough competing with civilian companies at job fairs. "They've got tons of money to spend. ... They're giving out shirts," she says. "People tend to look at us as a last resort, but I think that's changing."

Public perception is changing, in part, due to a weakened economy — recruiters like Weggan know that weaker economies historically draw more people to "old economy" jobs like military service. The economic effects of the ongoing war on terrorism should prove no exception.

Another way military recruiters seek potential recruits at universities is through campus ROTC programs. According to retired Air Force Col. Jim Davis, whose final tour was as commander of the ROTC program at Georgia Technical Institute (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, recruiting through ROTC is a big job. Not only was he responsible for Georgia Tech's cadets, but he also worked with students from 11 other colleges and universities in the Atlanta area. Davis says colleges can be tough environments in which to recruit, since many students already are following specific career tracks.

As an ROTC commander, Davis had two roles: instructor and recruiter. With three captains working under him, one of whom was responsible for recruiting students into the existing program, Davis strove to make the Air Force ROTC program attractive to highly sought-after engineering students. "We had to recruit our own people," Davis explains. But he says, "If we could get them through the door and show them what we did ... most of them would stay."

Enlisted recruiters also try to attract students by exposing them to what the services have to offer, but they use a slightly different approach with their high-school-age prospects. Sellers plays a game called "MATTRESS" with students to give them a better idea of military life. MATTRESS is an acronym for the benefits the Air Force can offer an enlistee (money, advancement, training, travel, recreation, education, security, satisfaction), and students guess the words as she leads them to the answers. Along the way, they learn what a career in the service can offer them. She says games like this make class visits far more productive than simply setting up tables and handing out promotional key chains or trinkets.

Strange beasts

But games aside, Sellers says high school environments can be challenging. Aside from many high schools' reluctance to allow military recruiters on campus (a situation that should change per the newly passed FY 2002 Defense Authorization Act, which requires high schools to provide the same access to military recruiters as is given to college recruiters and prospective employers), the students themselves can be tough nuts to crack. "Kids are strange beasts," she notes and describes the way many students will simply pass her by when they are with friends but return later when they are alone. Sometimes they call, sometimes they don't. "These teenagers are rough, they really are," Sellers says.

Other recruiters are similarly cautious about today's teenagers. While they are not quick to write students off, they believe military service could help many of today's young adults. Navy Counselor 1st Class Henry Fernandez, a Navy recruiter, says he has seen a definite change in the quality of recruits from when he joined the Navy. "We had a sense of commitment 20 years ago. ... The young applicant today isn't just coming in wanting to serve the country, but [he or she is] asking, ‘What's in it for me?' "

Luckily for the services, there's plenty to offer today's recruits — money for college, signing bonuses, career experience, and travel. Still, recruiters are constantly battling what they perceive to be a new, self-centered attitude among applicants. Santiago worries that teenagers are looking to "ride for free" off their parents' money and status. And when they do walk into the recruiting station and ask immediately about bonuses, Fernandez says, "I shake their hand and tell them, ‘Have a great day.' "

If trying to add some reality to a teenager's inflated expectations isn't difficult enough, many recruiters also have to provide reassurance for nervous parents. Fernandez says his ideal recruit would be 18 years old, just to avoid any conflicts involving being a minor and requiring parental signatures on the paperwork.

But other recruiters say dealing with parents can be rewarding. Santiago says parents always call him to see if he has heard from their son or daughter and to find out how things are going. "Not everything is bad," he says. "One of the best parts of a recruiter's job is a parent's thank-you call."

Glitz and Glamour Military recruiters always have searched for new ways to promote their service — whether a specific service or military careers in general. Especially during wartime, the services have used propaganda to bolster forces. From the posters depicting Uncle Sam and Rosie the Riveter to the Army's "be all you can be" jingle, the armed services' advertising campaigns have become part of the public consciousness and history. Today's military still uses these media for recruiting, but the services also are adapting to new technology to reach a new generation of recruits. One of the easiest ways the services convey their recruiting message is through Web sites. These sites provide search devices for local recruiting stations, answer questions about military careers, and entertain with high-tech graphics. The Army's Web site has a video series that follows recruits through boot camp to promote its new "Army of One" slogan. The Navy, too, has a new slogan, "accelerate your life™," and features options on its Web site that query visitors about their interests and recommend suitable Navy jobs. But that's not all. Marine Corps recruiters travel with an inflatable obstacle course and pull-up bars, and the Army has a walk-through truck full of sample weaponry. The Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps also attempt to woo their target audience by linking themselves with NASCAR. All three services currently own cars decorated with their new logos, Web site addresses, and toll-free numbers. Stock cars aren't the only high-profile vehicles the military is using — the Air Force has four traveling "Rovers" (short for Recruiting Outreach Vehicles) that visit shopping malls and high schools to show tour of duty videos on their exterior movie screens. The Air Force also has a flight simulator that travels across the country offering potential recruits a taste of flying. You can visit the different services' Web sites through TROA's links page, www.troa.org/magazine/links.asp.

Follow the leader

Another important facet of a recruiter's job is to act as a role model for young enlistees. Fernandez describes the process of recruiting, from meeting an applicant to sending the paperwork and the recruit on his or her way to training (as well as any future contact) as "a big mentoring process." "What I love about this is ... you're always taking care of people. I love to mentor them and see them grow." In the Navy's DEP, a recruit can't leave for at least two weeks after signing in; during this time, Fernandez says he tries to talk with the recruits weekly. "You have to keep an eye on them," he says. "[Their commitment] is not a short-term issue anymore." Compton says the same goes for the Marines. "I take care of guys [who] enlist," he insists. "You develop a genuine [interest in] their schoolwork."

Many recruiters say one of the best ways a recruiter can take care of his or her recruits is to be honest with them and treat them right. Fernandez tells applicants about his service in the Navy and shows them videos about the many career fields. Also, he advises new recruiters to think back to when they first enlisted. "What would have been good for [you] to know?" he asks them. He encourages them to be straightforward: "If you don't give [recruits] a sense of reality ... they don't have that sense to know what [they're] going into, ... [and they can't] make a knowledgeable decision about it. You show them the book and the beautiful pictures, but you have to show them a sense of reality," he says.

It's not just enlisted recruits who need guidance — Weggan affirms that taking care of officer-school candidates also is a big part of her job. In fact, because the officer application process is very involved — requiring transcripts, interviews, letters of recommendation, and a security clearance — she likens it to the stress of applying for college. "We're more in line with a civilian corporation than the enlisted side," she explains.

After she helps applicants prepare their application packages, Weggan patiently waits with them to hear from the Navy's board and review committees whether or not they have been accepted or rejected — a decision that can take anywhere from a week to three months. The struggle lies in encouraging applicants to apply while remaining honest about their chances of being accepted.

But maintaining this careful balance between hope and reality can be difficult for some recruiters facing set quotas. Davis says there have been times when recruiters have said anything to sign up a recruit. Whenever a potential recruit walked into his ROTC office with pipe dreams from another recruiter, Davis says he would shake his head and say, "Buddy, we need to talk."

Of course, the vast majority of recruiters try to avoid giving potential recruits the wrong idea — but wrong ideas can come from anywhere. Sellers says there have been cases where parents in a service have misled their child into following a certain path or making the recruiter promise certain benefits before signing up. "You have kids coming in here with delusions of grandeur, talking about, ‘My dad told me don't take anything less than a guaranteed job.' " And of course it's her duty to break it to them that there is no such thing as a guaranteed job — even in America's all-volunteer military.

Birds of a feather

Most recruiters say they are looking for one thing: someone they wouldn't mind working with in the future. Fernandez stresses the importance of finding the right recruits. "It's not just about enlisting someone but [about enlisting] the right person for us," he says.

It all comes down to weeding through the applications, choosing the right ones, and hoping they feel military service is right for them, too. "Overall," says Fernandez, "the quality of recruits is what we're judged by." Making quota is an important part of a recruiter's reviews, he says, but it's important to focus on getting the right people interested in — and signed up for — the uniformed services.

Despite the daily demands, the many different roles a recruiter must play, and the long hours, Sellers looks at the letters on her crowded bulletin board and says she doesn't regret her assignment for a minute. "I love this job. It's the kids [who] write letters, it's the parents [who] call me."