Recruiter referrals

[Flying Pig]

I have received two phone calls from parents regarding CAP.  Both parents had kids that were 14 years old, who want to join the military.  These parents had taken their kids to the AF recruiter just for info.  The recruiter gave both parents info on CAP, the CAP web site and our Sq. contact information and told them to get their kids involved in CAP.

Funny thing is, we havn't had much contact with the recruiters yet.  I need to track this guy down since he is obviously pro-CAP. 

[RiverAux]

Wow, thats pretty good. 

[Tubacap]

Outstanding!  You should also get in touch with the NG recruiters.  They are often at schools that are 9-12, and although they are really only interested in the 16, 17, 18 year olds, the 13,14,15 year olds still come up and talk with them.

[DC]

Thats great to have them do that. I have tried to get recruiters to come to meetings to talk about the military, and it has been like pulling teeth from a chicken, the only one I could get was Army, and a Marine agreed to come out, but never showed up. Couldn't get the Air Force or Navy to do it...

[tkelley004]

Thats great to have them do that. I have tried to get recruiters to come to meetings to talk about the military, and it has been like pulling teeth from a chicken, the only one I could get was Army, and a Marine agreed to come out, but never showed up. Couldn't get the Air Force or Navy to do it...

The reason for that is simple. They are worried about (and don't want to invest time) on a kid who isn't ready to head off to boot camp in a few months.....

[BillB]

You may want to work closer with the AF Recruiter. They all need assistance in addressing envelopes to send out to high school seniors. A perfect job for cadets (in uniform) to do after school or on weekends if the Recruiting Office is open.

[DNall]

Recruiters are like teens with ADD. They're under intense pressure to meet extremely challenging quotas that are tracked month to month - it's what have you done for me lately. It's not an 8-5 gig. It's as many 18-20hr days as it takes to meet that mission & you don't see your family except in passing till you're on target. Asking a person under those conditions to give up personal time to come see a group of 10-20 kids that won't even be able to sign up for several years, probably years after this guy rotates out to another job, that can be a challenge.

Now, i have had good working relationships with several recruiters in the past. We're going to have older kids that need to see these guys, and they're going to have younger ones that need to see us. It can be a good mutually supporting relationship with a little time and effort spent to maintain the friendship.

[RiverAux]

HBO has a 1-hour special called "The Recruiter" following one of the Army's best recruiters around (in Louisana) for a while.  Very interesting.

You're right that unless you happen to have a couple of high school seniors in the squadron, you're probably not going to be able to get one of them to show up. 

[Flying Pig]

I have had cadets, and other Senior Members tell me they want to coordinate a recruiter coming to talk.  Honestly, in my experience, the cadets, most of whom arent old enough to join, end up bombarding the poor USAF SSgt or USMC Sgt. with questions about becoming pilots or going to the academy.

If a cadet is in the position to talk to a recruiter and actually join, I will make an effort to put them in contact with one.  In my unit, we have enough members who have been in the military with recent experience to answer any questions most cadets have. When I was in the Marines, my roomate for a couple of years had been a recruiter.  It cost him his marriage.  Working 18 hour days, 6 sometimes 7 days per week.  Whenever I have people suggest I have a recruiter come to a meeting during an evening, I always think about him.  The one time I actually had the USAF guy come when I was Dep Commander for Cadets, I had about 5,  18 year old Seniors who really were ready to join.