Recruiters Lie.

[Decoligny]

Thank God hurrican Andrew destroyed my recruiting office. It gave me the opportunity to get out of Air Force Recruiting with my honor intact and my career undamaged.

I never lied to a single recruit.

My Flight Supervisor wanted me to ask the drug questions like "You know, if you ever used any of the following illegal drugs that it will make you inelligible to join up, you haven't done any of these....have you." Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

I refused and still made goal for the single year I was recruiting.

I bumped into a young lady that I put into the Air Force a few years later, she thanked me for helping her make the best decision of her life.

Her friends that were with her were amazed as they wanted to kill their recruiters.

I always like to greet the Marine Recruiter with the question "Found them yet?"

The Marines: We're looking for a few good men.

[dwtt]

There is always that 10%. While my USMC recruiter never lied to me, I do know some guys that got royally screwed over. Ever seen the look on someone's face when they went through all of boot camp thinking they were going to be an infantryman, only to find out at the end that they had actually signed a contract as a cook? It is not a pretty sight...

This happens with open contract enlistments. The recruit thinks he had a guaranteed MOS, but the recruiter puts it in as open contract. The poor guy becomes a cook or truck driver or gas pump operator.

[lehn20]

well they dont have to lie anymore.
Recruiting numbers are up bigtime because of the economy and Hussein Obamas promise of surrender ( oh I mean withdrawel) from Iraq!

[jrcarr2]

Recruiters lie?



"I joined a different Army."



On a serious note, I'd encourage anyone joining to do as much research on their intended career in the military. Recruiters can't know everything about every military career. I knew more about my prospective job than my recruiter did when I joined the Navy. (ultimately it still wasn't everything lol)

[360PA]

With the abundance of information about many different things through the internet, there should be minimal if any "my recruiter lied to me" incidences regarding the nature of the job or life in the military. Servicemembers are often members of forums and many are more than willing to tell you about the Service. The recruiter messing with the contract is another story, there you as the person signing away your life should be reading it line by line, or having someone who represents your interests doing so. People never do, car loans, home loans, etc... that is evident by some of the problems we are seeing now.

[geeknow]

Some do, no doubt about it.

Id say a fair 70% to 80% of the time its applicants hearing what they want to and new Privates (barracks lawyers) who think they know what the heck is going on.

So, based upon your observations, 70-80% of the people either "hear what they want", or "think they know what the heck is going on"? As you are the professional, I will take your word for it. From that, one could make the logical conclusion that one of two phenomena is present.

Conclusion #1 - 70-80% of the people that walk through the door are just not bright enough to be in the military despite despite your careful tutelage.

Conclusion #2 - 70-80% of the people that walk through that door ARE bright enough to be in the military but wind up thinking they got lied to or got a bad deal.

Personally, I would not bet on Conclusion #1 and given the overwhelming amount of anecdotal evidence that has, over a period of decades, pointed to "creative" pitches made by recruiters, feel that may be the case.

Now, you may consider me to be a ****stick, as you so eloquently put it in your first post. That would do nothing but support my belief.

[Trapper]

[CavTrooper]

So, based upon your observations, 70-80% of the people either "hear what they want", or "think they know what the heck is going on"? ...

Id say alot of it has to do with the fact that there is SO MUCH information about the Military and Military life in general, its impossible to impart all of it to a person in such a short periodof time. In fact, most Military folks are still learning about programs, benefits, drawbacks, etc weel into thier careers. It appears to me that sometimes people have ideas about how something should be, dont ask about it, the recruiter doesnt tell them about it (not purposely, but it never comes up) and when the person learns that thier ideas are wrong, they blame thier recruiter saying "he lied to me".

There are some recruiters who do flat out lie, like the one who tells people that the NG doesnt deploy overseas, thats BS and everyone knows it! However, I cant blame the recruiter 100% because if the applicants have an ounce of common sense they would do thier own research. Like was stated earlier in the thread, there is so much info avalible on the internet and other sources, theres no reason for someone to not be as informed as possible when making the decision to join the military.

Let me take this time to apoligize to my NG brothers for any offense. I know yall work hard and are right there side by side with RA Soldiers in theatre. Ive had my own negative experiences with some NG Soldiers and I shouldnt generalize and put it on all of you. I apoligize.

[ChuckBooty]

I have served in the Active Army, Army Reserves, and the Army National Guard. I can tell you from first hand experience that it's ALL THE SAME ARMY. I don't know what you have against the Guard, but you should go ahead and take your nose out of the air and think of the Guard soldiers who have died in combat the last couple of years. And as far as wearing a different name tape, Guard soldiers have EARNED the right to wear "US Army" on their chest the second the graduated from ARMY BASIC TRAINING! And you think you're so hard core, I'd invite you down for a weekend in Los Alamitos to train with the 19th Special Forces Group.

[ChuckBooty]

Let me take this time to apoligize to my NG brothers for any offense. I know yall work hard and are right there side by side with RA Soldiers in theatre. Ive had my own negative experiences with some NG Soldiers and I shouldnt generalize and put it on all of you. I apoligize.

Must have been typing at the same time. Apology accepted brother.

[bohoki]

i would love to hear any specific lies they are accused of

[thebloodsonthewall]

My recruiter never directly lied to me well one small one but that was no big deal. He did tell me something and then add details to it at a later date. Like the $70,000 college fund. At first he made it seem like anyone in my immediate family could spend any amount at anytime. Then it changed to I had ten years from the time I am out of the Army to start spending it. Now a limited amount of it can be spent by my wife and kids.

I can see how people could hear what they want to from their recruiter and take it to mean something different.


My recruiter is doing a great job. There was a mix up in the beginning and CavTrooper got it fixed for me. Now I have the Station Commander from a different office as my recruiter. He has to drive about 80 miles to come down here every time I need something from him. I think he has been down 4 or 5 times so far.

[Regulus]

[docsmileyface]

My recruiter never directly lied to me well one small one but that was no big deal. He did tell me something and then add details to it at a later date. Like the $70,000 college fund. At first he made it seem like anyone in my immediate family could spend any amount at anytime. Then it changed to I had ten years from the time I am out of the Army to start spending it. Now a limited amount of it can be spent by my wife and kids.

A lot of us who've been in for a while have heard conflicting things too about that, most of our info on it came from the Army Times and a lot of it changed around each subsequent edition with each revision the new post-9/11 GI Bill underwent in congress.

[Vectrexer]

Most recruiter lies are lies of omission, or misleading fact about assignment choice after signup.

Having been Navy enlisted I advised my son about the whole recruiter mentality. They are after all, rated on their ability to recruit effectively. One of the recruiters my son talked to was an Army recruiter. Even though I sat right there and listened along with my son the Army recruiter repetitively omitted facts relevant to the positions (MOS's) my son was interested in. No outright lies like we'll give you $1 million for college. But there were several omissions related to possible duties and post training assignments. When I chimed in during their conversation the recruiter was definitely uncomfortable with my clarifying the facts around his story.

When I enlisted in the Navy I also noticed the same thing. Several people who were in boot camp with me were not happy that I was guaranteed a rating they were told was impossible to get. I'm lucky I held out for what I wanted and had a recruiter who seemed to be genuinely interested in helping me plan my entry. It didn't hurt that my plan included bein the the delayed entry program.

On flip side, I noticed my son hearing what he wanted to hear, and also making unrealistic assumptions about what he expected to do. It's a mistake common every inexperienced person who is excited about something new. We tend to give a undeserved glow to some things we are looking forward to. Military job hunting is no different. Especially when the recruiter is blowing air up your ***.

In the end I was glad I could provide some positive input and guidance about military entry and post boot life. If he ever signs up I am sure he'll be able to better find a career that suits him and also get the details in writing before signing the enlistment contract.