Recruiter Blues...

[100_Percent_HOOAH]

Anyone looking for a career in the military has heard the "recruiter horror stories" at one time or another, so im curious to hear yours.

I have one of my own to say the least, much to my dismay. I enlisted in the Army and went on DEP for awhile. At first I was not satisfied with my contract and I was told renegotiation was no problem...well it was. I got so sick of dealing with the changing stories and bull****. They told lies to my family as well as me. I got so sick of the crap that I dropped my enlistment and I'm debating if I should even give another recruiter a shot. I never figured you have to go through such a ****storm to serve your country....

[96B]

I happen to know EXACTLY what you are talking about, which is why I am no longer going into the Marines. I enlisted last October in the USMC DEP and I will be getting my discharge papers within a week from now so I can enlist in another service. I was originally supposed to ship to Parris Island on July 14th, but I was having trouble with my pullups and my ship date got delayed about a month. Well finally when I could pass the IST to ship to boot camp, my recruiter told me that I would be shipping out the following Monday. Well, on Friday I was discussing with my recruiter how excited I was to get my particular job and he looked at me and said "If you get it". Well it turns out they did not tell me that I "lost" my contract since my ship date was delayed and they were going to allow me to think that I had my job. Basically they were trying to trick me into going in on an open contract! They then tried to make me choose another job from their list. There were hardly any jobs left to choose let alone decent ones. All along, nobody told me anything about losing my contract if I didnt ship out on time. In the midst of being lied to my face and almost tricked into possibly being screwed out of four years of my life, I told them I was no longer interested and left. In retrospect though, I was getting lied to before I even enlisted. Originally, I told my recruiter I wanted an Intelligence job and that was definately what I wanted to do. He told me all about it and that I could get the job but the DAY after I actually enlisted he told me it was not available but there are plenty of other things to choose from. See, with the Marines, you enlist and then they give you a list of what is available to choose from and you hope they have the job you want open at least that is how it was with me. I talked with the Army and Navy recruiters and they told me that you tell them what you want at MEPS and you enlist with that job already in your contract. The main mistake I made was that I never even talked to the other services before I went to the Marines so I didnt know anything about their opportunities or jobs. I do not in the least bit hold my situation against the actual USMC, but instead my recruiter and some of the others that work with him. I am not a gullible person and expected to hear exaggerations and them trying to convince me to join or that the jobs are great etc but I NEVER expected them to lie directly to my face and my parents. Oh well, I guess you live and you learn.

[JiJoMacLE45]

You mean you couldn't get a slot with the high speed, low drag operators of bulk fuel?

[USMarine3521]

man you guys got bad recruiters, ive always felt blessed about joining the Marines after hearing a million stories about bad army recruiters.

semperfi2003, over here you can change your job as many times as you want until you ship to boot camp, the recruiters over here will even extend your ship date to make sure you get your job as long as it doesnt exceed a year, i dont know whats the deal up in NC, you should have just asked them to extend your ship date to wait for an 02 job to open up because you have up to 1 year.

[James]

When I enlisted in 1993 (I dropped out of college at the end of my sophomore year), I did pretty well on the ASVAB and all that. Initially, I was open contract, USMC. After reveiwing my ASVAB, my recruiter told me I was qualified to do anything as an enlisted man. I expressed an interest in helicopters, thinking I would be an instant crew chief or a door gunner (I was only 19 at the time, so don't flame me :o ). My interest in "aviation" was translated by my recruiter into becoming an Air Wing fire fighter. I took a deep breath and told him infantry, period. I guess he thought I was a decent catch, and I was able to be a grunt for a few years.

Those of you that wish to enlist - learn everything you can about what you want to do. Study hard for the ASVAB if you need to; a high score gives you more options. Last but not least - don't knock the combat arms. It might not give you a great deal of practical skills when it comes to working in the civilian world, but it gives you some good skills for life. Stress and hardship take second place to getting a degree, earning a living, etc. Adapt and overcome. Also, TAKE THE GI BILL! :D It is definitely woth it, one of the best investments you'll ever make.