I went to highschool and university in the US - I was lucky that I got a scholarship and that covered pretty much all my tuition costs.
But I had a friend, one year older than me, who joined and served in the US army for something like 2 years just so he could get his university costs covered and to save some money for living expenses.
It may not be intentional, but the high cost of higher education is an excellent recruiting tool for the US military.
I still fondly remember my friend Bob Niederider from high school in the '80s. One day an Army recruiter came to talk to our history class, and at the end he asked if anybody had any questions. Bob raised his hand and said "yeah I have a question: does napalm still stick to kids?" I didn't really appreciate this at the time - and the recruiter certainly didn't, either.
I’ll go against the grain here.
I joined not long after high school because I wasn’t gonna be able to pay for college, not that I was a good student anyway.
Spent most of my 4 year Air Force enlistment in the UK doing what I wanted - sysad, basically. Never deployed.
Got out and worked for increasingly higher pay and now I make $250k+ without a college degree.
I wasn't going to join anyway, but the military recruiter who came to my school in the 90s ensured I wouldn't enlist.
He ended literally ended every phrase or clause with "'n stuff." And I do mean literally. Every phrase or clause.
It went like this:
"If you wanna join the army 'n stuff, you gotta get fit 'n stuff because basic training ain't easy 'n stuff but if you start getting fit now, you'll do fine 'n stuff."
For 45 fucking minutes.
I remember mowing the lawn at home in the early 2000s when an Army recruiter pulled up and tried to get me to sign up. We lived in a cul-de-sac, so he was clearly there for me. I was 17 at the time.
The older I get, the more creeped out I am that they showed up unsolicited and talked to me without one of my parents present.
It was required in my school to take the ASVAB. If we missed we'd face repercussions. I purposely answered questions wrong-- not all of them because it would look too obvious, but I apparently still scored high enough that they still considered me. I got my results in class, we had someone from the military come speak with us and try to get us to sign up, and even text messages.
Shit was so fucking annoying.
I asked a friend of mine from where I used to live if she had to take it and she asked me what the fuck I was talking about.
I mean, shit, I guess when you live in a state that is known for having awful levels of education they figure they can shove you in the military instead.
...Or football.
It's pretty fucked, honestly. They regularly posted up in the lunchroom at my school, recruiting students with promises of scholarships.
We didn't get text messages like this, but I'm not surprised to see it. I do wonder how they get the numbers though. Is it just data broker bullshit or is the school system selling out their own students' information?
Hi I'm SSG Douchenozzle, ever had a nightmare that you can't wake up from? With PTSD we can make that your reality.
We had a recruiter 20 years ago. The kids are smarter these days tho it seems.
When I was in high school, during the last 3 months of the school year ... I forget if they were the Army or the Marines, but they had a table with a display and two guys in the hallway right outside the cafeteria.
That waa back when the coolest phone you could have was a Motorola Razr and computers still had mice with rubber balls instead of lasers... MySpace era. So they just set up in the most highly foot trafficked area of the school.
I had a very anti-war sociology professor that had been protesting since vietnam. Despite his qualms with military industrial complex, he would always say that the the military is the last vestige of upward mobility in the united states as it's one of the few places where you can enter a playing field that is somewhat leveled for new entries, have merit impact your growth, and get access things like subsidized education. Sure there's still racism, sexism, etc. but in terms of economic mobility it provides a decent ladder.
Always has been.
The meaning of "recruiter for your school" might have more to do with the Army coordinating who is actively recruiting where, than someone who is permanently installed at said school. So more "I'm the recruiter the Army designated for" than "I'm your school's recruiter". Big difference. I've never heard of the latter.
I recall a few weeks back in the 1990's where different armed forces recruiters were allowed to set up a booth in my HS cafeteria. In hindsight, it seems like the faculty should have launched a whole job fair while they were handing out favors. Which just raises more questions. Anyway, this recent social media angle fits with the same M.O. - they're super aggressive and will work every angle to get closer to potential recruits.
The bigger problem is that, like all military posts, they rotate people frequently. IMO, there's little incentive to strictly observe social norms since they're never sticking around for more than a couple years. Yes, you can report people, but that has got to feel like playing whack-a-mole.
Back in 2001 the recruiter at my high school very nearly convinced my girlfriend at the time to join up. She was not cut out for that life, and did eventually back out.
i went to a high school that had a JROTC program so having a recruiter was extremely expected for me, but forthem to send unsolicited recruitment texts lol? yall go to some sussy ass schools
Here in Mexico, if they did that, an army of moms would kick their green asses in all of their offices.
"What do you mean "the"?"
You know, there's an aspect to the bond, the camaraderie, the discipline, the fitness that I really appreciate about soldiering. Growing up with films like Band of Brothers practically on repeat, having read pretty close to every book that came out from those guys — well, I have admiration. But at the same time as I grew up and became more leftist I of course had many issues with the volatility of our leadership.
If I could've joined Norway, Canada, or German armed forces under the NATO banner, I may very well have done that. After seeing everything transpiring in Ukraine, I often wonder if I'd have the courage to do what those brave people are doing every day. In the right context, under purely defensive conditions, I'd like to think I would've thrived, but who knows...
But second to volatile leadership is quite honestly the type of people the military tends to attract. The desperate, the jar-head conservative types. If life is on the line, I'd rather not be in a foxhole with them if I'm honest.
But there's a lot of talk that finally the culture may be shifting within the US Military — to attract smarter, better educated people. I know a lot of conservatives are retiring early and not joining up because they feel the "culture is changing," which is a good sign to me.
(UK here) We had some people from the “Territorial Army” (basically reserves as far as I know?) and almost immediately lost the entire attention of class. No one would pay them any attention or sign up
Army is a bunch of parasites on the face of the Earth. Parasites that set the rules, as any ruler turning against them will be overthrown.
Army doesn't make any productive labor; instead, it siphons trillions of dollars making the machines intentionally designed to kill people - and puts them to use.
Society loses literally nothing without armies. They don't "protect" you from anything but other armies, and without armies and wars and threats we could move way further as a humanity.
Don't let anyone brainwash you into accepting this monstrosity. Army is bullying their own countries, bullying and extorting each and every one of us. They are the real enemy. And they will do everything in their power to distract you from that.
"Hey, cool, were friends now, but seriously how you gonna get health insurance or pay for college? Sure would be a shame if..."
I once stole an entire stack of pamphlets from a miltary recruiter it was hilarious.
Treat these guys like the scum they are. "Oh cool what does ssg stand for? Sucky sucky guy?"
and they wonder why they're considered a nation of fuckin rednecks
