> 19 yr old that Wanted Out of the Marines, Drowns at Boot Camp
7 March 2005, 16:04
THE MOST important thing to remember about military recruiters is that they portray themselves as guidance counselors who care about helping students improve themselves. In reality, they are salespeople who are desperate to make their quotas.
For example, recruiters are directed by their superiors to “market” the military’s standardized test—the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB—to schools as a program “to help students learn more about themselves and the world of work, identify and explore potentially satisfying occupations, and develop an effective strategy to realize their goals.”
But the recruiting handbook explains the true importance of ASVAB to recruiters—the test is “specifically designed to provide recruiters with a source of pre-qualified leads. The ASVAB recruiter printout provides information you can’t get from any other list. It...provides the recruiter with concrete and personal information about the student.”
Recruiters often hype education benefits as a way to get students to sign on the dotted line, promising up to $70,000 to help pay for college. But the military actually makes money off this program. That’s because recruits must pay into a fund to receive benefits. But so few end up with the qualifications necessary to take advantage of them that the military takes in $72 million more every year than it pays out!
And of course, recruiters never make the obvious point that education benefits aren’t much use if you’re dead.
THE MOST important thing to remember about military recruiters is that they portray themselves as guidance counselors who care about helping students improve themselves. In reality, they are salespeople who are desperate to make their quotas.
For example, recruiters are directed by their superiors to “market” the military’s standardized test—the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB—to schools as a program “to help students learn more about themselves and the world of work, identify and explore potentially satisfying occupations, and develop an effective strategy to realize their goals.”
But the recruiting handbook explains the true importance of ASVAB to recruiters—the test is “specifically designed to provide recruiters with a source of pre-qualified leads. The ASVAB recruiter printout provides information you can’t get from any other list. It...provides the recruiter with concrete and personal information about the student.”
Recruiters often hype education benefits as a way to get students to sign on the dotted line, promising up to $70,000 to help pay for college. But the military actually makes money off this program. That’s because recruits must pay into a fund to receive benefits. But so few end up with the qualifications necessary to take advantage of them that the military takes in $72 million more every year than it pays out!
And of course, recruiters never make the obvious point that education benefits aren’t much use if you’re dead.