Nobody Asked Me, But...Recruiting Starts in the High School

Recruiting young men and women into the military is a marketing process that does not necessarily start at home or in the recruiting office; it starts at high school. Virtually every public and private school has some semblance of a career curriculum. And although an individual’s vocational selection process is long and convoluted, any thought of the military often originates in the school’s counseling office.

In my 20 years of school counseling I have written effusive letters of recommendation and praise to recruiters’ commanding officers, and I have barred other recruiters from my school. I am amazed at the professionalism and intuitive talents of a few recruiters, but I am perplexed at the ineptitude of others. My experience is that if a counselor does not support a particular service, few will enlist in that branch.

Telling others how to do their jobs may seem a bit presumptuous, but some recommendations for working with a school counselor might be helpful.

Rarely do students suddenly decide to enter the military during their senior years. Preschoolers will tell you they want to be firefighters or police officers or cowboys; they already are considering occupations. Waiting until kids are seniors before talking to them about the military is simply too late. An annual 15-minute talk to junior high students in social studies or a video in career class can be productive for recruiters in the long term.

Never lie. When things do not work as the student planned, his or her parents will not call the Secretary of the Navy or even the recruiting office—they will yell at the school counselor.

Students ask counselors all sorts of questions about the military, so it is imperative that counselors keep abreast of occupations, salaries, training, and changes in the military. Because so few of today’s counselors have been in the military, most have little knowledge of the services, the potential educational benefits, the pay, or even the negative aspects of military service. The military has changed greatly, and those of us who served many years ago are just as much in the dark as those who never wore a uniform. Counselors need to know what is realistic for individual students. Every guy wants to be a SEAL or a fighter pilot. They need to be given straight answers.

In all my years of counseling a woman recruiter never has called on me. Half our population and more than half of the college students in the United States are women, yet they tend to be overlooked by recruiters. Approximately 10% of my students enter the service. Of these, only one young woman joined the Army Reserve. This is an untapped source for recruits that is being ignored.

A few years ago I stumbled across a student who had, at best, a mediocre grade point average. He was not a bad kid, but he ran with a bad group. Reviewing his record I discovered he had an IQ that placed him in the top 1% of the population. Since he had no real post-secondary aspirations, I convinced him the Navy might be a good way to do something constructive. Before he could complete his enlistment process, however, he found himself in serious legal difficulties. His recruiter recognized that this young man had incredible talents, but he needed direction in his life. The recruiter, the county sheriff, the county attorney, and I took a hard look at the situation. Left at home, this man might have become a life-long problem for the community. In the Navy he might become a productive citizen. As a Navy veteran, I gave the recruiter my honest recommendation that I would trust my life with this man. With that, he arranged for charges to be dropped if the young man left for the Navy immediately. It is with pleasure that I can report he finished high in his boot company, finished first in his "A" school, made petty officer in the minimum time, saw much of the Pacific and Asia, and recently reenlisted.

This was a success for the community, the student, and the Navy. But it was a success only because I understood that this man was military material and because the recruit chief had trust in my judgment. When recruiters and school counselors work well together, it can be a mutually beneficial arrangement for everyone.

Dr. Regan served as a communications technician in the Navy from 1969 to 1973. He is the author of In Bitter Tempest: The Biography of Frank Jack Fletcher (Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press, 1994).