Since my MOS is overstrength in E-6s, I’m tempted to convert to 79R. Can someone give me the no B.S. rundown on what life is like in USAREC?

I disagree with you. I have never had to lie as a recruiter and I am not a salesman. I've been in both sides of the spectrum making mission and not and now I am a station commander. It's all about if you know your market and can explain why your not doing well

SFC (Join to see) - I have never had to lie either. I am still in contact with a lot of my recruits, most are NCOs by now. I never really had to “sell” anything either, I was myself and be as transparent as possible.

Thanks to the both of you for your input.

Actually is the opposite, if you want to learn what it really kestrel to be a leader, go recruiting. It takes true leadership to motivate and individual to join the Army.

SSG Case, I disagree. I think it develops you as a leader. It's easy to lead when you have the UCMJ to back you. It is something different completely when you have no legal authority to back you. Kids can and do walk away at the last moment and there is nothing you can do about it. To keep them motivated and influenced to ship off when everything around them says it's a bad idea takes leadership. It's a more pure version of leadership as you only have your influence and charisma to get the result you want.

I was referring to the leadership ability of many 79R. From my 2.5 years out here I’ve seen more terrible examples of leadership than I have good ones (I have seen 2-3 good NCOs who are 79R). NCOs who don’t care about their subordinates; only their careers, who see issues within their organization and don’t move to fix the issue when it’s within their power, who only see numbers on an excel sheet and not individuals who are joining the Army, who preach that they care about you and your family but mandate you work more, who claim you can continue to go to schools to develop your career; but only mean NCOES (which is mandatory).

Recruiting is a tough job, it’s hard to go from the job you chose to talking to High Schoolers and their parents and convincing them to join the Army. What makes it harder is the stubbornness and inflexablilty of USAREC. Every center across the country down not fit into one mold; there are rural, suburban, and urban communities which each require a different approach to hit your target market. But let’s all come in on a Saturday for 5 hours and call people, or restrict recruiters from doing school visits.

As far as motivating FS to ship, I would rather take a DEP loss than ship a kid to basic who doesn’t want to be in the Army. I would rather not enlist them in the first place! But if you don’t enlist somebody you are worthless.

Being a detailed recruiter certainly develops you as a leader, but so does every other experience in your life. You can always learn something from the leaders above you; either the good things to do, or the bad things not to do. I personally have learned things not to do out here. And outside of the few good 79R I have met, I mostly see bad leaders being allowed to meander through a career and collect a paycheck.

Meant that it is NOT like changing your MOS when Re-enlisting

Thank you for the quick response.
I already was a recruiter in the past, I left USAREC as a detailed recruiter in 2013. Basically, I want your take on being a 79R and what life is like currently in USAREC. I want to know if the positions have changed (future soldier leader, packet NCO, prospector, etc.), what the work hours/schedule is, physical fitness, morale in USAREC, plus if there is anything else that you think I should know.

Every place is different, in my station we do everything start to finish, there are no positions. We have long hours mostly because our furthest school is a 6 hour drive. We go tdy for SASVABs and for MEPS runs. It all depends on where you end up.

Wow! TDY for MEPS runs? LMAO, that’s nuts! It’s good to hear about the positions. I like handling my own stuff- when I was in, after prospecting I had to hand off my recruit to the packet guy, then they hand off the future soldier leader, then they ship out. I would just rather handle everything myself so I know my recruit is taken care of.
What would you say the climate in USAREC is?
Thank you for your time.