Who has had this experience in the military? (Sub-question: How bad did the Recruiter lie in your first meeting? :))

2015-07-26T14:46:54-04:00

I surely did not expect the Hollywood, "yachts and condos", but my experience was about what I expected. I have heard bad stories of Recruiter nightmare promises.

((If this is duplicate topic, I don't apologize, mainly because there are new folks on RP... Andddd, I got to use a Family Guy clip. ;))

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xvaxsi_what-can-the-us-army-do-for-you_fun

What can the US Army do for YOU? - Video Dailymotion

Watch the video «What can the US Army do for YOU?» uploaded by Sergeant Extreme on Dailymotion.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 2:48 PM

2015-07-26T14:48:30-04:00

My recruiter did not lie to me. He did his job to ensure I knew exactly what I was getting in to.

Response by TSgt David L. made Jul 26 at 2015 2:52 PM

2015-07-26T14:52:45-04:00

My recruiter was a great guy. Took me to lunch and everything. Turns out he had been lying to everyone and expended funds that he wasn't allowed to. When I went in to finalize everything to go to MEPS he was gone. The new recruiter said he was "relieved for cause". Something about all the above as well as being too familiar with some high school girls... Opps! LOL

Response by SSgt Scott Schwerman made Jul 26 at 2015 3:08 PM

2015-07-26T15:08:31-04:00

My recruiter was one of the worst I've met. Could barely answer any of my or my wife's questions, lost paperwork, etc. definitely made me a little disgruntled but didn't make me go away from my end goal and providing a good life for my family and obtaining a career I love.

Response by SMSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 3:15 PM

2015-07-26T15:15:03-04:00

It is funny how many stories about recruiters lying to get people to join. I know it happens. I had very little interaction with my recruiter. Since I am in a recruiting squadron I hear a lot of horror stories about past practices and recruiters getting caught. Hopefully those days are behind us, but there are always bad apples. Especially when it comes to getting too comfortable with applicants.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Jul 26 at 2015 3:21 PM

2015-07-26T15:21:21-04:00

My recruiter was honest with me. I didn't know enough about career options to make competent choices, but that was on me.

The one glaring distortion of the OTS experience was the brochure explaining the schedule to expect. It said something to the effect that breakfast was 45 minutes, lunch and dinner an hour (not direct quotes, but my recollection).

It turned out that these times were the times to feed the whole base. My time was about 5-7 minutes from formation outside the mess hall going in to chow to formation outside the mess hall exiting. And no talking or eyeballing.

The only problem I experienced with chow there was the fried chicken. If it didn't have time to cook you got it bloody and rubbery. It put me off chicken for several years; I couldn't stand the smell of it.

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made Jul 26 at 2015 3:39 PM

2015-07-26T15:39:28-04:00

My recruiter did not lie at all and in fact, he was very honest and polite about everything.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 26 at 2015 3:45 PM

2015-07-26T15:45:25-04:00

I scored perfect on the ASVAB and was informed the only two jobs available were Infantry and Armor. I said bullshit and your deceit is unmitigatingly stupid, then I will given a print out with 40 jobs. I expected a used car salesman and I got one. They should not mess with people's lives and careers like that.

Response by LTC Stephen C. made Jul 26 at 2015 3:51 PM

2015-07-26T15:51:43-04:00

CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member, the man who recruited me when I enlisted on 9AUG69 was CW4(ret) Pete Morris. He was then a Sergeant Major. He's a combat proven SF trooper and Chief Morris' integrity, honor and religious scruples wouldn't allow him to lie to me then, and I don't think he has since. We are friends to this day. CW5 Charlie Poulton SGT Private RallyPoint Member Sgt David G Duchesneau

Response by Sgt Kelli Mays made Jul 26 at 2015 3:55 PM

2015-07-26T15:55:25-04:00

My recruiter didn't lie...I told him up front that I was an Air Force Brat...that I had a dad who was OIC of the computer department at MPC at Randolph AFB...that I was only interested in one job/AFSC and only joining to finish college and getting out. He looked the AFSC up...said I had to go delayed enlistment for 10 months...confirmed I would not need text school (I already had a two year degree)....I took my ASVAB, passed with flying colors and waited. It was pretty simple, straight up and forward for me....but I've heard some terrible stories about recruiters who lied and made all sorts of promises.

So here is a question. Should recruiter who blatantly lie and promise a bunch of things be punished if it can be proven?

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 4:06 PM

2015-07-26T16:06:29-04:00

Wasn't lied to by the recruiter, but, personnel assigned me to a field that was not matched to my skills. They made me an illustrator. I have NO art ability. I can only draw two things - flies and pay checks.

Response by SN Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 4:10 PM

2015-07-26T16:10:13-04:00

I had some poetic justice, I was three months on my first ship and see my recruiter walking toward me in the hangar bay.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Jul 26 at 2015 4:11 PM

2015-07-26T16:11:50-04:00

Chief, you started in 92, so things were much different. I enlisted in 79. They promised us "free healthcare for life" back then if we did 20... Tricare is nowhere near free, and our so-called leaders make it much more expensive every year, with things such as the 60% increase in Pharmacy Co-pay this year.

Response by SGT Misty Harris made Jul 26 at 2015 7:17 PM

2015-07-26T19:17:46-04:00

I had a great recruiter. He was very straight forward and honest. He had been in service for around 18 years or so at that time, had multiple deployments, and didn't have anything to lose. He told me what I needed to score on my ASVAB in order to get a good job and what my line scores needed to be if I wanted to go Officer. At that time, I had no idea what that 110 meant. I just knew it was pretty important according to my recruiter. He told me it wouldn't be all peaches and cream at Basic but it would get better at AIT. However, he told me it would be just like a regular job once I reach permanent party and it was. I remember sending him a postcard thanking him once I made it to Basic for not lying to me. There were so many Soldiers at Basic crying about how their recruiters had lied to them promising them the moon. To this day, I am still in touch with my recruiter via Facebook. I am thankful to him for not lying about the military and I am happy I made that wonderful decision to join the Army. It changed my life forever in so many positive ways!

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 7:17 PM

2015-07-26T19:17:53-04:00

I don't think I was lied to really. Just really misinformed. My recruiter really didn't know what he was talking about. He was a FA guy. But I wanted infantry. He knew of it but he didn't know about the infantry. Later I realized that he wasn't wrong really he just didn't know due to not being infantry.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 7:49 PM

2015-07-26T19:49:47-04:00

The person I went through when I volunteered for the draft,was, Henrietta A. Rolfing., local board 59, Houston, Texas. She helped me a lot while I was getting all my things in order before she sent me my draft notice. BTW, She sent a draft notice to her own son.

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Jul 26 at 2015 8:00 PM

2015-07-26T20:00:44-04:00

My recruiter was a Gunnery Sergeant who has been wounded (almost killed) by a landmine in Vietnam). He looked the part and played the part. He was a poster board type Marine. If he didn't think for a second someone didn't measure up, he would tell them to leave, or try another branch. I saw him do it a number of times. He would say, that gut would completely screw up my Marine Corps, not going to happen.

He never lied to me or anyone that I knew of. He gave it to us pretty straight and let us go through the MOS selection process. If you did not pick infantry (or a combat arms MOS) , he had special names for you.

I remember him coming to my parents house to get their signature, I was 17 at the time. My Dad, being career Air Force, thought I was making a huge mistake. He said, in front of the Gunny, "son, the Marines treat their people worse that anyone. They get the worst gear, the worst bases and the worst food" (he said a few more things too). When he was done the Gunny looked at him and said, you are correct sir, that is all true. He still signed and the rest is history.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 8:08 PM

2015-07-26T20:08:38-04:00

My recruiter was horrible and went to jail for a bunch of stuff, so when I had to become one I went home and made a point to be the honest broker! I did real well even though I hated it instead of writing the minimum 2 a month for 36 months for a total of 76 I wrote 179 contracts in 35 months!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 8:33 PM

2015-07-26T20:33:38-04:00

I appologize to all those who say thier recruiter was the worse. Personally as a recruiter, i make it my goal to get all the needed information across.

I dont let a prospect take the pratice test till i feel they are "into" the idea of processing.

I encourage everyone to loom back, if it hadent been for the "bad" recruiter, you would t be here. Even if so, it gives you a basis of what YOU don't want to become.

On a second note... Try being a recruiter. Not as easy as you would think. Not everyone waltzed into a careere center and said "i heard uncle Sam callin' here i am, sign me up!"

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jul 27 at 2015 7:38 AM

2015-07-27T07:38:08-04:00

Mine never lied to me. There were questions I never asked, and he never volunteered info for, or fully explained, but he never lied. Anything I asked about he told me. I can't fault him for any missing information, because "how would he know, I didn't know?"

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 27 at 2015 7:44 AM

2015-07-27T07:44:39-04:00

CMSgt Private RallyPoint Member awwww yeah. Well nothing that extreme. Though one said that we would go and get the exact job I wanted and if it was not there we would go back next month. Then changed his mind and said if I didn't sign he would leave me there. So I said oh well I'm signing with ROTC, good luck meeting your mission.

Response by MSgt Curtis Ellis made Jul 27 at 2015 12:19 PM

2015-07-27T12:19:50-04:00

With the exception of that one lie, everything else was on the up and up! What lie you ask? (I still feel stupid for this) It was the lie about the Air Force taking summer vacations (like schools)! As I look back, I keep telling myself that maybe I misunderstood... Or was I really that gullible??? LOL!

Response by Sgt David G Duchesneau made Jul 27 at 2015 2:24 PM

2015-07-27T14:24:38-04:00

My Recruiter didn't lie at all. Four of us enlisted on the "Buddy System" and he told us that we would be together at Parris Island in Boot Camp and he also told us that we would most likely be going to Vietnam. And, that is exactly what happened. We stayed together during Boot Camp and then we split up at AIT and we all eventually ended up in Nam. It was better then being drafted!

Response by SGT Kristin Wiley made Jul 27 at 2015 2:29 PM

2015-07-27T14:29:37-04:00

My recruiter was awful, but I was in ROTC before I joined so knew how to find the resources. The bad part was that she filled out my SF-86 for me thinking random information would suffice for getting a security clearance. I had to fill out another at MEPs, but for some reason they put the original in my IPERMS. I'm hoping that's the one that was comprised during the hack.

Response by SFC Joseph Weber made Jul 27 at 2015 9:03 PM

2015-07-27T21:03:09-04:00

My recruiter told me I was extremely good looking and would make an excellent Soldier. Evil, lieing, monster!