Salesman school. Too bad they no longer have a product.
This is not good news.
Maybe the “fat and dumb” description and lack of interest in an entry level job of the industrial military complex is used to cover up their own incompetence at meeting their recruiting goals. They didn’t even realize they didn’t have enough recruits to brainwash others? Why would young people choose to enter another controlled environment after years of living in a schoolhouse? Are the social engineers ambivalent about a standing military or just don’t care about the quality of one? It’s a job…
A nephew is in the Navy and plans on staying there. He lives off base. It’s his job. He entered right after high school and has never worked in the private sector.
(I remember watching that SNL skit live back in the day, hehe.)
My stint was for 12-yrs; best career decision of life. I thrived, made E-7 in 10-yrs, which had most career-types shaking their head in disbelief when I declined to reenlist just shy of twelve years. My reason for getting out was two-fold: (1) My fiancé did not want to be a military spouse; and (2) I hated baby-sitting and dealing those who were lazy, incompetent and/or troublemakers. The amount of time actually doing my job diminished with rank (expected) but also by implementation of various new programs (social mostly) and endless collateral duties. It is demoralizing to be technically proficient yet unable to spend most working hours getting the job done or teaching others the craft.
I too went in after high school and became an avionics technician. In those days most everything was fault-isolated and repaired at the component level. That means one had to “know their 'trons” as we would say. Soon after arriving at my first duty (right out of school), I began to learn that maybe 40% of avionics techs were competent troubleshooters and could find the bad resistor, chip or broken wire without replacing eight good parts first. The other 60% were either green (like me at first), lazy, or in the wrong job class.
My career was stellar in part because, overall, I worked for good people, with good people and had good people working for me. There were exceptions, but that is everywhere. All it takes is one bad NCO, officer, or event to sour a career. I avoided those in my power to do so. Of course, water seeking its own level and a good work ethic played a big role; all I needed was opportunities and I got them. The 3-1/2-year tour of instructor duty was the most gratifying job of my life and prepared me so very well for the several civilian positions I’ve enjoyed since.
I could never have thrived as a recruiter.
My son finished up his four in the Corps and through him, some peers and a few NCO’s I see how much has changed on the inside.
I tip my hat to anyone that can do 20-yrs in today’s U.S. military. I wish your nephew well and appreciate greatly his service. We NEED career military.