Is the Army Actively Campaigning for Recruits? (My Title)

Feb. 18, 2003 | stanz

[stanz]

I was wondering if the daughters of any Freepers have been approached by Army recruiters both on and off college campuses to enlist. My daughter has been asked on several occasions both at Fordham and by recruiters on the street if she's interested in ROTC or in enlistment at the present time.
Since she is a workout-aholic, I was wondering if that might affect her being canvassed. Is it the policy of the military to actively recruit women? I'm curious to hear any of your experiences.

[big'ol_freeper]

I spent a couple of years doing ROTC duty at Penn State University. Each ROTC detachment is given a "mission" of how many cadets they need to recruit and how many officers they need to produce each year. The Professor of Mil Sci and his APMs are evaluated in part on how they produce based on their given mission numbers.

There are categories of people that they have a specific mission for. They would include nurses, engineers and other sciences, and minorities as well as overall number of cadets. There is no mission specifically for women, but if a gal is a science major or nurse then she will likely be recruited.

[TankerKC]

The military actively recruits. Period.

[PatrioticAmerican]

If you have a problem with women on the front lines: Too late. They are already there.

[stanz]

These people on campus have no idea what her major is and neither do the recruiters who operate from booths on the street. But, they do have such information such as her cell phone number which they probably got from Fordham. She hasn't really declared a major yet. I just thought this was unusual.

[stanz]

Who said I had any problems?

[wtc911]

Rose Hill or Lincoln Center? I kinda like the notion of recruiters doing their job on the LC campus. btw...Air Force ROTC was active when I was there.

[stanz]

Lincoln Center.

[rangerwife]

Yes, the Army actively recruits females. And yes, they canvas (sp?) universities. My hubby is on recruiting duty. He has put females in the Army and for the most part, surprisingly he finds that the females are more willing to commit than males...I think because most of the females already know what they want to do...ha ha.

He also worked over at UNC-Chapel Hill as the on campus recruiter for a year, but his recruiting command decided to do away with that program. His office was located in the ROTC department. In addition to recruiting for the active Army, he helped recruit people for ROTC. Now he's back in a regular recruiting station, but he still heads over to campus to seek out recruits. ROTC has its own recruiters that are separate from the Active Army and Reserve recruiters.

I know first hand that the ROTC dept at UNC actively seeks females. The commander there is a female Lt. Colonel, but they were actively recruiting females before she came on board. I thought about doing ROTC thing and took some classes last summer. However, hubby and I discussed it at length and decided it wouldn't be the best thing for us because it looks like he's going to do his 20 and retire (we have 2 children.)

ROTC is a pretty good way to go. You can pretty much "try before you buy" so to speak. I think a person can do it for up to 2 years without a commitment to the Army or pretty much until one is a junior in college and they have to "contract" with the Army. Now, I don't know if that means that one has to pay back any money if they'd gotten any to that point. I'll have to ask hubby as he would know. When I took the classes, I had no scholarship, but I had been approved for one for the fall semester, but like I said, we decided against that route. If you have any other questions, I can ask hubby if you'd like. Take Care.

[mil-vet]

My daughter, also a workout freak, on full volleyball scholarship to college, was enthusiastically recruited by the local Marine recruiter (also a female). It was apparent that the recruiter was looking for female candidates who could excell at the physical, as well as mental, rigors that the military life demanded.

My daughter nearly signed to do the summer camp basic training, a program designed around college schedules which allows candidates to get a jump on their training so they can go on active duty with much of the initial training already completed immediately after graduation. This would have interfered with the two-a-day workout schedule for her volleyball team (for which she has been the starting setter since day one of her freshman year) and put her in jeopardy of losing her starting position and her scholarship, so she opted out. It was close!

Her boyfriend, an outside linebacker of the university football team who wears one of those "REAL men marry athletes" T-shirts, was glad she didn't go - LOL!!

[alisasny]

Listening to the recruiters on campus sure sounds like a better route then listening to the leftests on campus.

[stanz]

Thanks for your advice. My daughter just turned 20, but she's not a full-time student. She intended to defer college altogether because she has spent the last 11 years training for professional ballet and is still hoping to land a company job. In the meantime, she's attending Fordham in the evenings and spends days training, working out and exploring the possibilities of becoming a fitness trainer while she is in-between ballet jobs and/or the decision to attend school full-time. By 21 or 22, you're over-the-hill in ballet.
Joining the service has crossed her mind as has joining the NYC police force. She has aided in arresting 2 pieces of scum already.
At any rate, I was just curious as to why these people are always approaching her. She happens to be away right now on a temporary ballet gig. I will bookmark this thread for future reference.
Thanks for your interest. It may come in handy someday.

[leadpenny]

My son will graduate from college this May and be commissioned a 2LT in the Infantry. Never having had anything to do with ROTC during my 21 year Army career, I found this e-mail from my son's PMS interesting. I had no idea how many were commissioned or in which branches:
_______________

Ladies & Gentlemen,

The fill line for each branch below is important to know for both cadets and cadre. MS IIIs/IIs/Is need to understand where a branch that they are interested in gets filled. So, the lower the number means that branch gets filled more quickly than the others and that to be competitive for that branch, you need to have that national OML number or lower to get that branch, i.e. # 1 of 3,222 is better than # 3,222 of 3,222.

XXXX XXXXX, Lieutenant Colonel
Professor of Military Science
XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX University
(XXX) XXX-XXXX

FYI, the cut-line for each branch in the top 85% of the Oct 02 cohort is as shown. There were 3,222 cadets/2LTs considered by the Oct 02 OML Board. The 85% cut line for the OML overall was cadet # 2,739. The number below indicates at what national OML position a branch was filled in descending order (Infantry was most selective and Ordnance was least selective):

Infantry (IN) = Cadet # 649 closed the branch (Most Selective)
Armor (AR) = Cadet # 886 closed the branch
Military Police (MP) = Cadet # 954 closed the branch
Finance (FI) = Cadet # 1306 closed the branch
Aviation (AV) = Cadet #1529 closed the branch
Military Intelligence (MI) = Cadet #1557 closed the branch
Medical Service (MS) = Cadet #1565 closed the branch
Engineer (EN) = Cadet #1566 closed the branch
Field Artillery (FA) = Cadet #2197 closed the branch
Signal Corps (SC) = Cadet #2330 closed the branch
Air Defense (AD) = Cadet #2357 closed the branch
Adjutant General (AG) = Cadet #2461 closed the branch
Transportation Corps (TC) = Cadet #2540 closed the branch
Quarter Master (QM) = Cadet #2621 closed the branch
Chemical Corps (CM) = Cadet #2677 closed the branch
Ordnance (OD) = Cadet #2691 closed the branch (Least Selective)
_____________________

I know it is a little off subject but the figures do give some insight into how and in what numbers the Army gets Officers from the ROTC programs. These numbers are for just this year I'm sure. I have no idea what MS means but OML is Order of Merit List.

[stanz]

That's for damn sure!

[stanz]

It was apparent that the recruiter was looking for female candidates who could excell at the physical, as well as mental, rigors that the military life demanded.

I kind of figured that was the major reason for all their interest.
She recently became interested in in-line speedskating and is devoted to competing in some races in Central Park and other N.Y. venues. She competed for the first time last August and placed 3rd, so now she's eager to train.

[stanz]

Have to leave my cubicle now for the long haul home in the snow. Will be back at you tonight. Thanks.

[Illbay]

They aren't actively recruiting men, because they turn away more male applicants than they need.

They are, I suspect, actively recruiting women because their "army of one" requires "diversity quotas."

It think it's sad, btw. In principle I am against the "unisex" armed forces, but am willing to bite my tongue. But I dislike the notion that they might be specifically targeting women for recruiting efforts, when there are men who might otherwise be eligible who can't get in.

[stanz]

This is interesting.
It gives you an idea how college graduates are placed. I suppose those with biology degrees are placed in the medical service, those with math degrees go to engineering. How do they make distinctions among the others? For instance, why was your son placed in the infantry ( the most selective) while others were placed in ordinance (least selective), etc.?

[stanz]

The idea that someone might want to recruit my daughter is new to me. None of her college friends (from Fordham or elsewhere) have been approached. We have no relatives in the military nor has she made any inquiries into ROTC training. On the one hand, I am flattered to think she could have what it takes to be a soldier. On the other hand, I am concerned that she would become a statistic in the Army's quest for diversity.

[StolarStorm]

No disrespect intended... but did you condsider the possibility that the recruiters find her attractive and are using the recruitment conversations simply to "chat her up"?