WasNeverHere
Unverified
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2016
- Messages
- 26
Hello,
Recently, my 18 yo son asked if his mother and I would meet with his recruiter. He was on the verge of signing a contact, and wanted our input. When I was 17, I enlisted in the Army, and only involved my parents because I needed their signatures, so God Bless my son, for consulting us, when he wasn't legally required to do so.
Personally, when I was 17, I had tremendous resources available to me, a father with a DoD career, and an older brother in special ops, but because of how they felt about my enlisting at all, I failed to utilize them, in my recruitment process. With my own son, though I've never encouraged him to serve, I've made it clear that I'm at his disposal, to help him get whatever he wants out of his time in the service, in whatever area he feels drawn.
At 17, I didn't realize that many recruiters were no better than (probably worse than) used car salesmen, preying upon the ignorance and exuberance of their youthful targets. Although my ASVAB scores qualified me for every job in the Army, I was steered into a needs of the Army MOS, with little regard to my very specific requests; that's not a grudge -- I'm far too old, and that was far too long ago to be any more than a cautionary tail to others.
So, anyway, I'm here to gather intel, to help my son navigate the recruitment minefield that got his father, who was less wise and more impetuous, at about the same age.
Recently, my 18 yo son asked if his mother and I would meet with his recruiter. He was on the verge of signing a contact, and wanted our input. When I was 17, I enlisted in the Army, and only involved my parents because I needed their signatures, so God Bless my son, for consulting us, when he wasn't legally required to do so.
Personally, when I was 17, I had tremendous resources available to me, a father with a DoD career, and an older brother in special ops, but because of how they felt about my enlisting at all, I failed to utilize them, in my recruitment process. With my own son, though I've never encouraged him to serve, I've made it clear that I'm at his disposal, to help him get whatever he wants out of his time in the service, in whatever area he feels drawn.
At 17, I didn't realize that many recruiters were no better than (probably worse than) used car salesmen, preying upon the ignorance and exuberance of their youthful targets. Although my ASVAB scores qualified me for every job in the Army, I was steered into a needs of the Army MOS, with little regard to my very specific requests; that's not a grudge -- I'm far too old, and that was far too long ago to be any more than a cautionary tail to others.
So, anyway, I'm here to gather intel, to help my son navigate the recruitment minefield that got his father, who was less wise and more impetuous, at about the same age.
