Greetings to all. I have a few questions and would like honest yet positive answers (if such exist). My husband was recently DA selected for recruiter after he dropped his packet. After researching and reading comments i realized that he went about it the wrong way which is why he is not considered a volunteer. Anyway, i've read some horror comments / stories about recruitment and i have some real concerns. I recognize that any job at any time may require a little more time and energy than others but is it really that bad? I am so fearful now that this may not be the best thing for our family. He decided to go recruiter b/c it would be different and challenging and it wuould give us an opportunity to pick our location (to some degree)and keep us close to my family which is very important to our child and me. He is doing this for us and I don't want it to negatively impact our family. So, can anyone out there recruiters, spouses of recruiters, children of recruiters and the like help me with this. Is it really that bad? Tell me that its some good (other than maintaining our army) that come with this!!!

in my OPINION...recruiting will be as hard and stressful as you and your husband make it...point blank if you are understanding and supportive of your husband you will be all right...most complaints i've heard are of the hours they work...just remember he could be downrange instead of downtown, so cherish the time you do get together rather than complain about the time you don't get together...hope this helps...

hizwyfe,

I just got out to recruiting 2 months ago. I HATE IT! But thats just my opinion. If your husband loved being a leader tell him to forget about it. Theres no one to lead out here just a bunch of other recruiters who hate life.


The hours are o.k not to bad. I work Monday through Thursday 0900 to about 2030. Fridays we get out at 1500, but its not like that everywhere. And I work alot of Saturdays.

It is rough on a family because the stress level is so high because they always want more out of you. If you put in 2, well why didnt you get three, and so on.

Recruiting is cut throat too. You cant trust hardly anybody out here. They are all out for themselves and will throw you under the bus in a heartbeat. When I was doing my job I knew my leaders and fellow troops had my back no matter what. I do not feel that way one bit out here.

And since he is DA select there is no guarantee he will get even close to where he wants. When I went through recruiter school we had people get where they wanted, but we also had people who wanted down south and ended up in Alaska.

Thats my opinion on recruiting. I hope it helps. Me and 98% of the recruiters I know out here are counting down the days untill we are back in the regular army!

Who ever says being a recruiter has no leadership role is wrong. Hate to break it to you but you are a leader. The way recruiting works, noone is ever happy with how much work you do. If you are out there busting your butt during work hours then they are going to leave you alone, if you sit around all day and wait for people to walk in then you are going to be there all day and weekends. A lot of it depends on who your station commander is. I have seen both sides, the recruiter side (current) and drill side (prior). A lot of recruiters are crappy leaders they send Future Soldiers to basic with no knowledge. Tell him to have fun and talk to everyone, don't let someone elses bad day ruin his. Tell him good luck and support him %100

quote:

Originally posted by FromGermanytoIraq:
If you are out there busting your butt during work hours then they are going to leave you alone, if you sit around all day and wait for people to walk in then you are going to be there all day and weekends.

Haha thats humerous, I am one of the top producers in my station, they even moved me to a low producing team so it would help them out. Am I working any less than the zero rollers ???????? NO WAY, I work the exact same hours if not more!!!!!! And I do speak up about it but if I dont do the work then nobody else will, USAREC is the most 8-up organization in the US Army!

I agree with some of the stuff FromGermanytoIraq said, I thought maybe I was being to harsh on recruiting but I learned there is some validity to my previous post when I went to BNCOC with 10 other recruiters from across the country and we all had the same complaints.

Recruiting is a completly differnt world from the real army.. so be prepared. example: I know a young Sgt who is a detailed recruiter .. he just reenlisted and will be leaving soon from recruiting. he went to his company commander to re-up. the CO didnt know the enlistment oath so he said "rasie your right hand" he then handed the signed paper work to him and said "you're reenlisted". That is the kind of world you have to look forward to. Nothing matters but numbers! everything else is just extra army stuff. also E7s are treated much the same as E5s.

The hours are long and fustrating. example: You can be the number one recruiter in the batalion one month and the next month signing a counseling statement because you didnt meet youre mission quota. this happens although you did the same things you did last month. Its luck of the draw .. and dependant on what the recruit wants to do.. or if you can find someone who is serious about the Army. Its like a slot machine .. sometimes you win sometimes you loose.

There will be litle or no time to do college or correspondence courses. You get in a 20:00 eat supper and spend a litle time with the family and go to bed. Most saturdays you work. when you take leave you are still responsible for the numbers .. so when you get back you are automatically behind and will proably be counseled for not making youre numbers that month.

NCOERs will be based on performance in talking civilians into doing something not job performance in leading soldiers as in the real army. My advice is to come up with a system to average what he does each month and take good notes on the good things he does or his NCOERS will suffer. There will proably be no NCOER counselings done .. he will be on his own to try to leave this asignment with a half-way decent few NCOERs

Look at it as an assignment as a used car salesman for 36 months. Do the best you can and as with any asignment be prepared to support your husband .. it will be a long 36 months, trust me .. you'll be glad when its over.