Open Letter To Recruiters

[noamnety]

If you find out someone you signed up was KIA, have the decency to pick up the goddamn phone and tell the family you're sorry.

I don't care what your views on the war are. I don't care what theirs are. I don't care if all you do is say you're sorry and then let the parents yell at you while you listen in silence. People need to know their kid was something other than a way to fulfill your quota on the way to your next promotion.

*kicks wall*

[Monkeyman]

1. It would be nice but they are payed by the number of heads they get in

[noamnety]

2. I know, I understand that

But they could take ten minutes out of their lives - unpaid - to comfort a family who's lost a kid, so the family isn't left with that big gaping hole of betrayal when they have to face how little the recruiter actually cared about their child, after all the pretense of being a mentor and adviser and looking out for what's best for them. Ten minutes, so the family isn't left feeling like the recruiter has slapped them in the face after their son or daughter has died.

[BrotherBuzz]

3. Believe it or not there are some recruiters that do follow through

and communicate with families throughout the enlisted persons carrier. I suspect they are few and far between, though. Local PBS affiliate did a story on this subject comparing inner city and rural recruiting. One recruiter in a Northern California 'red' rural area had a genuine relationship with the families of his recruits, but I suspect it was the cost of doing business in small communities where everyone knows everyone; the relationship could lead to more recruits. Bottom line: they are nothing but salesmen.

[noamnety]

4. I didn't know any of them stayed in touch

Mine didn't. That's not a big deal in my own personal life, I couldn't even tell you the guy's name.

But for some, they put a lot of trust in the recruiter, and feel like they are entrusting their child's care to them, sort of.

I read an email yesterday from a parent who sounded almost like a rape victim, naming the recruiter in the way that women name their rapists at events like Take Back the Night.