what right does someone that never served in the military have in telling people not join?

Question

these people make me sick. I am a navy recruiter, I pride my self in not lying to my potential recruits. yes there are some dirty recruiters out there. but i have been reading questions concerning navy recruiting and some of the answers to these quaestions are crazy. If you have never served in the military then you have no right to give advice on joining or not joining. just because you were either too scared to serve your country or you didn't qualify doesn't mean you need to influince our youth into not joining. people, if you have questions about the navy don't ask the guy that was in the military during the civil war and don't ask the guy that didn't qualify for the navy. ask a recruiter, talking to him doesn't automatically sign you up. you can talk to a recruiter for days. the only way your in is if you raise your right hand and say the oath. on a seperate note, if you want a recruiter to stop calling you, answer the phone and say "I'm not interested" and we will stop.

Answer 1

It appears to me that the majority of naysayers providing negative answers either rant about "not trusting or believing recruiters because they all lie", "recruiters will tell you anything because all they care about are numbers", or "you are stupid if you enlist because you are going to get killed for oil." You are having to deal with and pay the price for the sins of a few bad recruiters (now and in the past), a war that is becoming increasingly more unpopular every day, and the general ignorance of those who have no idea of what our navy or the military in general is all about. Yes, there are a lot of people giving "bad" or "poor" advice for a variety of reasons but they are going to continue to do it. Yahoo tries to do their part by sometimes posting disclaimers to some of the more difficult questions that read along the lines of"The expertise to answer this question is not available on this site and accurate information is available only from a military recruiter." I too get upset when I see negative, misleading or just plain erroneous answers about our navy and I keenly understand and appreciate your frustration. The best thing is to follow the old leadership rule of correcting problems on the spot. So when you see bad answers, jump in and give the correct information thats part of your job. Don't get in "peeing" contests with the poor answerers because you will accomplish nothing other than getting your shoes wet. Keep up the hard work in one of our most thankless jobs. Hang in there Shipmate.

Answer 2

I think you're right it makes no sense to come to a site like this looking for advice about whether to join the military or not. The person should seek the advice of the people that care of him most and someone from the branch they are interested in. like a recruiter but I would also suggest talking to someone inside the branch who's job isn't to get you to sign on to what the benefits are and their experience. Gather all the information you can but don't ask for advice from people you only know via a website.

Answer 3

While I agree with you in principle, I do have to disagree. Being in the service, you of all people, should realize that you serve to protect the rights of the citizenry. One of those rights is freedom of speech. Although some of these people don't have the slightest clue of what happens in the military and probably should not be advising anyone on joining or not joining the military, they still have a right to do it.

You're right, a lot of people on here ask questions that they should be asking a recruiter. If they want to do it that way, well, then they can take the risk of not getting correct information.

I do see what you're saying, though.

Answer 4

I was active for a full twenty and strongly agree with you. i have to point out that if you pay close attention to the grammatical clues (like I do) you'll discover that many of the most anti-military jerks aren't even American. Others are and yes, they are spineless cowards trying to justify their personal shortcomings.

As far as recruiting goes, I'm a lousy source of information. I try to talk people out of joining and everyone of them signs up with a smile on their face, all of them! Try telling your prospects how tough Navy life is and that they probably couldn't hack it. They'll sign up before you finish talking. I even got one guy on this site to go Nuke just by telling him how miserable life was as a nuke in the fleet! Go figure.

Answer 5

ya they do go on and the less they know the more they seem to talk. Having been out of it for awhile I usually give a disclaimer myself, "This is how it was but alot has changed since i was in" The Navy is a good life, At least thats what I thought as a Sea duty Marine on the USS Long Beach CGN-9 (decommisioned)

Answer 6

Seriously, do you innately PREFER bullshit, or are you just unable to make your point without it? Today's random rebuttal: A girl is LESS likely to be raped on military duty and/or on a post than in "the civilian world." There is less crime of ALL types by military personnel and on their posts. Wasn't your criminal history why your enlistment was rejected?

Answer 7

There are still some people out there that still believe that joining the military is for losers, uneducated, felons, as a last resort, etc....
all the negativity!
On the contrary, people joining the military are the opposites of these negative perceptions!

GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!

Answer 8

As a long service petty officer in the US Coast Guard I must say you called it right on the money. I see people who are actively trying to sabotage our military. To my way of thinking that is delivering aid and comfort to the enemy who have sworn to destroy the USA. I believe that is called TREASON.

Just a personal opinion you understand. Good luck and God Bless when next you go into Harms Way.

Hannibal It stops being freedom of speech when they deliberately lie about things to prevent people from joining the service.

Answer 9

I agree, I don't think that if you haven't served that you should try to scare kids into not joining.

I DO think recruiters lie. A LOT. Almost every Marine or sailor I knew had been fed at least a partial line of crap by a recruiter.

PS, I was in for OEF and OIF, NOT the Civil War

Answer 10

Everyone has a right to their opinion. You defend that right.

My hubby (active duty army) isn't bothered by those speaking against joining or the war cause part of the reason most join is to protect everyone's right to have their own opinion.

Thanks for serving.