How do I get people together to be an effective counter-recruit group about the military?

Question

Anyone ever done this and how do you go about doing things, and how do you approach people and what do you say, should I just hand them flyers with my phone number?

all you guys saying to let them make up their own minds, that is exactly what i am doing, give them both sides of the story after the recruiter is done, then they go home and choose based on both sides.

joby10095 for someone who 'believes' in freedom you sure are close minded. in your young days you would not have slapped me, many young men really, really listen to me when I talk with them about the immorality of war. it's the women that are hard heads and never change their minds.

Geoff, people need both sides of the story, if not, we will just have another Timmy McVeigh who comes back angry and will kill more Americans than if he had never joined.

Answer 1

Personally, I would open an office right next to or right across from the recruiting station. I wouldn't get in anyone's face, and I wouldn't lie, I would just make myself availible to potential recruits and calmly tell them my concerns. I didn't do to well on temporary recruiting duty, because I always tried to tell both sides of the story.

Now, you are getting some pretty bad things said about you right now, but I figure you are performing a service for the army. A recruit who talks to you and decides not to go probably wasn't fit to be in the military anyway. One who talks to you and joins anyway will feel he or she made a good decision based on the facts, and won't feel disapointed or angry about things that happen to them that you warned about.

So, you can all call me names too, but I support this persons right to do this.

Answer 2

You really struck a nerve with this question. He is my take and I am active duty Air Force for nine years. First off be respectful to both the recruit and recruiter. The military offers allot and the recruiter is just doing their job. Second, make sure any statements you tell a recruit are rock solid truth and if you must inject feeling and emotion into it do not try to pass that off as truth. Third, offer alternatives to the military and be ready to quickly rattle off some of the benefits because if the recruit made it into the recruiters office it probably wasn't by mistake.

Also, keep in mind that having been at war for half a decade now you would be hard pressed to find a recruit that actually thinks they won't see action. The majority of those joining know what they are getting into, they have talked to friends that are in, talked to family that is in or served and they are fairly certain of their decision. I love the military and recommend it to everyone so I can't see why anyone would want a counter-recruit group. Best wishes.

Answer 3

I would say that some of the more forceful recruiting strategies could be protested against, such as lying, unsolicited phone calls and visits, etc.

However, it's pretty much up to every individual about whether or not they want to join the military.

Ask yourself this - if you hand a young person who's interested in the military a flyer, would he or she be likely to take it home, read it and make an educated decision from there? Most likely not - it goes straight into the bin.

Effective counter recruiting is very difficult to pull off - if you try to influence people's decisions, you'll look like a jerk, though if you try to counter some of the negative strategies used by recruiters, you probably won't get much success.

Answer 4

"all you guys saying to let them make up their own minds, that is exactly what i am doing, give them both sides of the story after the recruiter is done, then they go home and choose based on both sides."

Do you truly and personally know both sides or are you just going from what you've heard about and read from an internet site? There are a slew of sites that get their information from other sites, bad reports, and stories from the point of angle of a disgruntled soldier who only knew a portion of a story but seems to think that they know it all. The truth is, unless you have served and have deployed, you don't know the both sides. You can be in one part of Iraq and think everything is great and running smoothly while another part, nothing is going good. Don't assume you know both sides unless you've been there.

If you want, email me with questions so you can get an informed response on how things work in the army. I can't give you personal accounts of many of the high profile specific incidents that have happened in Iraq with the exception of the rape/murder case but I can give you more than what you probably get from some half baked website.

By the way, mcveigh didn't learn his "trade" from the army. He was infantry for only a short stint and nowhere in any infantry school does one learn how to make large fertilizer bombs or give you a reason to use it. He decided to do that after he got out.

Answer 5

First of all, get them haircuts and a shave. Have them burn their "grunge" wardrobes and dress like they mean business instead of looking like a bunch of spaced-out zombies looking for a frat kegger. Next, select spokesman who can deal with facts. Not emotional crapola. Not "Kumbaya Table", make nice with the enemy, nonsense.
That means they have to cite authoritative figures who have "been there and done that". I can never forget the mass protest at UCLA during Vietnam when they gave adoring attention to a lady who had only been out of the State of Mississippi twice in her lifetime and had never met a single Vietnamese.
Forget the flyers. Folks will just put them in the trash. Find some kindred spirits and start small. If they choose not to clean up, walk tall and speak truths, then find some others.
Because, right now, most of the anti-war crowd is a total joke.

Answer 6

Why don't you just let people make their own decisions? Don't you love your country? Don't you want it to be able to defend itself? The military has enough trouble meeting recruitment quotas, it does not need your help.

Disagree with the war if you will. But never discourage young people from joining the military. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

I would imagine that you're probably young, either high school or college. You probably have absolutely NO life experience. You also probably got this idea from some dumb a** celebrity who doesn't know their butt from a hole in the ground.

Live your life for awhile before telling others how to live theirs. Colleges are brainwashing our youth these days.

Answer 7

It depends on what your flyer's's say, perhaps I should stand in your face and shove a flyer up your *** telling you, you shouldn't stand in someones way.

Why don't you go stand in front of an abortion clinic and let those poor women who are ready to terminate a life, give them an alternate opinion. Oh I forgot that's not allowed.
abort as many as possible.

Who cares what your opinions are, but they aren't yours, they are the people who control you.

The proud Men and Women who serve in our Armed Forces, will forever hold their heads high, they will walk with their shoulders back, able to face anything, will be proud members of their community. They will learn discipline, responsibility, team work and things you will never understand. Stop being a coward and stand up like a Man
MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION. Oh I forgot the sick liberal mentality, (only liberals know what is good). Yeah right.

I would love to read one of your flyer's's, you can start being a Man by letting us see one. After 21 years Naval Service I can tell you if your flyer is BS or not.

Answer 8

People have plenty of information to make up their mind. Your group is nothing more than guys getting together to try to justify what is essentially cowardice. You don't have the courage to do a Man's service and try to couch it in anti-military rhetoric.

Not everyone who serves kills, not everyone who goes to combat dies. No war is a good war but most wars we fight are just, even Viet Nam, as history has shown.

Your people have always been on the wrong side of History. The sad thing is you'll grow up like some of the Flower power guys did whoprotested soldiers in the 60's now they go down and buy a uniform and pass themselves off as veteran's.

Answer 9

Ok, I see that you want to make a counter-recruit group.
Heres what you do... Quit being a leach to this country and do something to help the community or even your neighbors.. There is nothing better in life than giving your own time to help someone else.. I am an American Soldier and damn proud of it.
When I am off duty I still serve my community as a volunteer firefighter. What do you do?? Huh? Sit on your *** and take from everyone who gives without giving back??

Answer 10

People that walk into a Recruiters office aren't unaware of the fact that the decision they make is unpopular or ill advised.
In fact most people know they want to join the military at young ages. if they are high school age they have heard all the rhetoric from their friends and their families. They actually do watch the news.
Would you set up a station next to harvard to talk people out of becoming a doctor?
Most young people that join the military do so because they feel a certain affinity to make that their choice.
I knew from when I was in the 7th grade I wanted to join. Your flyer would have meant nothing to me. But I would have been kind and said no thanks.
I was talked out of it and talked down to for months. But I still went.