European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 02, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse N for that its Tan Ilse Ood Jan with line jest if. Toes it incl Tuy m d v h we and when you re not doing your army of " Wilson told Taylor you can go Down to a Craft shop where they have automotive tools and for 50 cents an hour you can work on your own car. You d like that would t you Sute Taylor responded though he put of the decision. Talking to kids Lik Taylor is easy for Wilson. He shares their interests in cars and the outdoor life but even More importantly he s talked to so Many of them Over the past few years that he knows what they re doing who their Brothers and Sisters Are where a part time Job for a teen Ager might be found and maybe even who is spending too much time at the Cork and bottle bar across the state Una in new York where the drinking age is Only 19. It s a lot different than in the Days of the draft when a Recruiter was most Likely nearing the end of his career in a Hometown setting spending his time harvesting Young men who believed that by signing up for three years they could avoid the infantry or Vietnam. Today walk ins Are so rare. Wilson says when a Guy walks into the office and says he wants to join the army immediately the first thing i do is look out the door to Soe How far behind the police Wilson has put 275 people into the army in the past four years enough to make him the army s third Best Recruiter in 1984. To and his colleagues have met the goals set Lor them or this year. But things Are going to gel tougher. For the current fiscal year the armed forces must bring in about 320.000 people to maintain a strength of 2.1 million. A vast majority of the new people come from the 17-24 age group. Right now there Are 32.4 million people in that group. But the Pool is shrinking every year and according to projections it won t Bottom out at about 27 million until after 1995 when most of the kids of the baby boor generation Start hitting their teens. Another problem is the rising number of Young people who go to College so percent in Bradford county for example. And there s the rising affluence of America that allows youngsters with High school educations to put off career decisions knowing mom and dad will help out. Dennis Potter a Navy Recruiter in Falls Church va., said a Prospect once told him. If i want to go to sea i la get my dad to buy me a the Pentagon though it has so far rejected suggestions that the draft be reinstated. Is concerned that maintaining the numbers for the All Volunteer service May require a lowering of intelligence standards. In the first six months of the current fiscal year 88 percent of the army enlistees were High school graduates despite a 90 percent goal. A defense department study ordered by Congress said there Ara indications even now that the number of High Quality recruits Are starting to Navy recruiting chief Commodore Michael c. Colley says the Days Are gone when recruiting was very much an and hoc operation. If you needed 5.000 people in a Given month you d Tell your recruiters to find 5,000 people and put them on the Martin Len Ken a Brookings institution expert on my Leary manpower said recently that As the arme j forces Field increasingly sophisticated weapons systems their requirements for specialists and technicians Are expected to even on the front Tow. Bin Ken pointed to a study that showed a direct correlation Between grades on the military s Basic intelligence jests and the ability of soldiers to hit targets with a Tow anti tank mls Lle. Given America s budgetary problems Sinkln adds he s not sure the armed forces will be Able to afford the ugh salaries pensions and benefits now being used As the main incentives to enlist and keep personnel. Of All the things done in the recruitment realm the advertising is the costliest and perhaps the clearest indication that the Era of the simple Uncle Sam wants you is Over. Pc big business Ore Endeavor. The army is spending about $65 million a year on television advertising alone with its be All that you can be Campaign and its Effort to make recruits think of High tech training rather than Foxholes and bayonets when they think army. The army s advertising budget Breaks Down to $3,856 per enlistment and some experts believe Congress will be asked to provide More if recruitment gels tougher. The air Force which because of its image As the ultimate High tech training ground has Little difficulty filling its 61,000-recruit goal has the lowest recruit to and Cost. $1,427. The Marine corps runs its marketing Campaign from a world War la Vintage suite of offices presided Over by it. Col. . Luken a combat Veteran with a Bone crunching handshake bristles Lor hair and a hot line to the j. Walter Thompson and Agency. Standing amid the clutter of advertising storyboards and videotapes of award winning Marine commercials. Luken explained that until the Advent of the All Volunteer army in 1973, j. Walter Thompson did the marines production work at Cost. It was a gift from an executive who had served in the corps and wanted to do a Public service. Now with a Mulli million Dollar Media budget the marines pay their own Way. While the Navy ads Promise adventure the army Sells education and the air Force pushes technology the marines Are sticking with guts glory Natty uniforms and the attraction of being part of an elite Tough group. Said the sword and that ran during the super bowl this year you begin with raw steel shape it with fire muscle and sweat. Polish it to razor Sharp perfection. What you end up with is a Marine. We re looking for a few Good men with the Mettle to be such ads. Luken says Are aimed at the generation that does t remember the ads help but it still takes people like Wilson in Towanda to get names on armed services contracts. And people like his superiors who every Day pick up their telephones and Call Towanda to demand insistently. Did you put anyone in the army today like All mice recruiting starts with lists of names. Wilson gets the names of All the High school juniors in the county the names of people who sent away for r. Free Wristwatch or pair of tube socks in an army sales promotion. Thanks to Friendly managers he also gets the names of kids who have applied for scarce Obs at local fast Tood restaurants. So far privacy Laws have kept Wilson from getting lists from the state employment office that would Tell him which 8.8 percent of the Bradford county work Force is without jobs. Armed with the lists they could get As Well As the names of people they be met at dozens of school assemblies and county functions Wilson and his colleagues staff sgt. Bruce Valentine and sgt. Jim Stone make Telephone Calls and try to set up appointments. Most of the time it s a dead end. But the army has figured out that ii Wilson makes a huge number of Calls a percentage will result n lace to face appointments some of these wit result in full scale testing leading to some tentative enlistments and ultimately to the 72 people Iho army thinks the Towanda office should provide each year. Wilson tries to think of everything. The state is building a new Highway Bridge Over the Susquehanna River and when the project ends scores of Young labourers will lose their jobs. Wilson thinks he has a Good shot at getting the construction company to give him a list of Laid off Young people vulnerable to the army s pitch. A major source of recruits Are referrals from Young people who have already signed up and Are waiting to inish school or vacation before reporting to duty. These Are members of the delayed entry program and Are dubbed it papers. A Depper who brings in another recruit can win a promotion to a higher pay Grade even before entering the service and especially keen Bird dogs Are Given Plum assignments spending 45 Days in their hometowns As assistant recruiters alter finishing their army training. Pvt. Celeste mice a cosmetologist who says she joined the army and became a military policewoman to prove to my friends i was t the airhead they thought i was was Back in Towanda this summer living at Home and working in Wilson s office. Her assignment Call friends Tell them How neat army life was and try to get them to join up. One Friend agreed it might be of but what about Basic training Mickley responded. Whenever they told me to do something i did t like or was scary i just laughed and did despite such assistance the True Mother lode of recruits for Wilson and his colleagues is the county s High schools. Wilson estimates that of the seniors who join the service 75 percent will be nabbed by the Recruiter who gets to them first so his staff tried to make Contact last year with nearly All the 878 seniors who graduated in Bradford county this year. At Troy High school where they get help from guidance Counselor Wilson and his team signed up 17 of the 66 male graduates last year. On his map of the county Wilson Points to North East Bradford High and scowls. That s a Marine school we Don t do Well there at All. I think a lot of the teachers Are like 75 percent of army recruiters Wilson was drafted for the Job getting a dreaded letter from army personnel four years ago telling him he was being sent to a silk week recruiting school and then into the Field. Recruiting can be a difficult life for servicemen and women and their families who have grown used to life on posts Cut Price commissaries nearby medical facilities and rows of houses filled with other sergeants with the same Lingo sense of humor and concerns. It s Tough to be a Recruiter Wilson says. We work 12-hour Days it s expensive to live off the Economy even with the extra pay we get. The hardest part for Many Guys is we have to learn How to talk to after four years in Towanda he eels a bit burned out travelling the country roads making the same sales pitch Day after Day and most of the time being rejected after making his Best Effort. He also remembers having trouble sleeping especially during a period he went 28 straight Days without a Sale. You can talk to someone Lay it All out really try to show them How joining the army would be the Best move they could Ever make for themselves Wilson says. You wait for hem to respond and you Don t even get a a i?1 2,1985 a Bolosh. Howard Rutherd Wilton in it farm boy. It an army a Vruir a in Towanda a. The stars and stripes Page 15
