I Think Therefore... I AM

What is military recruiting ?

Military recruiting is sales and marketing on the scale of a multinational corporation. As with all sales, the military is "not selling the steak; it's selling the sizzle ." They are selling an "image" of life in the military. The reality of military life is very much different from what the television ads, the van and hummer traveling shows to high schools, the "free" video games, the web sites, the movies, and, ultimately, the students' new "best friend" the recruiter promises.

The Pentagon spends about four billion dollars each year to lure students into the military for four or more years. Four billion dollars is $4,000,000,000.00. That comes out to about $14,000.00 per recruit each year. Those are hard cash tax dollars paid out to private advertising agencies, video game developers, web site developers, simulator developers and much more. Recruiting is big business.

Recruiters are highly trained salesmen. Like most salesmen, recruiters are selling themselves as much as they sell any product or service. They target groups of people who would be most likely to succumb to the sales pitch. They have sales manuals that help them sell students on the military image. They learn marketing techniques. They get "sales leads" from all sorts of places that parents, students and community influencers would least expect. They qualify these leads. They have monthly quotas to meet just like any salesman of appliances or timeshares or used cars or cell phone plans.

Recruiting for the military is great duty most of the time. Recruiters can be stationed in exotic places, like Fort Lauderdale, Honolulu, or San Diego. It's a lot better than being stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan, places you never heard of or knew where they were until the military started bombing them. Recruiters are highly motivated. Their continued duty as a recruiter, pay raises and promotions are based on how well they sell the military to students. And the stories of how far recruiters will go to meet their quotas are all over the media. If the recruiters can't sell the student on the idea of serving in Iraq, they might end up serving there themselves.

What counter recruiting is

Counter recruiting is the exact opposite of military recruiting. Counter recruiting is guidance and advice. Counter recruiting is about substance rather than image. Counter recruiting is about giving students the tools to burst bubbles that military recruiters blow. Counter recruiting is about questioning assumptions and authority in order to come to some truth. Counter recruiting is about coaxing students to do something they have been learning to do for 12 years, THINK for themselves.

Counter recruiting has nothing to sell the student and nothing for the student to buy. There are no video games, TV or radio ads, "free" mugs or pens, traveling sideshows, or movies. There are web sites like this one, and you'll find links to them all over this site.   Tax payer dollars do not support counter recruiting; convictions do. Counter recruiting organizations can't spend $14,000.00 to convince one student not to enlist. If they could, they would probably give the student the $14,000.00 to go to college to learn diplomacy instead or learn a civilian trade to help build the country. Counter recruiting is done on a voluntary basis and is supported mostly through donations of time or talent. We're not asking for money here. That's done on another web page.

Counter recruiters, like Anti M, ask students to do what they have been learning to do for the past 16 years: think for themselves. Counter recruiters encourage students to ask questions of themselves, their parents, their teachers, their guidance counselors, their school and district administrators, and certainly the military recruiters who come onto the students' campuses. Counter recruiters encourage students to question authority and assumptions. Counter recruiters think that if you know the answers, you can't learn anything new; but if you have the questions, there's no limit to the new things you can learn.

Who counter recruiters can be

Counter recruiters can be students, their parents or other family members, people the student admires (the military calls them "influencers"), or someone from the community who is interested in really helping a student be all he or she can be. Counter recruiters are people who can volunteer some time and talent to share. Many counter recruiters are, but don't have to be, very busy people. Counter recruiters can be of any sex, age, race, creed, national origin, and all the rest of those diverse traits that make someone unique.

Enlisting as a counter recruiter

You've thought about it. So be, know, do. Anti M is looking for a few good men and women to volunteer to counter recruit in the high schools and on college campuses. You heard her, Anti M wants you to enlist, but not in the military. Have some time? Have some talent? Serve your country, serve your community, serve yourself or someone you love, or maybe even someone you've never met before. Save a life, save a mind, save a heart, save a soul.

As a counter recruiter, you'll want some basic training. The Truth Project, Inc. will provide you with it without ever getting in your face or degrading you. This basic training is based on treating people with respect, not dissing them.

Even if you can't serve as a counter recruiter in the schools, you can still be of service. Volunteers can contribute other talents to support counter recruiters. Or maybe you're like Anti M and have time and talent for bother counter recruiting and supporting counter recruiters.

As a volunteer, you control when, where, and how much or often you serve. You also control how you serve and what talents you use. No one requires you to give up your rights, serve a period of indentured servitude, never question authority, do something you don't want to do, take a break or quit. There will be no punishment. Anti M won't even try to make you feel guilty. Just GOOD.