Military recruiters continue to have a difficult time gaining new recruits with new numbers released this week revealing that the Army National Guard missed its recruiting goal for the ninth straight month. Here in Grand Rapids, local military recruiters appear to be getting desperate, with recruiters turning to the bizarre tactic of posting flyers on telephone poles in the downtown area. The flyers, advertising a cash bonus of up to $20,000, job training, benefits, vacation, and travel around the world, have the business cards of local Army recruiter Sergeant Frank N. Sowell attached.
The posting of flyers in the downtown area is a different tactic for local military recruiters who typically conduct their recruiting efforts using the methods outlined in the military's guidebook for recruiting high school students. These methods include setting up ROTC programs in the GRPS high schools, participating in public events such as the annual Martin Luther King Day march at Grand Rapids Community College, promising money for college, bringing military vehicles to local high schools in order generate interest in the military, and maintaining a constant presence on high school and college campuses. The recruiting guidebook recommends that recruiters try to “help” school administrators, offers tips on how to flatter secretaries by remembering gifts for secretary's day, and outlines methods that can be used to develop relationships with students. Although the manual does not specifically tell student to target people of color and low-income students, it does encourage participation in events such as Hispanic Heritage month and Black History month. The manual also does not encourage recruiters to lie, although it is well-known that military recruiters routinely lie to gain new recruits.
With military recruiters having a heavy presence at local high schools and colleges, it is unfortunate that up to this point, there has been little work done by local activists targeting military recruiting. Around the country the counter-recruitment movement has taken off with numerous demonstrations in schools and at recruiting stations while parents organizing against recruiting have become a major problem for recruiters. Locally, the Institute for Global Education (IGE) has a sub-group, the Committee on Military Dialogue, working on recruiting issues, but they have not had a very visible presence.
