COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

From CBS News:

Going Army" and making history appealed to 20-year-old Chris Monarch, so he called a Houston recruiting office.

"I recognized the name," he said. "His name was Kelt."

Sgt. Thomas Kelt was the recruiter.

But a new baby changed Monarch's plan to enlist and he cancelled his meeting with the recruiter.

"I said I'm a volunteer firefighter and eventually gonna try to go career with it and I'm just not interested anymore and I hung up the phone," Monarch said.

But the recruiter wouldn't take no for an answer -- with a phone message threatening Monarch with arrest if he didn't show.

"By federal law you got an appointment with me at two o'clock this afternoon at Greenspoint Mall." said Kelt. "OK, you fail to appear and we'll have a warrant, OK? So give me a call back."

In fear, Monarch called the recruiter back.

"He said, 'Oh Chris, don't worry about that. That's just a marketing technique I use,"' Monarch recounted.

If this is true (and it sounds like they have the recruiter's voice on tape, though the reporter doesn't come out and state it explicitly), then this scumsucker needs to be removed from the ranks, pronto. Unethical behavior like this is hurting the good recruiters, because it tarnishes the reputation of the Army, which is still, overall, the most ethical organization I've had the honor to be a part of (Particularly since the "ghost soldier" practice was uncovered by Dave Moniz of USA Today and the Guard finally got more honest about its numbers).

In the conversation I had with the recruiter I mentioned yesterday, he said that people were beginning to get a bad taste in their mouths regarding recruiters. Which tells me that the people are catching on to the conduct of men like Sergent Kelt well ahead of the media. And good recruiters are losing recruits because of the actions of a few bad apples.

I have a recruiter who works full-time for my company, plus a full-time retention NCO. I also have good relationships with a number of other local recruiters, because you never know where good soldiers will come from. If a great prospect walks into my recruiter's office and wants to be a translator, I want to sign him or her up - not for my infantry unit, but for the Intelligence unit next door! And the intelligence recruiters return the favor.

I've spoken at length to my recruiter about recruiting practices, marketing, prospecting, qualifying, and closing. Now, he doesn't report directly to me as a commander, even though it's my recruiting and retention program as a commander. My recruiter reports to the State recruiter. And the state has certain expectations about production. But I told my recruiter I'm not concerned with him getting "X" recruits a month. That's a lousy measure, because it's too easily gamed.

I want my recruiter to simply make more calls than anyone else in the command, talk to more people, and have better qualifying skills and better closing skills than anybody else.

If he does that, we'll get our share. And they'll be good ones.

By the way, I think she got transferred out, but there's a super recruiter who used to work Key West, named Sergeant Arafat - who I only know second hand, from hearing about it from sources of my own.

Sergeant Arafat had a "hoo-ah" attitude which was infectious. If she had a marginal recruit with some weight issues, Sergeant Arafat helped with an exercise program to help them get ready to enlist. She even volunteered her own time to do PT with them and give them fitness tips and techniques, and lead by example.

While other recruiters in the area are suggesting recruits do things as asinine as smearing their asses with Preparation H and then sleeping wrapped in cellophane so recruits can pass the tape test, Sergeant Arafat inspired one prospect to lose 30 pounds over a period of months, and do it the right way.

Sergeant Arafat was up front and honest. Sergeant Arafat didn't have to threaten or cajole. Sergeant Arafat was a leader, and inspired recruits to join because they wanted to be like her.

Now, that prospect signed with some other idiot (who actually fudged the fitness evaluation. Thanks for representing the Army that way, asshat.) But it was Sergeant Arafat who was a positive role model, and gave at least one recruit hope for a better future for herself, who showed her that she could lose some weight (and pick up a boyfriend in the process!!) and improve herself, and it was Sergeant Arafat who got her excited about being a soldier.

Sergeant Arafat I believe has moved on. And even if she didn't actually get to close the deal, she made a positive difference in one recruit's life, and made a positive difference for the Army.

Splash, out

Jason