so this navy recruiter just called me...

[LastKnight]

most aggressive, idiotic hick you could ever meet... aparently before i picked up the phone, he was somewhat hostile to my mother who anwsered. our converstaion went something like this:

Recruiter: this is Jason with the navy recruiters' office, is this Ben?

Me: Yep

Recruiter: so when are we gonna get a chance to sit down and talk about what the navy has to offer you?

Me: im not really all that interested in any of the armed forces.

Recruiter (with slight hostility): many arent interested in what they dont know.

now, this offended me, now i havent been part of any JROTC or any junior military type things or anything like that, but he assumes im uneducated and know nothing on the subject.

thats not the whole conversation but still, in the last month the rectruitment calls have picked up immensely, may have something to do with my 18th b-day being a week from today... but maybe coincidence.

but i dont understand how do they expect to get people into thier offices if they just blatantly insult thier potential cadets? he wanted to show up at my house and bring his propaganda with him, i told him i was busy all week so i dont have to deal with it for now.
ive already told all these different recruiting offices im not interested in the slightest but they just keep calling, what do i have to do to get them off my back? dammit.

-LK

[jpgray]

1. When I was leaving high school, I didn't get a single recruitment call

Maybe my mom got them all--in that case, I feel for the recruiters. :scared:

[JohnyCanuck]

5. Tell 'em you have plans

to go to college and study interior decorating (assuming you're a guy).

[ewagner]

2. You might be interested to know

that part of the No Child Left Behind Act contained a provision to give the military complete access to student records for the purpose of recruiting. Hence, they know all they need to know about recruiting you.

Further, remember that the military is having a rough time wilth re-enlistments and recruits...there is a lot of pressure on recruiters to perform now...I'd bet they have quotas......

[NightTrain]

7. I got calls from military recruiters during my senior year of high school

and that was 20 years ago. Which is why I've been confused about the flak over that section of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" act.

Were the rules changed some time after I left high school, and has NCLB changed them back? Just wondering....

[Katarina]

35. NCLB

<snip>
But when Shea-Keneally insisted on an explanation, she was in for an even bigger surprise: The recruiters cited the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush's sweeping new education law passed earlier this year. There, buried deep within the law's 670 pages, is a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters not only with access to facilities, but also with contact information for every student -- or face a cutoff of all federal aid.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2002/11/ma_153_01.html

My son will be in 11th grade this next year and you can bet I will be filling out an opt-out form. They really don't want to call this house!

[IronLionZion]

57. I also got tons of calls before NCLB

I think they had access before this act and the recruiters are just BSing.

[LastKnight]

8. yea i know they have my grades and my transcripts...

they should also no i have never tried out for a single sport whatsoever so if he wanted to get me interested, he would have offered me a position in the sciences, but i dont think thats where he was headed, he was lookin for somone to clean the toilets on one of the aircraft carriers i think...

-LK

[TheMightyFavog]

39. IIRC,

Recruiters have always had quotas. I guess the higher-ups are just carcking the whips on 'em much more harder than before.

Just be glad its all volunteer. Moyers was calling for brining back the draft on NOW las night.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Next time one calls,

have Phil Och's Draft Dodger Rag ready and play it for them. I'm sure your mom remembers it.

[LastKnight]

11. thing is i donno if these guys would get it...

they sound like thier a year older than me, if that.

maybe play something a litte more recent Rage's "township rebellion"? (main verse: Why stand on a silent platform? fight the war, fuck the norm, why stand on a silent platform? fight the war, fuck the norm)

might work heheh, or they might put me on the 'high interest' list or something just to piss me off.

-LK

[NightTrain]

4. I probably don't have to tell you this, but...

...keep as far away from the Navy as you possibly can!

When I was in, we were fond of saying that "Navy" was an acronym for "Never Again Volunteer Yourself."

[RC]

10. Being in the Navy is better than camping out in a mud hole

and being shot at.

Which branch were you in?

[Another Bill C.]

16. I've got to disagree

The Navy gave me an education that became a career after I left. And this was back in the days before they put in those wimpy bunks and stuff.

I tried to rejoin once but I was too old (26) by then.

Nowadays, they can guarantee your specialty training before you sign up.

[Laughing Mirror]

6. Threaten them, report them for harrassment

Tell them you'd be happy to serve your country if your country pulled its military bases out of places it doesn't need to be in and stopped participating in the murder of innocent people all over the world.

Scream and curse if you have to, but don't let them intimidate you. Which they will try to do. They prey on young innocent naive people.

[LastKnight]

19. report them to who is the question? nt

[Laughing Mirror]

24. Tell recruiters you are reporting them for telephone harrassment

Ask your phone company where you file a complaint for telephone harrassment. Nobody should be harrassing you over the phone. Nobody.

[TheMightyFavog]

41. Actually..

The number to call should be right in the front pages of your phone company's direcotry.

[m-jean03]

9. What you have to do is be just as aggressively

a pacificist and liberal and tell them you don't want DU poisoning or post-traumatic stress and furthermore you find all violence abhorrent and would they leave you alone. Just stick to the "all violence is abhorrent" line. Repeat ad infinitum. Hang up whenever you feel like it. On second thought, maybe that is best to start off with.

[laura888]

61. Excellent advice! well put <eom>

[kodi]

12. tell'em "can i shower with the other guys? i really like to do that!"

chances are he won't call back.

[LastKnight]

14. i have a friend who told an army recruiter that, and on top of it...

he told them he was legally blind and only had one leg (all of which he is not), they still called back a week later.

-LK

[7th_Sephiroth]

13. i never got a recruiter call

but i did get literature in the mail, but after i applied to do some computer work on a base through a private company, it all stopped, odd, huh?

[Renew Deal]

15. Tell them you don't want to die in Iraq

for a lie.

[LastKnight]

17. that one i save for the army, marines, and reservist recruiters nt

[proud patriot]

18. Call your Congressperson to request they stop calling you .

:hi:

[LastKnight]

20. are you sure they will do anything?

i understand that recruiting calls are a necessary part of the system, but its getting excessive, and i donno if a congressperson will do anything, because they know/think its necessary for recruitment numbers.

-LK

[proud patriot]

21. When this new system went into place

that schools had to turn over your info to the military
one of the things mentioned was that the only way to get
them to stop calling was a request from your congress critter .

I really don't know if it will work or if your congress
critter will even act on your behalf , but it may be worth
a try . Especially if continues to feel like harassment .

My best ,
proud patriot

[TheMightyFavog]

37. Part of No Child Left Behind, IIRC.

But I don't think you have to go so far as to get a hold of your congressman. I think all you have to do is get the parents to do some paperwork at the School's office in order to get your name of the recruiter's lists.

[liberalhistorian]

28. I wonder how many kids from

middle-class and affluent districts are being called? My guess is very few. The military desperately needs warm bodies right now, more young, naive kids they can send into the quagmires and use as pawns for the Bushista's political and imperialistic ambitions and agenda.

My son is almost thirteen and I know it'll be awhile before I have to deal with this. But you can be DAMNED sure that HE WILL NEVER EVER GO INTO THE MILITARY, EVER! He's my only child, and I will NOT let the military get their hands on him, regardless of what his fucking freeper father, Mr. "I'd be proud beyond words if my son died for his country" thought or tried to do.

[Donkeyboy75]

29. I was a suburban middle-class white kid

ten years ago at 18, and got calls from the Army, Navy and Marines. If I remember, all of my friends did too. This could have changed, but I doubt it as they need warm bodies now more than ever.

[Bog Frog]

32. please forgive me for this question, because you don't know me

and I don't know you, but: What if your son wants to go into the military? No offense implied or intended. Just a question.

[NightTrain]

34. I "wanted" to go into the military myself when I was 20.

Left college to do it and everything.

Nobody I respected and trusted tried to talk me out of enlisting, either. But I wish they had. Christ, how I hated my Naval experience!

[liberalhistorian]

43. YOU were in the Navy, Dean?

Wow, I had no idea, lol! Somehow, you just don't seem like the Navy/military type! Guess we still have a lot to find out about each other, huh?

[liberalhistorian]

44. I seriously doubt that that would ever happen,

but if it did, I'd try my best to talk him out of it, maybe use the usual guilt trip about how I didn't sacrifice my life to raise him so that he could end up as cannon fodder for a political agenda, (and I DIDN'T!) etc., etc.

If that didn't work, then I guess I'd just have to accept it and deal with it, since he'd be old enough to make that decision himself. But you better damn well guarantee I would be one unhappy, pissed off mama!

[Bog Frog]

46. thanks for the answer

I'm certain I'd do the same if I had a child. I can't imagine the horror of seeing a son march off to war, especially the one Bush has given us.

[liberalhistorian]

47. I'm Liberalhistorian's son,

and I have no intrest in the navy, army,etc.whatsoever! If they ever called me, I might say somthing like: "I don't wanna spend my life shitting in ditches!" Then I'd slam the phone!! And I'd never be swayed a nanometer by my fucking freeper father to join the millitary! NEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NightTrain]

48. Is that really you, Chris? Or is your mom just goofing off?

If it really is you, then hi! :hi:

[liberalhistorian]

52. Yes, it really is me!

Notice that on the last sentence I put 13 exlamation points at the end of the sentence. And in case you are wondering a nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

[NightTrain]

56. I've heard quite a bit about you, Chris.

And judging from your performance here tonight, I'd have to say that Lisa has done a great job of raising you! ;):yourock:

[Bog Frog]

53. Are you sure?

Because your answer wasn't quite vehement enough . . . :hi: j/k

I don't want liberalhistorian or anyone else who loves you to lose you. Study hard and make your brain more valuable than your brawn; if there is a draft, maybe then they'll put you in the rear or in a computer bunker. Good luck. :)

[NightTrain]

33. Ted has a lot of nerve calling Chris "his" son.

Motherfucker wouldn't even agree not to smoke in the house when Chris was visiting. (Never mind that the boy has respiratory problems!) Not to mention that it's been several months since he gave you a dime in child support.

[liberalhistorian]

42. That's for sure, Dean,

if he and his fiance want to fuck up their own son's life (he's almost four, his birthday is three days before Chris's) that's their business and I have no control over that, but I'll be good and goddamned if they're going to do the same to Chris! They do NOT want to fuck with this mama!And neither do ANY fucking military recruiters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :nuke: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :grr: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :argh: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Shrubhater]

66. Acually Dean,

My respretory problems ended 10 years ago. (just an update.)

[NightTrain]

67. Glad to hear it!

By the way, I hope you didn't take offense at the things I said about your father. Your mom has told me some stuff about that situation that I really found distasteful!

[LastKnight]

40. my family is upper-middle class

and i get called all the time, as do my friends in similar and higher income brackets. i think thier bothering everyone.

-LK

[Ernesto]

22. Sounds kinda like how a door knockin'

bible thumper would treat you.... The assumption is that a poor lost soul can never understand unless they agree to be "helped".

[BiggJawn]

23. "If my partner signs up too, can we bunk together?"

You'll never be called again.

Fond memories of "Uh,Sarge, I'm not really sure I like girls...Know whuttahmean?"

[cboy4]

27. LOL!!!!!!

[Cat Atomic]

25. Just come on to him.

Seriously. It worked for me. Ask him what he's wearing.

They'll stop calling immediately.

[Narf]

31. LOL! Ingenious solution...

Wish I'd thought of it first.

[TheMightyFavog]

36. Hell, I've been doing this ever since High school...

They usually hang up within a minute.

Although, I once had a Navy recruiter stay on the line for over three minutes. I just kept hitting on him, and he just kept going on with his spiel. I had to get really explicit just to get the guy to hang up.

[sleipnir]

26. Best way to get rid of them is this

Just tell them you have a "knee injury" from sports which your doctor tells you has now limited you to running less than a mile at once. You then tell them that "when I talked to the guy from the {Air force, Navy, Marines, Army, use whoever isn't calling you} he said this was probably going to be a problem and it might make me ineligible, is that right?" (of course it is, they can't take you if you can't run a single mile!)

It worked for me, they guy on the other end always kinda stumbled, said "Uh, yeah, I guess so...uh....do you know anyone else who might want to join up?"

It's a nice non-confrontational way to get rid of them. Don't fear them, just hang up like you would on any telemarketer. Or launch into a long diatribe on the Iraq War, Bush, the misuse of the military, etc...

[TheMightyFavog]

38. I've done this, as well.

About a year ago, I pulled my hit on the recruiter scheme for the last time. I couldn't tell from the voice but the recruiter eneded up being female. I got pretty damn explicit because I just wanted the recruiter to fuck off at the time. I felt so bad about myself afterwards that I have never used the hit on recruiter tactic ever since. I just tell 'em that I'm over 100 pounds over MAW (Maximum Allowablw Weight), and they just ask me if I know anyone else who's interested in joining up, I say no, and that's it.

[BiggJawn]

59. I was afraid to "hit on" the army recruiter...

Because she was cute, I was 19, and she might have said "yes" to get me signed...

I only "played Gay" to get rid of Sergeant Buzzcut of "Yor YOO-Knighted States Muh-REEN Core!"

[Narf]

30. Best way to get rid of them is tell them to f**k off and not call again.

Get the guys name and phone number. If he calls back again call the police and report him for harassment, and then call his supervisor and tell them the same thing.

[DemoTex]

45. DemoTex and the Navy recruiters: Post Vietnam

I had just gotten off active duty after 250 combat missions in the skies of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. I was hanging out in Auburn, Alabama, doing the VVAW thing. I saw a ad for orientation flights in a Navy T-34 for potential Navy pilot recruits. Heh-heh, says I. I went out and signed up for an orientation flight.

A young Navy Lt (jg) put me in a flight suit, briefed me, and took me for a ride in the T-34 Mentor. I played dumb as a rock. Finally, he asked if I'd like to take the controls. He talked me through keeping the wings level, and holding altitude and heading. I wandered at first, to keep him off-guard, then I got real good at straight-and-level. He complimented me. I said I liked it. Let me do a little more. He said OK.

I was in the back seat. I could see him in the front of the tandem-seat T-34. I watched him relax as I did a fair job of straight-and-level. I even let him give me the throttle. I cracked it open for a bit more speed.

When I thought he was totally comfortable with my "novice" flying, I yanked back on the stick, bringing the nose up to a 30-degree pitch attitude, then slammed the stick almost full-left for a crisp aileron roll. By the time he got his hands on the controls, the perfect maneuver was completed, and he realized that he had-been-had. I fessed up and we had another 30-minutes of aerobatics in the T-34. I even taught him a thing or two that might be useful in his upcoming deployment to the South China Sea, Yankee Station, Vietnam.

[puerco-bellies]

49. Ask him..

If you can take your favorite bong to bootcamp. BTW I served on a guided missile destroyer, if the military is not for you then it is not for you. There's more chicks in college then on some god forsaken deployment.

[Nevernose]

50. SIGN UP! (on the D.E.P.)

A bunch of my friends and I did this when we were 18-21 years old. Sign up for the Navy on the Delayed Enlistment plan -- or whatever they're calling it these days. The recruiter took us to Disneyland, Magic Mountain, the moviesm, and dinner every 2-3 weeks.

We even went for the physical. An all-expenses-paid vacation to the nearest induction center (or some technical military term); Phoenix sucks, but it has great bars that don't card. And we passed the physical -- high on magic mushrooms (this was in the early nineties, I can't imagine things would be too different now).

How did we get out of our commitment to the United States Navy? We went to the final thing-a-ma-jig stoned. We actually passed the bong back and forth on the way to the recruiter's house.

Just think about it: Disneyland, for free. (Hey, uh, you think I could get one 'a them Mickey Mouse hats?) :evilgrin:

[BlackVelvetElvis]

51. When I got my degree I was too old to join and they still called me

This was a couple of years ago. It was the army and the guy was very nice. We made each other laugh and he told me that he enjoyed talking to me. He left me alone after that.
The navy recruiter you talked to sounds like a real dick.

[Nevernose]

55. The Navy has a higher enlistment age than the others

One of my friends (see my earlier post) was 31, and they agreed to make him a gunner's mate second calss or something like that.

[notadmblnd]

54. Next time they call

tell them you're dead.

[IronLionZion]

58. I've gotten tons of calls from the Marines

never the Navy. They are usually polite if you are polite and if you ask them to put you on their do not call list then they might stop.

[jmowreader]

63. I got the most calls from the Marines

Or at least my mother did. I was indisposed.

Apparently they liked my test scores and thought I should join the Marines. So they called while I was in high school.

And the summer after high school.

And during the months of November, December and January 1981.

And the months of March through August 1982.

Finally they called on the 19th of August 1982, when I was home. The call went like this...

"Hello, this is Staff Sergeant so-and-so from the Marine Corps Recruiting Station, asking you if you'd like to hear about the terrific opportunities we have for you in the United States Marine Corps."

'No, I don't want to hear about the terrific opportunities you have for me.'

"And why not?"

'Because in four days I will report in to the 101st Airborne Division, and I think they'd be upset if I joined the Marines. You were informed that I joined the Army over a year ago, right?'

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

60. Tell them you are a wealthy member of the Bush family and

have "other priorities."

Or, tell them that you are opposed to the Iraq invasion/occupation and don't wish to die for an unworthy cause and president, if that's what you believe. That'll get them off the phone pretty quick, and maybe even a nasty response too!

Ultimately, like any other telemarketer, you have no obligation to stay on the phone with them. If they won't shut up or let you off the phone, just hang up. I don't have any compunction hanging up on telemarketers anymore. Doesn't make me feel bad or impolite in the least, and that's what recruiters cold calling you are, telemarketers. When they won't take your polite no and get off the phone, they have stopped being polite and forfeited any expectation for you to be.

By the way, there's no doubt it's because of your approaching birthday. You've made it into their database.

15 year Navy vet here. Had a great experience in the Navy, but wouldn't voluntarily touch the military with a 100 foot pole in this environment.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

62. "Is it cool that I'm gay?" Actually they'll probably pretend they

didn't hear you say this, LOL.

[Missy Vixen]

64. Here's a tip for the females they're calling

When I was in high school, dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I frequently babysat for a Naval officer and his wife. Nice, nice couple.

When he heard that my school's senior class was being harassed by recruiters, he told me to ask them the following. (Bear in mind that this was 25+ years ago, long before Tailhook and the recent scandals coming out of the Air Force Academy.) He instructed me to ask any recruiter what the percentage was of females being raped or assaulted on Naval property every year.

I used this once. I never heard from another recruiter.

Julie

[Shrubhater]

65. If you wanna get rid of them,

try this: as soon as the phone rings, get your mom and tell her to say that you moved out of state. then tell them a fake number. Try that. :hi: