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Unfortunately the way I see it, they're targetting neither. I was mainly talking from a High-School standpoint, where they come to the school, show commercials in the school, have posters, ect.
Who they try to appeal to are the narrow-minded kids that don't have a plan for a future. Oddly enough, they go all the way to other end of the scale and try to get people that score "high" on tests like the ASVAB. Not average graded people like me that DO know they have goals later in life. (Funniest part is I have an IQ of 140 and scored near perfect on a test-asvab.)
You're right, I might be a little bit ignorant and narrow-sighted because of my own lack of service. However, when I did speak with an Army recruiter at the station and did some personal fitness training with them, I met the CO of that post. He was a graduate from West Point, O-3, expecting promotion soon. Never seen a day of action in his life, or anything close to it. Qualified in weapons, but didn't do any extra training. On the other hand, my actual recruiter was an E-5 Sgt. that had been in Bosnia and several other operations down there. He almost lost his hand in combat. I might not have been in Vietnam or WW2, but I DO know, from simple logic, that I would prefer to have the Sgt. who might not be a West Point grade, fighting by my side, rather than the Captain who might be quite a bit smarter, but has never seen any combat experience whatsoever. Who makes a better leader? The Veteran or the Genius? I dont know...
Alright stop right there. When I recieved 5 pamphlets on Army benefits and 1 on the actual job, that's when I formed this opinion. You are risking your life, you're right, you deserve all you can get. However, when you look at the military as a
"career" you're placing it in a class along with a doctor or an engineer, or even a car salesman. When you're trying to stay alive day to day, everyone is dieing around you, and you personally don't know what is going to happen next, it's not a career, it's what you've got to do. Obviously, these days, there is a good chance you'll never see harsh conditions or combat. But what if you do? You were recruited into the military to get money to goto college! This is a career where you'll learn a trade for the rest of your life! But it looked so much fun in the commercials!
The Issue I am brining up isn't the fact that soldiers dont deserve benefits, but that if they join to make a career out of it and to go through college or whatever the case might be, they need to realize they are making a great sacrifice not only in time, but also in life.
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