OTB beat me on my usual topic: Recruiting Soldiers During Wartime Difficult

His post is the background reading, mine is the commentary.

First, almost all (notice the qualifier) detailed recruiters that I have talked to would rather be in Iraq or Afghanistan. Just to be sure you understand: Soldiers would rather go to a war zone with the potential for death and serious injury rather than be at home trying to recruit more Soldiers. If that doesn't tell you something, then you refuse to understand the difficulty of recruiting duty. Let me try to help you understand.

First, many places in the US profess to be "pro-military", that is, they think that they support the military. However, having a Veteran's Day parade once per year is not really support, if you ask me. Refusing to let a recruiter talk to your son or daughter while you tool around in a Lincoln Navigator with four "Support Our Troops" yellow ribbon magnets on it is not support. Yeah, I've seen it.

Second, because it is challenging to get the message out to thousands of potential recruits in every recruiting zone, many recruiters are forced to work 10- to 14-hour days, many times working six days a week. Sure, nobody is shooting at you, nobody is putting roadside bombs along the highways, but the long hours, seemingly endless "no's" and pressure to make the mission are stressful.

The difference between the stress experienced in a combat zone and the stress in a recruiting station is that in a combat zone, you go on patrol, remain alert for several hours, maybe even several days, but eventually you go back to base and rest. You don't have to worry about not making the mission because there are no "1 man missions" in combat. You have a unit around you to back you up, keep you motivated, provide you with support, then provide security while you rest.

There is no rest for many recruiters. If you work 10 hours a day, six days per week (and there are recruiters that work more than that) you have little time to rest. And when you are off-duty, you are constantly thinking about the mission. You can't sleep because you wonder what will happen, when will I find that person that wants to enlist and is qualified. If I fail to find two new Soldiers this month, will I have to go to "low producer training"? This happens week after week. Now keep in mind that recruiting duty is not just "getting the message out". We have vehicles that need maintenance and cleaning, uniforms that need to be prepared, haircuts, PT, reports, and lots of paperwork. Recruiting is very numbers-intensive. It's how performance is measured, compared, justified, and analyzed. Just walking around and asking people to join isn't enough, especially with the standards that must be met.

The standards add to the stress. Why? Because recruiters are fighting misconceptions everyday about who can and cannot enlist. Americans as a whole believe that you can join the Army no matter what, that the Army will take you. Many Americans view enlistment as a "last resort." I cannot count how many people I've had to tell that they weren't qualified to enlist. You should see the looks of surprise and in some cases shock. I had a father get angry at me because his son could not enlist. Dad couldn't understand why his son who didn't have a high school diploma, couldn't pass the practice ASVAB test and had criminal charges pending could not enlist in the Army. I had to threaten to call the police to get the guy to stop yelling at me and leave my station. Think that's not stressful?

If you believe that you have no options left except the Army, then everything before the "except" is correct. Besides, if you were a Soldier, who would you want watching your back? That guy that failed out of high school, can barely read, has a drug charge and got fired from a fast food restaurant? Maybe instead, you want that guy that decided to make a difference in the world, that young woman who doesn't want to regret not having done her part for her country, that husband and father that believes that protecting America is tantamount to protecting his family... those are the people I want serving beside me, they have something at stake in the outcome of our actions.

Leaders in recruiting are under stress as well. Here is another stressful fact about recruiting: the leadership above station level is not co-located with the unit. The company headquarters is not in the same building, the next tent over, or the back corner of the bunker. It is separate and it many cases it is many miles away. The company commander and first sergeant travel to each station several times each month, but it is not the same level of support that you see in a unit deployed to a combat zone where most, if not all, of the unit is in the same location and you see every member of your unit every day.

Finally, criticizing a Soldier who succumbs to the stress and does something tragic is shameful. That Soldier's leaders may have failed him or her, and so may his or her peers, for not recognizing any signs or symptoms. But keep in mind the paragraph above. There are many small stations, from one to five Soldiers, so there isn't that around-the-clock visibility like in other types of units.

Also, consider this, if you were Soldier and were depressed, super-stressed, and maybe even feeling suicidal, would you tell someone? I mean, Soldiers are supposed to be tough, physically and mentally. Soldiers are supposed to be able to handle stress, but you can't. Or at least you feel you can't handle it. When your leadership comes by the station, are you going to show them your weakness, or will you try to portray the tough, can-do attitude that you've displayed to your previous leaders out in the mainstream Army? Do you want to be thought of as weak? As a failure? As someone unable to cope with stress? Do those concerns make you more stressed because they may affect your career?

I challenge everyone to consider those questions. Even if you haven't ever been in the military, you most likely understand what it means to display weakness and how shameful that can be. Whether that shame is justifiable or not, it's human nature.

UPDATE (2118): Don Singleton blogged about this topic and trackbacked to Outside the Beltway.