False promises are used in conjunction with confusing language and enrollment packages to confuse recruits. What military recruiters are not required to do is actually explain the implications of joining the military. Once an individual signs the papers that legally bind him to the military, the binding agreement is only binding to the individual, and not to the government. The implication is that the government at any time does not need to keep promises made during recruitment. Recruiters understand this doctrine and as a result they take severe liberty in providing every sort of guarantee and promises in the hope of confusing families and individuals into signing the documentation. Once a recruit is fully compliant, there is in effect owned by the military, with its own set of laws and procedures that have no democratic or equality appeals attached. Military recruiters never explain this to recruits, but instead confuse them with false hope and with jingoistic logic that pervades their thoughts. Recruiters talk about their duty and patriotism and greatly increase the rationalization of service through American pride centric logic. This confuses recruits and in effect makes them hasten a decision. What is worse is that these recruiters are not even acting against military regulation; they are specifically trained to operate within this manner.
Finally, recruiters use greed as a prime tactic to subtly subvert youths. Within the past five years the military has implemented many bonus policies that offer what appear to be lucrative benefits to enlistees. Rarely however,...
One common deception is the allocation of bonus money. Although military recruiters often tell recruits that they will receive up to thirty thousand in sign up bonuses. However, many such bonuses are contingent on even further service and will require recruits to sign up for five or more years of fulltime service. It is the general disregard for fine print that adds to the deception. By using monetary incentives, these military recruiters are attempting to use greed as the devise to get recruiters hooked into the military. However, general application of resources seldom is given without signing up for even more service time.
It is evident that military recruiters use extremely unethical methods to lure new recruits. These tactics have many negative connotations for the military in general. It angers the individuals within the military as well as their parents because of false promises; as a result discontent is higher than ever within the military. Negativity within the armed forces could lead to less favorable performance during action as well as demoralize the entire military. Furthermore, there are many long-term implications because such unethical behavior reflects extremely poorly upon the U.S. military. With an increase in these incidents, the military could suffer within the public's eye and face many consequences for their actions at a later date. Therefore, the practices of military recruiters need to be regulated and the overall condition of our recruitment practice needs reevaluation.
