Graduation time is a very busy season for many recruiters.
Many young men and women are fresh out of high school and beginning to consider what the future may hold for them, and recruiters see a beacon of opportunity to swell the ranks of the various military branches with new talent.
With President Donald Trump succeeding in his efforts to bring an additional $54 billion in defense spending, and the need for a larger force for operations around the globe, recruiters are tasked with the never-ending job of filling Military Occupational Specialities (MOS) with the most qualified candidates.
Marine Staff Sgt. Tom Holland said that summer time isn’t when the service exclusively goes looking for troops, however.
“We usually DEP [Delayed Entry Program] in high school kids when they hit the summer between their junior and senior year,” he said. “That way we can train and mentor these kids before they get shipped to boot camp.”
Regardless of the personnel needs of each branch, the standards still remain extremely high for young men and women wishing to join after high school.
While prospective troops may not need to be in top-notch physical condition, certain problems such as weight issues, asthma and ADHD are among the many issues that still require clearance from a medical professional to be granted a waiver into the service. And as tattoos become more popular among teens and young adults, the tattoo requirements have eased very little.
“The Marines, for example, have gotten even harder [on the issue of] tattoos, which has disqualified more than 50 percent of our applicants,” Holland said. “Not to mention problems with medical, due to a increase in Americans wanting to give all their children ADHD medication.”
None the less, “[y]ou can expect the standard to remain as high as its always been,” Holland added.
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