The Marine Corps has reminded recruiters not to use online matchmaking services to entice youngsters to join up after evidence that someone has been promoting military service on the popular Bumble dating app.
A screenshot posted on Reddit on Monday appears to show a conversation on Bumble between a young man and a woman who tells him:
“Hey! My name is Kaitlin Robertson and I am with the Marine Corps. I would love to have one of my recruiters sit down and talk with you about your options within the Marine Corps including education, financial stability, hundreds of job opportunities, and free health/dental insurance, just to name a few. I would love to make you part of our Marine Corps family!!”
The young man’s quick response, “You’re not even going to bribe me with crayons?” shows he might well be military material but, according to officials, using dating apps to recruit Marines is against the rules.
“We don’t condone use of dating apps for business purposes and no, that Bumble post was not written by a recruiter,” Marine Corps Recruiting Command spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Justin Kronenberg said in an email Thursday.
The Marines have searched their personnel records and can’t find any Marine named Kaitlin Robertson, Kronenberg told the Washington Times newspaper for a July 3 article.
“Command-wide guidance was reemphasized to ensure recruiters are up to date with online conduct expectations,” he said in the article, emphasizing that recruiters are not to form a short- or long-term relationship with dating apps.
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