Recruiter forgot me

[grimmreaper42]

I was supposed to be driven to the MEPs station by my recruiter yesterday and shipped out today. My recruiter went on leave the day before thanksgiving and last Monday when I took my 7 day urinalysis he arranged for another recruiter who was there with us to come pick me up around 6. After an hour and a half past the time he said he was coming I made some phone calls to the office, to MEPs, my recruiters cell and foraged his home phone from online and all of which I received no one. He forgot to pick me up yesterday though and now I guess I'm being shipped out Wednesday instead. The chief of the recruiting office called this morning and sounded pissed as all hell after I told him why I wasn't in MEPs, and I guess it's pretty lucky for the recruiter who was supposed to pick me up that I forgot his name. It was hard enough to say goodbye to my family yesterday, and now I have to do it again tomorrow. Anyone know of anyone else who was completely forgotten the day they were supposed to leave home?

[retired nuke]

With your luck you better make sure your family don't move while you are in boot camp - that's happened....

[Kev3399]

I apologize your first experience in the Navy was one of complete incompetence.........

You should use this negative experience to ensure that you will never be as incompetent as this toolbag recruiter. Use this as motivation to take care of the sailors around you when you get promoted to positions of higher authority and responsibility.

I know that sounds cheesy, but stick it in your back pocket for use in the future.

Best of luck to you.

[JustinHEMI05]

I was supposed to be driven to the MEPs station by my recruiter yesterday and shipped out today. My recruiter went on leave the day before thanksgiving and last Monday when I took my 7 day urinalysis he arranged for another recruiter who was there with us to come pick me up around 6. After an hour and a half past the time he said he was coming I made some phone calls to the office, to MEPs, my recruiters cell and foraged his home phone from online and all of which I received no one. He forgot to pick me up yesterday though and now I guess I'm being shipped out Wednesday instead. The chief of the recruiting office called this morning and sounded pissed as all hell after I told him why I wasn't in MEPs, and I guess it's pretty lucky for the recruiter who was supposed to pick me up that I forgot his name. It was hard enough to say goodbye to my family yesterday, and now I have to do it again tomorrow. Anyone know of anyone else who was completely forgotten the day they were supposed to leave home?

Welcome to the Navy. An early taste of just how important you are. Have fun and good luck.

Justin

[Fermi2]

The day my son was to leave for MEPS, he went to the recruiter's office (as prearranged by the recruiter) for the ride to MEPS.  The recruiter was not in his office.  His coworkers knew nothing of this arrangement but were professional enough to drop what they were doing and make the 5 hour round trip drive to MEPS.This same recruiter failed to offer my son an additional $4000 (previous college credit) sign on bonus that he was eligable for.  I never did find out why either of these snafus occured. My motherly words of advice are to look out for yourself and help your shipmates should they need it.
I want to wish you luck in your Navy Nuke career and thank you for your service. You have chosen the best education that the Navy has to offer.
Kathy, VPNM of Kyle

It was up to your son to ask about the 4K. It is after all his money.

Mike

[Finalman]

It was up to your son to ask about the 4K. It is after all his money.

Mike

But not all persons entering the military realize they can get that, not all his fault...

[JustinHEMI05]

But not all persons entering the military realize they can get that, not all his fault...

I disagree. It is completely his fault. I know that when I signed my life away for many years I did months of research and made sure every question I had was answered. Money was at the top of that list and nothing about it is secret. The government is not in a conspiracy to screw new enlistees out of bonus money. All of the information is available to someone that does a little work to find it because, guess what, NO ONE is going to give you all the answers. You can only do that for yourself. But that would be like today's youth, to blame someone else instead of looking in the mirror.

/end rant.

Justin

[flamatrix99]

It was up to your son to ask about the 4K. It is after all his money.

Mike

How would he know to even ask though? Hell when I wandered into the recuiter's office,  I never even heard of nuclear power or knew anything remotely navy related. I remember some kid getting ready to go to boot camp talking about this kind of submarine and that kind of submarine blah blah blah... Back then there wasn't an Internet to get info off of either.

[stownsend]

And when I got married there was no instruction manual provided on how to keep a woman content for 27 years,...

Hey Marrism
Heard you've been married for 26 years 364 days. Happy anniversary.

[Kev3399]

Entering the military was not a hasty decision on my sons part. He was in DEP for 4 months and knew exactly what the pros/cons of joining were.  He was a little late in doing his research, but it did happen. I find it unprofessional that a recruiter who is acutely aware of all the "carrots on a string" does not lay these facts on the table when he/she is trying to convince a prospective recruit to enlist.  My son's recruiter knew full well that he was in college full time prior to and during DEP. My son did get this bonus by presenting this info to the recruiter and following up to make sure the paperwork was submitted prior to his leaving for BC. It is situations like this that give me a basic distrust of  recruiters.  Unlike my son, a lot of 17/18 year olds entering the military are naive, and have never had to /knew how to do research on their own. Some recruiters know this and take advantage of it, and that is sad.  I have always believed in doing your own research, to verify what  has been presented and especially to discover new information. Welcome to adulthood.
Kathy, VPNM of Kyle

P.S. And, Justin, he was not blaming someone else. It is I who seems a bit perturbed. He merely gathered the facts, noted the discrepency, and took care of things in a very matter of fact way. 

You make good points about recruiters. There are a few good ones out there......not many. You just have to keep them honest.

All that aside.....your son made a good choice to serve his country, especially in this field. He will have many options to choose from down the road. Stay and do the long haul, get selected for a commissioning program, get his degree, get out and get a commercial job......I could go on and on. His options can only be limited by himself. I'm sure he knows this already.

Thank you for being a Navy Mom. I might be critical of the Nuclear Power Program in general on this forum at times.......however the Navy still needs good people to fill the holes that we all left behind. Others might contest, but he has made a good decision.

[xobxdoc]

I disagree. It is completely his fault. I know that when I signed my life away for many years I did months of research and made sure every question I had was answered. Money was at the top of that list and nothing about it is secret. The government is not in a conspiracy to screw new enlistees out of bonus money. All of the information is available to someone that does a little work to find it because, guess what, NO ONE is going to give you all the answers. You can only do that for yourself. But that would be like today's youth, to blame someone else instead of looking in the mirror.

/end rant.

Justin

I would not put this kid in the group of "todays youth" as you did in your rant.  He is going off to serve his country. Recruiters have a bad reputation for good reason. Mine told me a few lies. You find that out after the fact. How can a person possibly know all the questions to ask? Not you of course because you probably never made a mistake before. So why don't you apologize to this kid and thank him for his service he is about to perform.

[cincinnatinuke]

I remember some guys in my power school class filling paper work for this after the fact and they got their money.  Not all is lost.  If he is entitled to it he may still get it.

[JustinHEMI05]

I would not put this kid in the group of "todays youth" as you did in your rant.  He is going off to serve his country. Recruiters have a bad reputation for good reason. Mine told me a few lies. You find that out after the fact. How can a person possibly know all the questions to ask? Not you of course because you probably never made a mistake before. So why don't you apologize to this kid and thank him for his service he is about to perform.

No need. Regardless of whether or not I ever made mistakes (which I have, lots of em), and regardless of whether or not one could possibly ask every possible question (one can't), he still signed a contract without doing all the research. People tend to blame the recruiters too much. I didn't know to ask what bilge cleaning was, but I didn't blame the recruiter for not telling me about it the first time I was told to clean a bilge. And, joining the military doesn't absolve one of being lazy or misinformed, which I am not saying this guy is. The point is that "todays youth," the lazy and misinformed ones, still joing the military and carry those traits through, which directly correlates to what we see in the pipeline today.

Justin

[cincinnatinuke]

I am confused and so I re-read the posts.  So the 4k bonus was never "offered", but your son still got it because he did the research and contacted the recruiter about it.  Good for him.  Seems like he was proactive and dilligent.

Justin, you talked of the research you did prior to joining the Navy to get all your questions answered.  Come on, ALL of them?  I asked alot of questions but I still came across things I didnt know about prior to joining the Navy, and I got a "good deal" out of it by joining the CASH program.  Heck, you recently have posted about how the civilian nuclear power world is different/tougher than you imagined.  Does it mean your research prior to getting out of the Navy was non-existent?  Does it call into question you as a person?  I doubt it, especially if one reads your posts, so in that sense I give you the benefit of the doubt.  You on the other hand sum up a kid in 3 seconds as a sign of the times based on what his mom says about him.  What do you expect a mom to say?  Try a little of that benefit of the doubt I mentioned and I think you will see that this kid should be all right with Navy you turned over to him.

[cincinnatinuke]

No need. Regardless of whether or not I ever made mistakes (which I have, lots of em), and regardless of whether or not one could possibly ask every possible question (one can't), he still signed a contract without doing all the research. People tend to blame the recruiters too much. I didn't know to ask what bilge cleaning was, but I didn't blame the recruiter for not telling me about it the first time I was told to clean a bilge. And, joining the military doesn't absolve one of being lazy or misinformed, which I am not saying this guy is. The point is that "todays youth," the lazy and misinformed ones, still joing the military and carry those traits through, which directly correlates to what we see in the pipeline today.

Justin

Leave it to you to edit your post when I am writing mine.  So hopefully I dont sound too incoherent.

So first the kid, without him ever posting himself, is like today's youth and blames others without looking in the mirror?  Then now you say you are not calling him lazy and misinformed like todays youth.  Then you admit one cannot ask EVERY question, but the kid is still the one who signed the contract without doing ALL the research.  I am not going to tell you to apologize, but it is normally customary when you make a mistake, a "my bad", an "I could have said that differently".  After all, who blamed who?  Back pedaling through your statements and making the argument about the state of naval nuclear power is trivial at best.  Granted, kids today suck and they scare the hell out of me at times.  Go to any mall and try to have a conversation with one.  I can say this because I have 2 (3 anyday now) to raise in this world.

The kid did the right thing and got his money, and it sounds like he did it the right way.  Seems to me the Navy could use some more like him, Justin, and you ought to root for guys like him.

[JustinHEMI05]

Leave it to you to edit your post when I am writing mine.  So hopefully I dont sound too incoherent.

So first the kid, without him ever posting himself, is like today's youth and blames others without looking in the mirror?  Then now you say you are not calling him lazy and misinformed like todays youth.  Then you admit one cannot ask EVERY question, but the kid is still the one who signed the contract without doing ALL the research.  I am not going to tell you to apologize, but it is normally customary when you make a mistake, a "my bad", an "I could have said that differently".  After all, who blamed who?  Back pedaling through your statements and making the argument about the state of naval nuclear power is trivial at best.  Granted, kids today suck and they scare the hell out of me at times.  Go to any mall and try to have a conversation with one.  I can say this because I have 2 (3 anyday now) to raise in this world.

The kid did the right thing and got his money, and it sounds like he did it the right way.  Seems to me the Navy could use some more like him, Justin, and you ought to root for guys like him.

I am confused at what is going on. I had to edit my post because I was called away while making the post and didn't get past the first word. It was edited 18 minutes before you posted. But who cares. I agree after some thought and you are right, I jumped to conclusions about someone I don't know. After re-reading his mother's post, I apologize to he and his mother.

Justin

[JustinHEMI05]

I fully accept your apology, Justin.  Any one who can offer a heart felt apology for any situation deserves a Karma point.  I have always been very proud of my son, his choices in life, his behavior, his respect for others, the list goes on.....perhaps, one day, you will get to meet him and discover the fine young man that he is.   Kathy VPNM of Kyle

Thank you. Sometimes my jaded feelings get the best of me and need reeled in. Its getting better as time goes on. Whether he does his time and gets out, or stays in for life, he has chosen the best path for both.

Justin