Military veterans are a tiny fraction of the American population. This is a byproduct of the size of our military and the fact that it is all-volunteer. In Seattle, veterans are an even smaller proportion of the population than the national average. This is an oddity in some ways; the Emerald City is within an hour of major Army, Navy and Air Force installations.
I command the Seattle Recruiting Battalion — the organization responsible for Army recruiting across Washington. I was also born and raised here. I graduated from Roosevelt High School and have served in the Army for the last 18 years.
When I speak with parents, educators and potential future soldiers in Seattle, they often carry two misconceptions: First, that the U.S. military is desperate for people. The reality is that every active-duty military service met its recruiting mission this year. We are not looking for any person — we’re looking for the right person. We screen applicants for their medical, moral and intellectual readiness to serve. Far more prospective soldiers fail to meet the military’s standard than pass.
Second, people often worry that recruiters trick or entrap applicants into entering the military. In the minds of many who are unacquainted with the system, recruiting is like a Slip ‘N Slide — take one step, and you suddenly find yourself in uniform.
Joining the military is a time-consuming administrative process that takes months. Candidates and recruiters work together to gather reams of documentation, including academic transcripts, medical files and legal records. Even after an aspiring future soldier takes the oath of enlistment, they still have no legal compulsion to serve until they physically arrive at their basic training. A person can sign an enlistment contract, raise their right hand and swear to defend our country, and decide weeks later that they don’t want to be in the military, without any penalty whatsoever. Even after they begin basic training, enlistees can refuse to continue training and be discharged. They are sent home and their only penalty is that they would need a waiver to enlist a second time. As well it should be. We want men and women who want to serve.
While I don’t need more Seattleites to consider military careers, I want more of them to. Call it hometown pride, but our city has a lot to offer this country. There is a civic purpose, too. When our nation decides when and where to deploy its soldiers, the communities with their sons and daughters in uniform pay the closest attention. Seattle should be one of those communities.
I’m not asking you to join the military. I am not asking you to persuade the young people in your life to consider joining. All I am asking is that you not stand in the way of young people learning about military careers. Under both federal and Washington state law, high schools are required to give military recruiters the same campus access that they afford to college and vocational recruiters. Schools must also release lists of their seniors and their registered phone numbers, unless parents specifically opt out.
If you are the parent of a high school or college student, your children may see these recruiters on campus. You will likely get a phone call from these recruiters. I’m not asking you to force your son or daughter to talk to them, but please don’t dissuade them from doing so. Ask them if they’ve talked to a recruiter. Sit them down and explain your reservations about the military.
I have three daughters. If any one of them chose to serve, I would worry about her. Part of me would rather they all become neurosurgeons or CPAs. But one of the most profound lessons from my Seattle upbringing is that part of adulthood is making our own way in the world. My daughters will make their own choices, and what seems like safe insulation from the dangers of the world only deepens their isolation from it. I’m not going to make them talk to a military recruiter, but I’ll never stand in their way.
