Just Ask An Airman: Part 2

(Read part 1 of this interview)

Has enlistment increased because of 9/11?

(Monter) Right after 9/11, it increased. Most of it is getting over the parents' fear. They’re scared- they don’t understand. All they hear on the news is the bad stuff. I’ve been in Baghdad; I’ve been there. I was there for three months, and you don’t see the kids in the (Iraqi) schools that got built and stuff like that. They show a clip of it and they’re done. What sells in news? The bad stuff. You know, it’s not like “hey, this guy saved some person’s life today!”. You hear the death count, because that’s what sells.

(Burton)- A lot of people don’t realize that over in Iraq right now the American soldiers over there are more supervisors. They rebuilt the entire Iraqi army and the Iraqi police department. There are over 100,000 people in the Iraqi police department. They take care of their own business. The American soldiers are still over there doing raids on Al-Qaida hotspots, and they rebuilt a ton of schools. You will see most of the Iraqi people enjoy the fact that we are over there. Most of the people that are doing the bombing aren’t even Iraqi citizens; they’re from other countries. The news doesn’t cover all that.

(Monter) In the Air Force we are drawing back. A few years ago there were 36,000 (Airman). The past couple years it’s only been 28,000. We had such a high retention rate because everybody is staying in, so we’ve had to set our standards higher.

(Burton) for this year we’re only taking 20,000 applicants for the entire Air Force. We have the highest retention rate of all the military branches. If you don’t meet our standards, we say “why don’t you go join the Army”, because we don’t need you.

(Monter) They (other branches) have different standards because they need a lot more people; they have a different mission. We have the highest standard. We have the highest test score requirements.

When you vote, will you vote Democrat or Republican?

(Burton) You know that’s a good question. Honestly, to me personally, democrat/republican doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s the one who gets up there who sells what’s best for me and my family. So whichever one gets up there and tells me what they’re going to do for my family, that’s who I’m going to vote for. That’s pretty much how it’s going to be.

(Monter) I’m not saying I’m one or the other, but most military vote republican because Republicans- they have a different view on the military than Democrats. It’s because of the thought pattern of the different parties.

Do you feel that being in the military has influenced your political standpoint?

(Burton) I want to say yes, because before I was in the military I didn’t care. After you join the military you know that whoever is President- it effects my career. So I would say yes to that.

What is the most important thing you tell recruits about military life?

(Burton) It’s what you make out of it. When you come in here and I interview you, I’m going to ask you why you want to join the Air Force- I’m going to ask how you see yourself in ten years… what you want to accomplish. And then you tell me what you want to accomplish and I’m going to tell you what the Air Force has to offer for you to accomplish that. You determine what your future holds.

The liberal media is very negative about the U.S. military and what you do outside our borders. How do you handle this negative attitude as a recruiter, and as an airman?

(Burton) It can be tough on certain recruiters depending on where they’re located. What people don’t understand is that they have the right to have that view- because of us. And as a military member, you don’t get mad at somebody for having their own views and own personal opinions, because that’s why you’re in the military- to give them their own personal opinions. Why be mad or upset with somebody when that’s what you’re giving them?

(Monter) But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.

(Burton) But you just have to let that stuff roll off your back. A quick story… a few years after 9/11 I was at a store in my uniform, and this girl- probably no more than 22 years-old- turns around and spits on me. And I just looked at her, and she just starts going on “my best friend was in the Army in Iraq and he was killed over there for a senseless war, etc” and I just listened to her. She said her piece, and then she walked out. And the whole thing that was going through my mind was; how does her friend think of her right now? You know he’s up in heaven, and he’s seeing her… he joined the military because he wanted to do something. And if he went over there and died he wanted you to be proud of what he did. And now his friend is making him look bad. Because he loved it; or else he wouldn’t have gone.

Liberals and anti-war protesters often compare the war in Iraq to Vietnam. During Vietnam violence was a lot worse than it is today. Though protests today are not as violent as during Vietnam, have you had any problems with protesters?

(Monter) Not in Nebraska.

(Burton) every year they hold a protest at Offutt Air Force Base, but the protests are a little bit different than the protests you see on TV. They first have to get approved; the city has to approve them to do a protest on a certain day. And the protesters want to get in the media, so they say “we will have someone walk across the line, and would you arrest them?”, and we will agree to that. So it will be on TV, but it’s all staged out. They protest, but nothing is violent.

As you watch young men and women sign up to join the military, do you feel any doubt that they will receive the right and supportive response from Americans if or when they are deployed?

(Burton) Without a doubt. The majority of the Air Force don’t get deployed; it’s about half. But yes… all the support you need is from your family. I have people in Wal-Mart walk up to me while I’m in my uniform and say thank-you, but when you look at your wife or kids that’s all the support you need.

Are you ever discouraged by our media while serving overseas?

(Burton) Sometimes, some things they do I don’t agree with. I understand that they’re trying to sell a story. That’s what they get paid to do, and that’s fine. But see, I don’t watch the news in my house. I hear the real stuff from the military, and I see it in person so I don’t need the news to tell me what I’m seeing. You know a CNN reporter- Cooper- was an embedded reporter and he shot a live footage of a soldier being shot, and they played it on CNN. And I thought that was messed up. You know, it just made me want to turn the TV off because you don’t show that kind of stuff. That is frustrating. But there’s nothing you can do about it; why let it bother you?

In closing, do you feel that those who oppose the war can truly support the troops?

(Monter) My opinion is no. When someone opposes it I don’t feel supported. I have been deployed a lot- I’ve been gone a lot. And I have a 26 year-old brother that opposes the war. He’s far left; but you know, those are his beliefs. And I said “you know I’m glad you have these beliefs because that’s why I’ve been in the Air Force for 17 years.” And he never said a word about that to me again. But by my own brother I don’t feel supported. You know I guess they could support the troops, but when they’re out doing things like that, how can they? That takes away my morale. I don’t let it get me down… but still there’s that “how can they support us when they do that?” It’s not going to help at all. I’ve been to all those websites that support our troops, and those places I enjoy. Then you get your actors and singers who come over there (Iraq)- what a wake up call for them. We’re over there for a reason…

(Burton) I don’t believe it’s supporting because when you’re over there, deployed, and you hear somebody protesting, it does bring you morale down. You hear about actors that talk about opposing the war, and about 90% of them don’t even know what the war is about. And we think; what are they talking about? They’re not even on the right page. They need to open the book instead of just looking at the cover.

Many thanks to TSgt Burton and TSgt Monter for giving their time to this interview

Just Ask An Airman: An Interview

(Several months ago I had the opportunity to sit down with two Air Force recruiters and ask them some questions about military life, recruiting, and the war. It is my pleasure to post for my readers the informative answers I received. Enjoy!)

Richard Burton has been in the service for 14 years, and has been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. He has worked as an Air Force recruiter for 7 months, and lives with his wife and two children in Fremont, Nebraska.

Joseph Monter has been in the service for 17 years and has been deployed to Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Japan, Russia, and Africa (to mention but a few). He has worked as an Air Force recruiter for 3 years, and lives with his wife and three children in Columbus, Nebraska.

How does one become a recruiter?

(Burton) You volunteer for it. Basically they come around to every base and ask people if they would like to become a recruiter, and when you’ve been in the service for so long and you’re doing a job you think, well, it would be kind of nice to work with people coming in. You know; working with high school students and working with people who don’t know what they want to do in life. The Air Force has done a lot of great things for me and I just want to pass that information to our volunteers. And then when you volunteer they ask you where would you want to go, and I told them I wanted to go to a small town in Nebraska, and so they put me in Fremont.

So you probably get asked a lot if you fly jets?

(Burton) All the time! Believe it or not, only 4% of people in the Air Force are pilots. The Air Force has jobs just like a small town would have. You have people who work in the gyms, hotels, kitchens, people who work on transportation, you have mechanics, dieticians... Only a few people fly the jets, but you need to have those people to put them in the air.

What is your most memorable experience from boot camp?

(Burton) Going from being a trainee to an airmen. When you get down to basic training you are transitioning to military life. When you complete your fourth week of training; our hell week, they give you a coin with an airmen’s stripe on it, and that signifies that you’ve made it through hell week and now instead of being a trainee you are an airmen. You will see a lot of people go down there; male or female, and they will cry when they get it. When I came into the service I weighed about a hundred and eight pounds, I was 17 years old, and everyone told me I was stupid and that I wouldn’t make it. I weigh a lot more than 108 pounds now, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done.

As far as character, what is the most important thing you learned at boot camp?

(Burton) I would say attitude. I was smart-mouthed, and you will see when someone comes back how respectful they are… and that’s how I was. What I took most out of my training was the customs and courtesies it taught me. It’ll change who you are.

A few years ago there was criticism from our mainstream media towards military recruiters. Their claim was that the numbers of military enlistees had gone down, and that recruiters were lying about military life in order to gain more volunteers. Do you think there is any truth in this?

(Burton) No, I don’t. I think people will hear what they want to hear. For most recruiters, it’s their job. Some people who come in here don’t know what they want, and you tell them what the Air Force has to offer, and sometimes there are recruiters out there who can’t break down exactly what they were asking. So someone might take it the wrong way. But it’s very hard to lie, especially if you’re near our Air Force base. Every month we go and visit an Air Force base, and what the Air Force recruiters do is when someone has just come back from basic training, they (possible enlistee) can talk to that basic trainee (it’s called the rat program). There are bad recruiters out there, but there are very few. But for the most part, I think the media just blew that up a little too much.

What about a claim that recruiters were calling possible enlistees repeatedly?

(Burton) Now, the way it works is- I get a list of everybody graduating from high school, because the high school has to provide that list. So every year my job is to contact everybody on that list. If it’s not something they want to do, I take them off my list and don’t call them again. But if I don’t get a response, I call back. I have to personally talk to you, and you have to tell me “no” before I can stop calling, because I have to have 100% contact. If people knew that all you had to do was answer the phone and say “I’m not interested” it would make my job so much easier.

Would you say that recruiting methods have changed much over the past, say, ten years?

(Burton)Yes, and the reason for that is- there’s more media outlets out there. And so a lot of rumors can be solved by looking on the internet. So it’s a lot less work for me and other recruiters to get our name out there. And it’s also changed in that it’s harder to get in now. When you come in here there’s a job interview. Now we only take the best, so you have to meet the qualifications. We really stress education.

Has the war in Iraq affected how you communicate with enlistees?

(Burton) No. Most people that walk through the door because of all that’s happened in Iraq; more want to serve their country. A lot of people are a little bit blind on how they’re going to do that, but that’s why they come to me. It affects more in talking to parents. Parents are scared, but if you look at the articles in the paper, how many people in the Air Force do you see getting killed?

(Monter) The Iraq thing- yes it does affect the parents quite a bit. Since 9/11 in the Air Force there have only been 45 deaths that have been directly related to the war. You know how many people in the U.S. die of lightning storms? 90. And 40,000 people die of car accidents. So yeah, it’s a lot more dangerous to get in your car because there’s more of a chance. But as far as the kids, they want to come in because of that right there (points to American flag). You get proud Americans; that’s why.

To be continued...