>> The Coast Guard /is/ part of our Armed Forces. <<
Agreed, they are. They just don't seem inclined to do the kind of proactive recruiting as the others. School presentations are almost always a foursquare of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. In coastal regions where the Coast Guard recruits more actively, they seem to favor solo presentations. This is probably why people often forget about them and their connection to the others.
>> I admit, I have personal reasons for FOREVER wanting to see them get good press wherever they can, but it's an interesting oversight in THIS universe, too. <<
Feel free to prompt for it some time. Walking the Beat is in Boston, not far from the eastern beachline. Polychrome Heroics and Fledgling Grace both cover a wide range of territory. I've got one superhero that I haven't statted up yet, Blue Crush, who works as a lifeguard; that's prime territory for overlapping with the CG.
>> The main four, however, you have dead on. <<
Yay!
>> I love the fact that the recruiter is willing to be honest; I think it implies a lot about his character, and about his recruiting methods. <<
Well, that's a Marine for you -- there's a reason why they pick taglines like "The few, the proud, the Marines." They often play against the other recruiters in a way that helps pre-sort the candidates. The tricks I'm describing in this story are things I've heard of the Marines actually doing. It sounds like they have a whole little playbook of sneaky ideas and they switch off so nobody ever knows quite what to expect. It's the kind of mental finagling that reminds you chess is a wargame.
>> He wants a few, very few, GOOD candidates, rather than the best recruiting numbers. He wants people he's certain will still be good candidates getting better-- two years after graduating Basic, rather than just able to get through Basic. <<
Exactly. He's not interested in marginal candidates. He only wants the cream of the crop. And he just pinpointed the best individual from a set of ~600 (counting all the students, not only the ones in Phil's year).
From what I've heard, that's pretty typical; the Army will get the most attention and has lots of versatile options. Air Force and Navy are more specialized, and will take fewer people. The Marines might pick one or two. If they see those up front, they'll choose tactics to get them ignored by everyone else. But if they don't see any, they're likely to use some tactic to flush the flock in hopes of picking out hidden potential, like this; and that tends to get them mobbed by hopelessly unsuitable candidates. It's fine, they know how to dissuade the unsuitable. The Army hustles for as many recruits as possible, to meet quotas. The Marines have quotas too but are pickier about who they want.
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dancing_serpent
Re: You forgot the Coasties!
Date: 2014-07-23 08:20 pm (UTC)Agreed, they are. They just don't seem inclined to do the kind of proactive recruiting as the others. School presentations are almost always a foursquare of Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines. In coastal regions where the Coast Guard recruits more actively, they seem to favor solo presentations. This is probably why people often forget about them and their connection to the others.
>> I admit, I have personal reasons for FOREVER wanting to see them get good press wherever they can, but it's an interesting oversight in THIS universe, too. <<
Feel free to prompt for it some time. Walking the Beat is in Boston, not far from the eastern beachline. Polychrome Heroics and Fledgling Grace both cover a wide range of territory. I've got one superhero that I haven't statted up yet, Blue Crush, who works as a lifeguard; that's prime territory for overlapping with the CG.
>> The main four, however, you have dead on. <<
Yay!
>> I love the fact that the recruiter is willing to be honest; I think it implies a lot about his character, and about his recruiting methods. <<
Well, that's a Marine for you -- there's a reason why they pick taglines like "The few, the proud, the Marines." They often play against the other recruiters in a way that helps pre-sort the candidates. The tricks I'm describing in this story are things I've heard of the Marines actually doing. It sounds like they have a whole little playbook of sneaky ideas and they switch off so nobody ever knows quite what to expect. It's the kind of mental finagling that reminds you chess is a wargame.
>> He wants a few, very few, GOOD candidates, rather than the best recruiting numbers. He wants people he's certain will still be good candidates getting better-- two years after graduating Basic, rather than just able to get through Basic. <<
Exactly. He's not interested in marginal candidates. He only wants the cream of the crop. And he just pinpointed the best individual from a set of ~600 (counting all the students, not only the ones in Phil's year).
From what I've heard, that's pretty typical; the Army will get the most attention and has lots of versatile options. Air Force and Navy are more specialized, and will take fewer people. The Marines might pick one or two. If they see those up front, they'll choose tactics to get them ignored by everyone else. But if they don't see any, they're likely to use some tactic to flush the flock in hopes of picking out hidden potential, like this; and that tends to get them mobbed by hopelessly unsuitable candidates. It's fine, they know how to dissuade the unsuitable. The Army hustles for as many recruits as possible, to meet quotas. The Marines have quotas too but are pickier about who they want.