Matt Tuthill

Published in the Bennington Banner on June 19, 2006

THE PURSUIT TO RECRUIT

There was always an excuse.

The days were long. He was too tired. He never had the time.

They were, of course, good excuses.

Bennington Army Recruiter Sgt. Ron Davis nearly sweat himself dry in the summer of 1995, slaving over the construction of a new runway at the Altus Air Force Base in Altus, Okla. It was hard, honest work for a grown man and Davis was only a 19-year-old civilian at the time. But Davis was dreaming of bigger things. A self-professed adrenaline junkie, he wanted adventure and excitement. But more than anything, he wanted to be somebody.

The idea of joining the military had been growing in his mind, but a full-time job and a 30-mile commute was devouring any time he had to learn more. And so the excuses piled up and the days passed by. A Bakersfield, Calif., native, Davis stayed behind in California when his parents moved to Oklahoma in ‘94. His independence didn’t last long. He worked at a meat-packing plant for nearly a year before being laid off. With nowhere to turn, Davis joined his parents in Mangum, Okla., taking up a job with the Granite Construction Co. At the time, the company had been contracted to construct the new runway at the Altus Air Force Base.

A Long Ride

Every morning he drove past the Army recruiting station on Route 44 on his way to work. Every day he watched the C-130 Hercules fly over head at the Air Force Base. And every night he drove home exhausted, past the recruiting station for the second time that day. All signs pointed to the military, but it started to seem like he might never find the time. But one day Davis woke to a sky full of black storm clouds. When he got to the base, the rain was coming down in sheets and lightning lit up the sky. Work was canceled, and Davis saw his opportunity.

He got back in his black Chevy S-10 pick-up and headed back down the highway, making a bee line for the recruiting station. There was a nervous excitement in his step as he hurried into the station, shaking off the rain.

Ten years later, he still remembers wiping off his boots and staring up at the hard-looking, square-jawed recruiter, Sgt. Jackson. As is the custom with nearly every Army recruiter, Jackson leapt to his feet when he saw Davis walk in the door. The confidence in the handshake and introduction of a military man is unmistakable. Davis hasn’t forgotten what a contagious thing that confidence was.

A Long Visit

All told, Davis stayed with Sgt. Jackson for nearly eight hours that day. The two hit the nearby diner for burgers at lunch and then KFC for dinner at the end of the day. Jackson treated Davis like an old friend, engaging in small talk over the meals about sports and then serious talk about the military.

Today, it isn’t unusual for Davis to spend hours with a recruit and have meals with them, but he laughs when he thinks about how long he spent with Jackson that day. “I’m sure he hated me,” Davis said. “I was like a little kid tugging on you, constantly asking questions. I wanted everything now.”

Potential recruits came and went all day, but Davis was firmly planted at a viewing screen in a corner of the office, watching videos about different Army jobs on enormous, over-sized laser discs, which were cutting edge technology at the time. When Davis popped in the disc about mortar men, or general infantry, images reeled before him of men rising out of dark water, faces painted in black camouflage and M-16 machine guns at the ready. Davis saw men who were somebody, men who had become warriors. He already made up his mind to join the Army at the diner. Now he had made up his mind to be in the infantry.

A career soldier since ‘95, Davis took up recruiting two years ago with the hope of having the kind of positive influence that he says Sgt. Jackson had on his life. He tells this story to let potential recruits know that he was once in their shoes.

Fear of death and injury, he says, isn’t something he has to deal with when talking to potential recruits. He says that everyone who walks into his office on Main Street fully understands the strong possibility they’ll be deployed to Iraq at some point in the near future.

“There’s risk involved in everything in my opinion,” he said. “I could walk out of here today and get hit by a drunk driver. Anything worth doing in life has that risk attached. If you come in here excited, ready to join and get nervous when it’s time to sign the paperwork, we stop processing you right then and there. We don’t put anything down anyone’s throat. If you have reservations about joining, we’ll talk to you, but we don’t want you to join without a full commitment.”

Some Controversy

In coming to Bennington, Davis, now 31, took over a recruiting station that’s seen its share of controversy. In 2003, some Mount Anthony Union High School parents were concerned that their children’s phone numbers and addresses had been turned over to the recruiting station as part of a provision in the No Child Left Behind Act.

With the bill serving as the centerpiece of the Bush Administration’s education policy, many believed and still believe that placing such a provision in an education bill is a deceptive way to boost the ranks of the military for a war that has lost popular favor. The bill clearly states that parents who want their children off the list given to recruiters can notify school administration or the recruiter for immediate satisfaction. Few parents, however, have read through the mammoth 670-page law.

The controversy seems to have died down.

Sue McGuire, the principal at MAU since 2004, said she hasn’t fielded a single complaint from parents since she’s been on the job. She added that parents now receive a letter at the beginning of the year outlining the recruiting provision in No Child Left Behind and instructions if they want their son or daughter taken off the list.

“When I first came out here, recruiting had a bad reputation,” Davis said. “So I have made a pact to honesty. If someone calls here and asks for their son or daughter to be taken off the list, then they’re off the list. It’s that simple.”

Davis said that most high schools allow a recruiter to set up a table in the cafeteria about twice a year. Though MAU does not allow recruiters to set up in the cafeteria, McGuire says the school doesn’t allow college recruiters to do so, either.

“We try to make it equal the same way we would with any post-secondary school,” McGuire said, explaining that there is no limit on the amount of times military or college recruiters can set up in the guidance office where interested students are allowed to visit.

Davis said that interested MAU students come to see him on a regular basis. On a huge bulletin board next to his desk, Davis has snapshots of more than 50 “Future Soldiers,” many of them MAU seniors who graduated just last Friday. The bulletin board is currently stocked to almost full capacity.

The Little Station That Could

The full bulletin board is not an unusual sight.

The Bennington Army Recruiting station is one of the few across the country that didn’t come short of its quota during 2005. The quota for Army recruiting across the nation last year was 80,000 troops. The final tally at the end of the year was well short at 73,373 troops.

Julia Bobick is a former Army active duty soldier who is now a civilian. She serves as public affairs specialist for the Army Recruiting Command Headquarters in Fort Knox, Ky. She said this year the Army has the same goal of 80,000 troops and that it is well ahead of last year’s pace. As of April 24, 2006, the Army has enlisted 37,053 troops, or roughly 7,410 troops per month. In 2005, the Army averaged 6,114 troops per month. If public perception of the war hasn’t changed, something else has.

Bobick said the hard work of recruiters is paying off. The extra resources the Army has given her department, she added, haven’t hurt, either.

Bobick said there were 7,000 Army recruiters in the country last year. Today there are 8,000. The age limit on recruits has also been raised. Last year a new recruit could not be older than 34 on his day of enlistment. Today that age is 39.

Recruiters are now encouraged to talk to parents who may advise their children against joining the Army. GoArmy.com has even added a “For Parents” section on its Web site, extolling the benefits of joining the military.

Davis finds it helpful to tell recruits about his parents. His father Michael gave him his immediate blessing with a single word: “Cool.” His mother Debbie took some convincing, but cried tears of joy at his graduation from basic training. Davis laughs. “I definitely waited a few days to tell mom,” he said.

War Stories

And, of course, there are good old fashioned war stories. Davis has a few, but likes to begin by telling recruits about their first official assignment in the Army, boot camp.

One morning in October of ‘95, Davis woke to the blood-curdling sound of whistles and air horns blown just a few feet from his bunk in Fort Benning, Ga., at 4:45 a.m. It was his first day of boot camp.

The lights flashed on and off and a drill sergeant was in his face, screaming expletives and telling him to get up. Within a few moments, Davis and the other privates had completed more than 50 push-ups, made their beds and got dressed.

Then it was up the stairs. More pushups. More whistles. More screaming.

For some, boot camp can be the most hated part of the whole military experience. But Davis drank in every moment. A former high school running back who was already physically fit, Davis lost six pounds during boot camp and saw a significant improvement in his distance running ability.

“You bitch about it when you’re doing it, but it’s always the first story you tell,” Davis said. Today, he tells the story with a smile and said he still keeps in touch with one of his friends from basic training, who is still in the Army, Sgt. Robert Jackson, who is no relation to Davis’s recruiter.

Robert Jackson is still an active duty infantryman. During basic training, he served as Davis’ “Battle Buddy.” If Davis had to use the latrine, so did Jackson. If Jackson screwed up the formation, so did Davis and both of them were pounding out pushups.

The Army’s psychological tactic had its intended effect, Davis said. Despite initially being deployed to opposite sides of the globe, the two built a trust that lasts to this day and they keep in touch through phone calls and e-mails.

Davis spent all of 1997 in Korea. In September of 1998 he was deployed to Bosnia. During an eight-month tour of the war-torn country, Davis patrolled in a Humvee, his eyes peeled for Serbian attacks. His patrol was fired on, and he fired back. Despite the nerve-wracking days and nights on patrol, Davis said he was glad to offer what little help he could to the devastated people. “Milosevich had just lost power,” Davis said. “You could see the destruction. Bosnian homes had been marked by the Serbians with black spray paint. They were obliterated. There was nothing left but rubble.”

A Better Life

Today, Davis is happily married and lives on Pageant Street in Bennington with his wife, Rhonda and daughter, Alannah. Davis said the thought of where he would be without the military is something that gives him cold shudders.

“I don’t think that I would be as successful as I have been,” he said, explaining he still runs into high school friends when he visits Bakersfield. “They’re still doing the same stuff, getting drunk and grinding out unfulfilling jobs. “This changed my life in a tremendously positive way. I know it’s not for everyone. But it can give you the tools to build a great life for yourself.”