Irony

Yes recruiters have an associated stigma. We lie. Recruiters are liars. That's the reputation that is out there.

**disclaimer, I don't lie to applicants, or parents, or influencers. First, it's wrong. As a Christian I believe it is wrong, and as an Airman I believe in integrity. Second, it would be counter-productive, because these kids come back after tech school and talk to their buddies. So if I had lied to them, they would come back and tell everyone I'm a liar, business goes way down. Third, it would be futile. The internet has all the information you need (if you look hard enough) to answer your questions about the military. I get it all the time where a kid comes in and asks questions he already knows the answers to, just to see if I'll lie to him.**

So I'm making phone calls to recent high school graduates to see if they might be interested in joining, and people lie to me. I don't think they actually appreciate the irony either, that they are lying to a recruiter. I call this kid the other day, we'll call him Johnny. Sister picks up the phone and I ask if Johnny is there, she says yeah, hang on one minute. Then she walks over to Johnny and tells him he has a phone call, he asks who it is, she tells him it's some guy from the Air Force. He tells her to tell me that he isn't there. She puts the phone back up to her ear and tells me that he is still sleeping and can she take a message. I told her that my message would have been for her to tell Johnny that the Air Force called, but since she already told him that, she doesn't need to bother taking another message. Moral of the story is. . . if you are going to lie to the person on the other end of the phone, either hit the mute button or cover up the mouthpiece when you're talkin' to Johnny.