It’s no secret that people looking for a job lately have been having a tough time of it. But with the economy in its second year of recession, there’s at least one job sector that’s doing well: the United States Armed Forces.
The U.S. Department of Defense recently reported each branch of service meeting or exceeding its recruiting goals for March 2009. Reports on the DoD’s official website, defenselink.mil, paint a challenging but successful picture of recruiting, with the Marines at 2,017 additions (143 percent of its recruiting goal) last month and the Army at 6,548 (104 percent).
Twenty-year-old Morgan Day was a nursing student in Fresno where she had a job selling medical insurance to help pay for school. After two months, the company she was working for went under and she ended up back in Santa Maria.
She about falls out of her chair laughing when asked what job hunting is like in Santa Maria. That’s part of the reason, she said, why she decided to enlist in the Army.
“Trying to look for a job here in town … ,” she trailed off and shook her head.
After basic training, Day will spend two years training to become a nurse. Not having to worry about finding a job while she does so is a big draw for her, she said, though she added that the challenge of doing so in the Army played its part in her decision.
“I wanted to push myself a little bit more, have more of a challenge,” she said. “It was my time, and it just felt like the right thing.”
Daniel Suchecki is finishing his senior year at Pioneer Valley High School. As he puts it, he’s got a lot of blood in the military. His grandma’s dad, dad’s dad, mom, and dad have all served.
Suchecki enlisted in the Army earlier this year.
While family history certainly played a role in his decision to join, he admitted that what he’d been learning this semester in his economics class factored into the equation as well.
“It’s a foggy view in the mirror, seeing what’s out there,” he said.
Sgt. Jorge Ortega is one of the guys you talk to when you’re thinking about joining up. He’s a trim, compact man with the unit insignia of the 1st Cavalry Division on his shoulder. Most of Ortega’s 14 years have been spent as a tank mechanic, but for the last three years, he’s served as a recruiter in Santa Maria.
Ortega said the economy’s biggest impact on recruiting has been among students.
“We’re seeing more people out of college that want to join,” he said. “They see their teachers losing their jobs and are worried about school funding.”
Ortega added that one of the problems he sees in recruiting is the perception that all the Army does is soldiering.
“They think we’re just killers, and that’s it,” he said, but pointed out that there are more than 150 different career options in the Army. The recruiting website goarmy.com lists “Army-friendly” companies and specialized careers, from chaplains to linguists to band musicians.
Suchecki said he had the “Army-is-for-soldiering” mindset, especially when he found out that his sister was joining the Army.
“I was mad at her,” he said. “I told her, ‘You’re going to go to war and die.’ But really, in the end, it’s a job.”
There’s no denying that, as jobs go, the Army offers attractive benefits. There’s medical, dental, 100 percent of your schooling paid for while you’re on active duty, plus the GI bill waiting when you get out—all appealing in today’s economy. That said, what about the risks?
When all is said and done, the fact remains that the armed forces of the United States are, well, armed.
Even considering the improving security situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, there’s still the very real possibility that Suchecki will be sent into harm’s way. Did that knowledge factor into his decision to enlist?
“Maybe, but I committed,” he said. “It’s going to be dangerous, but someone’s got to do it. Why not me? I take a bit of selfish honor from that.” m
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 7-14, 2009.