my BS meter is going off-Proven BS!

[1000yards]

So today I was speaking to a fellow, who usually is rather believable, but after our talk today, I am kind of skeptical.

Apparently at the last 3 or 4 shooting competitions in AB and BC, there have been fellows from the forces trying to recruit.

Now, I have never heard of this, and it certainly has a touch of hollywood aspect to it in my mind, but he is dead sure that they are trying to recruit for the armed forced, and that this is not uncommon.


Does this sound to fishy/tv plot to anyone else,
or is this actually happening?

[waterninja]

very interesting. just enough to start a new urban legend. don't think shooting skill is all the forces look at but i guess it would help if your already a marksman for certain units.

[1000yards]

See, I can believe that marksmanship would be a decent skill to have,
but I can't fathom this occurring without a post about it here.
He couldnt be specific on any of the shoots that were attended by the so called recruiters, except at the 1000 yard shoot in May,
So I guess we can call it bull and put it too bed the moment someone who attended can say there wasnt anyone there.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by 1000yards

See, I can believe that marksmanship would be a decent skill to have,
but I can't fathom this occurring without a post about it here.
He couldnt be specific on any of the shoots that were attended by the so called recruiters, except at the 1000 yard shoot in May,
So I guess we can call it bull and put it too bed the moment someone who attended can say there wasn't anyone there.

I can tell you in no uncertain terms that marksmanship is one of the last things looked at by the forces, and they do not have to go to a civilian shoot to look for it.
They look for their rifle team members and snipers from within their ranks , they don't try and recruit marksmen then turn them into soldiers.
That is not to say that maybe some members who were not recruiters were there and were talking to some people about the forces....
Cat

[1000yards]

Thanks Cat,

I think he must have been sensationalizing hearing that one person spoke to someone who served,
if any conversation even took place.
Glad I followed my gut and asked, really just seemed like something that would happen in a movie instead of alberta.

[Big Daddy Badger]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I can tell you in no uncertain terms that marksmanship is one of the last things looked at by the forces, and they do not have to go to a civilian shoot to look for it.
They look for their rifle team members and snipers from within their ranks , they don't try and recruit marksmen then turn them into soldiers.
That is not to say that maybe some members who were not recruiters were there and were talking to some people about the forces....
Cat

Yup.

Further.... there s a lot more to being a sniper than just good marksmanship.

For those that are not snipers... marksmanship is not really as important as people assume. I know.... sounds funny but its true.

The little guns are really just there to guard the big ones that do the bulk of the heavy lifting and they do that through primarily through increased firepower not by being nail drivers.
Most members are fair to average shooters and a surprizing number are actually pretty poor shots when stacked up against a lot of sports shooters.
I know that also sounds odd but the fact is... that is also true.
Shooting skill is not nearly as important to the military (on the whole) as most people probably think.

Likely as Cat said... some serving members encouraging someone that expressed passing interest... or something along those lines.

[DarkAisling]

Originally Posted by 1000yards

Now, I have never heard of this, and it certainly has a touch of hollywood aspect to it in my mind, but he is dead sure that they are trying to recruit for the armed forced, and that this is not uncommon.

The Canadian Military recruits in plenty of places. I've seen booths set up in shopping malls (though not recently).

It doesn't seem too off the wall to me that they'd be recruiting at shooting competitions. Shooting is a sport that is more connected to rural lifestyles, and traditionally the bulk of military recruits come from more rural environments.

In the event they were recruiting, they'd have an information booth set up with the vendors. While a member of the military may have a personal interest in watching a shooting event, and s/he may casually say something to a shooter about military involvement, that is not official recruiting.

Being a good shot is not a route to specialized training, advancement, or placement.

[Grizzly Adams]

They have displays at the major gun shows and that is a form of recruiting. What's wrong with that ?

Grizz

[The Elkster]

Wouldn't surprise me a bit based on the fact that shooters tend to be of the kind that tend to strongly support the military. If you are going to recruit its as good a place as any to target. Better than a liberal university campus or random mall location.

[Puma]

Out here on Copperhead road, "they draft the white trash first, around here anyway"

[gitrdun]

I have been recruited myself at competitive events.



For clean up duty.....

[recce43]

one thing you can not join and just become a sniper.. you must go through basic then infantry battle school . then spend time in the regiment and then apply to go to sniper school . And then you have to past that .. first off you are a infantry soldier And being a soldier in the combat trades is tuff

[nekred]

Complete BS....

Shooting accurqately in a tournament or competition is completely different than having to do it on command, on time, under fire.

Of course shooting skill is a good skill to have but the ability to follow orders accurately is far more important.

You can teach shooting skill to a soldier much more easily than teaching a good tournament shooter how to be a soldier.

[AbAngler]

I've shot service rifle with CF guys and even thought I beat some of them, they never tried to recruit me.

[recce43]

Originally Posted by AbAngler

I've shot service rifle with CF guys and even thought I beat some of them, they never tried to recruit me.

lol lot people can shoot good on a static range . try under pressure

[AbAngler]

Originally Posted by recce43

lol lot people can shoot good on a static range . try under pressure

[Ebrand]

Originally Posted by The Elkster

Wouldn't surprise me a bit based on the fact that shooters tend to be of the kind that tend to strongly support the military. If you are going to recruit its as good a place as any to target. Better than a liberal university campus or random mall location.

Why would the Armed Forces not want to recruit people who are recreationally committed to shooting? Generally speaking most shooters are outdoors folks. Outdoors folks show commitment to many disciplines and can generally think logically. They are confident in their abilities and always up for a challenge. Again generally they have sought out rules to function within. They have learned to adapt to their surroundings. These traits of outdoors folks are midpoint just a few that come to the top of my head. All of these are traits I would find very desirable in an employee.

If I was tasked with recruiting I would way rather spend the day at the range talking to shooters than standing in a mall or university.

Shooting has nothing to do with entering the military or police. They will teach you to shoot just as they teach you to dress/march/drive etc.

I see the chance and logic behind recruiters going to busy places. Like ranges I bet they are at Cabela's in Edmonton this weekend.

[Dr. Phil A]

Maybe it was the other side recruiting......

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Ebrand

Why would the Armed Forces not want to recruit people who are recreationally committed to shooting? Generally speaking most shooters are outdoors folks. Outdoors folks show commitment to many disciplines and can generally think logically. They are confident in their abilities and always up for a challenge. Again generally they have sought out rules to function within. They have learned to adapt to their surroundings. These traits of outdoors folks are midpoint just a few that come to the top of my head. All of these are traits I would find very desirable in an employee.

If I was tasked with recruiting I would way rather spend the day at the range talking to shooters than standing in a mall or university.

Shooting has nothing to do with entering the military or police. They will teach you to shoot just as they teach you to dress/march/drive etc.

I see the chance and logic behind recruiters going to busy places. Like ranges I bet they are at Cabela's in Edmonton this weekend.

Shooting is just one small facet of what makes up a recruiting criteria, and it's a very small facet, ads i stated before.
Especially if you take into account the types of firearms used.
They are far more concenred with a person mental state , history , mechanical apptitude etc, than whether or not the person can shoot.
people put way too much emphasis on shooting when it comes to recruiting .
The Forces can train a person to shoot far better for their purposes if they have a person than can learn and follow orders than a person that an aready shoot decently but has theor own ideologies and does not take idley to authority, for instance.
Cat

[JimPS]

I call BS on this too.

It would be comparable to NHL scouts scouting recreation leagues looking for draft picks.

Youth, physical fitness, education and the right attitude is what they are looking for.

Jim

[HunterDave]

Anything is possible but I doubt that it was a CF recruiting initiative. Perhaps a couple of Soldiers participating in the competition mentioned to a couple of people that they should look at joining the CF and the rumor took off from there.

[Ebrand]

Originally Posted by The Elkster

Wouldn't surprise me a bit based on the fact that shooters tend to be of the kind that tend to strongly support the military. If you are going to recruit its as good a place as any to target. Better than a liberal university campus or random mall location.

Why would the Armed Forces not want to recruit people who are recreationally committed to shooting? Generally speaking most shooters are outdoors folks. Outdoors folks show commitment to many disciplines and can generally think logically. They are confident in their abilities and always up for a challenge. Again generally they have sought out rules to function within. They have learned to adapt to their surroundings. These traits of outdoors folks are midpoint just a few that come to the top of my head. All of these are traits I would find very desirable in an employee.

If I was tasked with recruiting I would way rather spend the day at the range talking to shooters than standing in a mall or university.

Shooting has nothing to do with entering the military or police. They will teach you to shoot just as they teach you to dress/march/drive etc.

I see the chance and logic behind recruiters going to busy places. Like ranges I bet they are at Cabela's in Edmonton this weekend.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Ebrand

If I was tasked with recruiting I would way rather spend the day at the range talking to shooters than standing in a mall or university.
.

If you were tasked with recruiting you would be told when and where to go, you would not be able to put a personal schedule together.
Cat

[58thecat]

Ahhh the old story telling time....I caught a pike...forty people later and it is now a pink elephant...chances are there was a conversation, kinda like here...and we all throw our two bits in...

[The Elkster]

Its weird what a dust up this is causing. Many public services are scrambling just to find warm bodies. Whilst there is surely an "ideal" candidate I highly doubt they are going to fill the ranks with ideal candidates. And whether its Ebrand or someone else SOME gov't recruiting leader has to decide where the recruitment money is best spent. They likely use statistics and logic to help decide. Just because they may choose to recruit at a shooting range doesn't mean they are looking for snipers. Bet if you checked out simple statistics one would see that shooters on average are far more open to the idea of joining the military...over some random university student for example. They don't have to be looking for "shooters/snipers". Maybe just a higher percentage chance of finding some warm willing bodies to join and train.

They may not be fixated on shooters but this is the military we are talking about. Someone with a interest, knowledge and acceptance of guns isn't exactly a bad person to consider.

Why the worry or shock or doubt that recruitment may be happening at a range???? I don't get it.

[brownbomber]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

Anything is possible but I doubt that it was a CF recruiting initiative. Perhaps a couple of Soldiers participating in the competition mentioned to a couple of people that they should look at joining the CF and the rumor took off from there.

Winner winner chicken dinner

[nekred]

There are many ways of recruiting however in the US the most successful has been to send a few young people dressed in dress uniform and have a recruiting booth.

They are not wanting to recruit superstars, or people who are already successful, they are not after the top football player or the cheerleader...

They are after the ordinay Joe and/or Jill now who sees the uniform and the attention it gathers, the respect and discipline and is attracted to that. Of course recruiting is aimed at 17-18 year olds as the part of the brain that helps us understand consequences of our actions is not fully developed yet.

A good song for recruiting in the US is Toby Keith's... "but you never told me I would get my ***** shot at...."

A successful target shooter probably is beyond the prime recruiting age anyways because once people get enough experience to form their own opinions and see common sense a bit... they are no longer as trainable.

Becoming a soldier is a matter of training not EDUCATION... that comes later once a person is trained.

Now US recruiting is very outgoing...

Canadian.. not so much, the CF are based on a small professional model and they are very selective in their recruiting and they have enough walk-ins from REFERRALS, that they actually turn more away than they recruit. Right now the CF is doing a lot of re-integration and job placement, because there is a RIF in place.

Now to bring back to topic... The probability of recruitment taking place I would say is nil, the chance of a referral taking place is more probable, many of the people entering the CF are referrals more and more often than just a cold walk-in.

Usually many people are referred by retired/discharged members because they know the required qualities.

Today in my job I have many people coming out looking for work in a re-integration program who have been in a REMF logistics division who according to them were a war hero, recon sniper who really is not allowed to talk about what they did, sure they killed people at over 100 yards and the only thing they felt was recoil...

Ironically I never new we had so many snipers in the Candian military as what is being discharged today. I have met 100's of them now.

Meanwhile, there is the quiet person who comes in for re-integration who has a young family and just wants to go to work and make a good living and enjoy civilian life and has moved on from the past and really does not want to relive it.

More time is spent now on re-integration than on recruitment due to the RIF in place after Afghanistan.

[DarkAisling]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Shooting is just one small facet of what makes up a recruiting criteria, and it's a very small facet, ads i stated before.

When my eldest son was discussing joining the military with my father (a retired Canadian Forces MWO who was a Combat Engineer), he was concerned that his lack of a drivers license would be a frowned upon.

My father informed my son that the military assumes a new recruit knows nothing about anything (that isn't verbatim . . . his exact words are not forum friendly). Everything required will be taught, and things learned in civilian life will be retaught in the "correct" way.

I do have one friend who became an Armed Forces sniper at a very young age. He started shooting and competing in marksmanship in Cadets, then he went full time Reserves after high-school. After a year in the Reserves he went Reg. Force and into specialized training and placement.

[igorot]

Originally Posted by Ebrand

If I was tasked with recruiting I would way rather spend the day at the range talking to shooters than standing in a mall or university..

They would rather hire a computer geek than to hire a self proclaimed "sniffer" and there is a lot of them.