HERE'S POINTING AT YOU, KID When the man in the red, white and blue hat looked their way, these folks answered the call. Here's an interactive look at how recruiting has gone for the five major branches of the United States' Armed Forces in the past five years.     CHAT LOG TALKED WITH AL / HE'S MIGHTY SMART / CHATTING, MAN / IS SUCH AN ART. Click here for a transcript of our chat about military careers with Al Gini, author of "My Job, My Self."

Uncle CyberSam wants YOU

Operation Internet

October 9, 2000
Web posted at: 4:04 p.m. EDT (2004 GMT)

In this story: Surfin' USA At ease with the Net Chatting up the curious Anchors await Reveille Bonus babies and whiz kids RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Larry Keller
CNN.com/career Senior Writer
and Porter Anderson
CNN.com/career Editor

(CNN) -- Here's a little of one conversation.

Richard B. Cheney, Republican Party candidate for Vice President of the United States: I think that the administration has, in fact, in this area, failed in a major responsibility. We've seen a reduction in our forces far beyond anything that was justified by the end of the Cold War. At the same time, we've seen a rapid expansion of our commitments around the world as troops have been sent hither and yon.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Democratic Party candidate for Vice President of the United States: In fact, this administration has turned around the drop in spending on the military that began in the mid-'80s and went right through the Bush-Cheney administration (and) in the early years of the Clinton administration, but now that stopped. In fact, we passed the largest pay increase in a generation for our military.

That was Thursday night. The vice-presidential debate. Now here's part of another conversation.

hal: The Army's $20,000 sign-on bonus, is that paid in cash or bonds or toward other things?

SFC-SHEEHY: hal, Direct deposit to your account in cash.

xfl: Where do you have to go for basic training?

SFC-SHEEHY: xfl, Basic Training is at these locations: Fort Benning, GA; Fort Knox, KY; Fort Leonard Wood, MO*; Fort Will, OK*; Fort Jackson, SC* (* indicates facilities for females). The job you choose determines the location you attend.

Mr. Clark: xfl, Nine weeks of fun in the sun. :)

It's 13:15 EDT. And whatever may be going down on the campaign trail, the RecruiterChat room at GoArmy.com is rockin' 'n' scrollin'.

This chatter is the digital sound of Uncle Sam pointing at you -- and clicking.

The enemy is a potent allied force: Poor pay rates, a dearth of affordable housing, a robust economy that woos young workers into good private-sector jobs. It all means the United States' Armed Forces are fighting a battle for new recruits.

And in the war for workers, one weapon they prize is the Internet.

The Army is joined online by the Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. While GoArmy.com may be the most interactive site in terms of live communication in RecruiterChat, NavyJobs.com has the most elaborate Macromedia Flash open.

A USCG.mil drawing of a U.S. Coast Guard 41-foot utility boat

AirForce.com, by contrast, pulls the technology card on a busily animated site that includes a 3-D display of the MH-53J Pave Low helicopter. The Coast Guard's site, USCG.mil, is the most traditional and least aggressive of the group. But it includes a gallery of comparative drawings of the service's boats and ships.

And Marines.com casts the experience of service as a journey of selfhood in a forcefully designed and written magazine of animated screens.

"The Army is taking a lot of initiatives, more than just the Internet, but this is a significant one," says Lt. Col. Mike Shepherd. He's chief of marketing communications in the advertising and public affairs directorate at the U.S. Army Recruiting Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky. "We believe it has helped."

SEMPER FI
	"We come as orphans. We depart as family." Let the other services offer the perks. Marines.com only wants to know one thing: "Do you have what it takes?"

Enough so that the Army, despite initial projections of a shortfall, expects to have met its recruiting goals when figures are available for the fiscal year that ended September 30. Last year, the Army fell 6,300 short of its recruiting goal, Shepherd says. Other reports, including those of CNN correspondents, have placed the shortfall at more than 7,000 recruits.

"We've had some hard times," Shepherd concedes.

Amid an aggressive public-relations campaign, there's been a dramatic upturn in the number of people inquiring about careers in the Army.

•  In fiscal 1999, the Army's Web site had 1.6 million visits. Through the first eight-and-a-half months of fiscal 2000, there already were 2.8 million visits, Shepherd says. The Army's site originally was launched in 1995. It underwent a redesign in May 1999.

•  Last year, GoArmy.com generated 42,000 Internet leads, Shepherd says, by comparison to 64,000 in the first three-quarters of this fiscal year.

•  Shepherd says some 8 percent of the potential recruits attracted to the Web site follow through and enlist. That's compared to 4 percent from other recruitment pitches including direct mail and phone solicitations.

"We know that the individuals who go on the Internet are quicker to make a decision with us," Shepherd says. "If they're going to join, it doesn't take them long to make up their minds because they've researched the information, they've got it and they just want to get a few follow-up questions answered."

So the Army works hard to steer potential recruits to its Web site, Shepherd says. Direct-mail pieces announce the URL, as do television commercials.

GoArmy.com's RecruiterChat is open for three busy hours each weekday afternoon. In fact, plenty of participants seem reluctant to leave at the end of the session. "E-mail us your questions or come back tomorrow, same time, same place!" the recruiters implore the stragglers.

Potential recruits use nicknames of their own choosing, and we've changed the ones we quote here. Regularly online CyberRecruiters include Sgts. First Class Edwards and Sheehy, Mr. Clark and Mr. Silva. Some have biographies available in pop-ups.

You learn, for example, that SFC-Edwards is Sgt. First Class Mark Edwards, CyberRecruiter, currently stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with Army assignments going back to 1984, a long list of awards and decorations to his name. When off duty, you learn, he likes to listen to music and spend time with his wife and two sons.

FRONTLINE SLOGANS Have you seen the T-shirt? -- "The Marines -- When it absolutely positively has to be destroyed overnight." You won't find that one here. But you will find five official U.S. Armed Forces recruiting slogans. See if you can match them to the right services.     QUICK VOTE Would you rather explore a military career online than at the local recruiting station? Affirmative. A CyberRecruiter's less intimidating than a flesh-'n'-blood one. Undecided. Might do 50-50: Check it out on the Net, then stop by the place. Negative. Won't enlist until I see the whites of their eyes. View Results

HopeToBeARanger: Do many openings exist currently in SF (San Francisco), medic specifically? I am Vanderbilt pre-med neuroscience major graduate.

SFC_EDWARDS: hopeto, Yes.

HopeToBeARanger: Can i enlist as a ranger medic?

SFC_EDWARDS: hopeto, No such animal. (Mr. Clark later clarifies that HopeToBeARanger may be able to apply his medical training in some aspect of the rapid-deployment Rangers' operations. Hopeto is urged to consult his local recruiter.)

clicker: What do you have to do to get the $20,000 sign-on bonus?

SFC-SHEEHY: clicker, Bonuses for a specific job change as positions are filled. This bonus can be up to $20,000. In addition to bonuses offered with certain jobs, the Army is offering a bonus of up to $5,000 for those that leave (home by a certain date), a bonus up to $8,000 for college credits and a $3,000 bonus for Airborne.

The conversation is as wide-ranging and as "noisy" as in most other online chat rooms, questions and answers tumbling over each other. But if anybody's looking for a date, they're doing it in private chats.

In open session, the issues raised in a single afternoon include height and weight requirements (see http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/apa/rc/) ; recruitment ages (17 to 34); asthma (generally not compatible with service); the "don't ask, don't tell" policy (a questioner is promptly instructed not to tell); going into the Army after service in the Navy; going into the Army Reserve; how can you get fast promotions ("all depends on how you do your job, the better you are, the faster your promotion"); and the ASVAB, or Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (results on its 10 tests are combined into verbal, mathematic and academic-ability scores).

And, of course, they're talking career fields -- infantry, topographic engineering, military intelligence, public affairs, medical, mechanical maintenance, air defense, special forces, chemical, military police ... .

marcher: Recruiters, thank you all. You really make me feel good about joining the Army. Lots of people around me say I'm dumb for doing it. Any advice on how to keep them at bay until I ship in 10 days?

SFC_EDWARDS: marcher, What they don't know! They will hate when you come back and tell them how good it is.

SFC-SHEEHY:marcher, Just ignore them, they are just jealous of your decision and scared to make it themselves.

rex: What if you don't have a GED. Do you have to get it first?

SFC-SHEEHY: rex, If you do not have a High School Diploma, you may still be able to enlist under the Army GED Plus Program -- http://www.goarmy.com/new/ged/ -- please check with your local recruiter!

gymnast: I am thinking about joining the Army. I am a 21-year-old female. Where would I be placed if I were to join and go into the computer programming thing?

SSG-MOYER: gymanst, Anywhere in the world.

r2d2: If u did 3 years of rotc in high school, would u still have to do basic training?

SFC-BERRY: r2d2, Yes you would.

marty: Any idea where helicopter pilots are typically stationed overseas?

SSG-SHOUP: marty, Japan, Korea, Europe, Hawaii, all over, my friend.

dave: How can I find out if there are any recruiting stations in El Paso, Texas? I have a friend there who his father wants him to join and his mom doesn't but he wants to, he just needs the phone number to a recruiter or address to a recruiting station.

SFC_EDWARDS: dave, Here is the number to call to get a recruiting station in El Paso ... .

Lt. Steve Zip with the U.S. Navy Recruiting Command reports that the Navy's recruiting goal this year is 56,700 people. That's an ambitious number, some 4,100 more than the enlisted accessions the Navy has reported for five years -- from 48,637 in 1995 to a high last year of 52,595.

ONBOARD, ONLINE
	"The Navy can put you on the leading edge of technology, and you don't need experience to start." That's NavyJobs.com talking a language it hopes you understand. Click if you love to cruise.

And there's an ocean of opportunity out there, where such goals make nobody shy when it comes to recruiting.

Not for nothing is an educational benefits program named the College Assistance/Student Headstart Program -- that works out to a baldly phrased "Navy-CASH" in marketing parlance.

Qualified applicants on Navy-CASH attend a college or university for up to a full year after being sworn-in by the Navy, getting full Navy pay and allowances. Those selected for the program also get full medical-dental benefits for themselves and eligible family members, plus a military ID card. The basic idea: Sign up but finish school first, on the Navy's tab before you "let the journey begin."

Perhaps to meet that 2000 quota, summer enlistment bonus plans have been upgraded.

A recruit entering the nuclear field, for example, now can get up to $12,000 in bonus money, up from a previous offer of $8,000. Some 46 percent of the service's more than "50,000 jobs in more than 60 different fields" have a new bonus, as announced in July.

Back at GoArmy.com, as in any big maneuver, coordinating a strategy is fundamental to success. So, as the conversations flash by in RecruiterChat, "We encourage other Army installations that have their own Web pages to add a link to our Web pages," Shepherd says.

VIRTUAL TOUR OF DUTY Here, from GoArmy.com, are some 360-degree looks at Army life at Fort Knox, Kentucky. See all that you can see.

BUMBLE DRONES, 10 O'CLOCK AirForce.com is clickable on a sky-high stack of career choices -- more than 150. And in an online video game, you can shoot down bumble drones in a canyon flight. Check out the wild blue yonder.

And the Army's Web development team recently has launched several new features to entice potential recruits. These are "virtual tours of different Army installations," Shepherd says, "showing the barracks, the different facilities that are on post -- gymnasiums, chapels, training facilities and those sorts of things." A sizeable collection of 360-degree IPIX photos from Fort Knox shows you, among other things, the inside of "The Cave," a virtual-reality training chamber operated with an electronic glove.

"That will be followed up on the Web site," says Shepherd, "with segments and profiles of soldiers and how they actually have a real life and do things that people do who aren't in the Army."

The Army also is advertising more than 200 jobs -- ranging from infantryman to machinist, journalist and nurse -- on Internet job-search sites including Monster.com.

This broad-based recruiting campaign comes at a time of mounting concern that pay and working conditions for military men and women are grossly substandard.

Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush, like their running mates last Thursday, have bemoaned the fact that some military families have to resort to food stamps to try to make ends meet. Not a candidate on the stump is going to celebrate reports that an estimated 500,000 aging military housing units are in need of repair.

Basic pay for an Army recruit is $930 a month. Based on a 40-hour workweek, that's $5.36 an hour.

The Army is offering bonuses to help offset its meager salaries -- up to $50,000 for college tuition for eligible soldiers who enlist for four years. As is often mentioned in RecruiterChat, there also are enlistment bonuses that go as high as $20,000 and a program in which the Army pays as much as $65,000 of a recruit's student loans, Shepherd says.

He says the Army's Internet strategy is not only to capture more leads but also to attract a higher-caliber recruit than may be possible through traditional recruiting methods. "The aptitude scores of the people who respond via the Internet," he says, "we're still tracking that. We believe they'll come out higher."

Capt. Rob Winchester, U.S. Marine Corps, has been a recruiter for 10 years and concurs with Shepherd. The Marines.com site features not only its extensive animated-magazine meditation on what becoming a Marine can mean but also areas for users interested in the Platoon Leaders Class and Officer Candidates Class.

And as his and other services scour the cyber community for recruits, Winchester cautions that intelligence -- the type that may be found in Net-savvy recruits -- is just one asset of what makes a good member of the armed forces.

"You're going to get smarter kids," he says. "But does that mean they're going to be athletic, or are they going to be these types who stay in the house on the Internet all the time?

"We may get one smarter, but are we getting one that's in good shape?

"We've got to work hard on that."

Based on the drop-dead inspirational message of Marines.com, it's hard to imagine that the U.S.M.C. won't work hard on that.

Nevertheless, the conversation in RecruiterChat back at GoArmy.com occasionally demonstrates that even on so facile and friendly a medium as the Internet, there still are things that the combined might of the United States Armed Forces cannot change to get a recruit.

gymnast: Why can't women fight in the infantry?

SFC-SHEEHY: gymnast, That is determined by your Congress.

Vice-presidential debate transcript
October 5, 2000
Is there a point to job hunting online?
September 13, 2000
U.S. faces challenge recruiting reservists
September 12, 2000
Army asks private sector to supply recruits
June 5, 2000
The food stamp G.I.?
May 1, 2000
U.S. Army offers new education incentives to attract recruits
February 3, 2000

U.S. Army
U.S. Navy
U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Coast Guard

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