What was the strangest Recruit you had ever seen?

2016-12-16T14:36:16-05:00

This is for all you Recruiters and Drill Sergeants. What was the strangest Recruit you had seen cross your path.

Response by MSG Brad Sand made Dec 16 at 2016 4:42 PM

2016-12-16T16:42:51-05:00

As a Guidance Counselor, I reenlisted a soldier who was a Specialist when I came in to the Army Reserve, was a Specialist still when I made Specialist...and still one when I made Sergeant...want to guess what rank I put him back in as?

Response by SFC Pete Kain made Dec 16 at 2016 4:47 PM

2016-12-16T16:47:28-05:00

Besides the young lady that admitted to using a snake as a dildo at MEPS?

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2016 10:05 PM

2016-12-16T22:05:57-05:00

A guy signed up with a woody woodpecker tattoo on his face! Seriously right on his left cheekbone, and he was able to get in with a waiver.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 17 at 2016 12:49 PM

2016-12-17T12:49:20-05:00

As an Reserve component Drill Sergeant I came across a trainee at sand hill Ft Benning that was sleeping standing up in formation. Took me a bit of time to realize it because he had his eyes wide open and all.

Response by SFC Joseph Weber made Dec 17 at 2016 2:35 PM

2016-12-17T14:35:07-05:00

He wasn't mine, belonged to my Marine buddy across the hall, but I'd go with the kid who was told to remove his ear and nose piercings before going to MEPS but didn't think that applied to his nipple and testicle piercings and chains. DQ'd.

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 20 at 2016 6:35 AM

2016-12-20T06:35:29-05:00

Girl at MEPS trying to get into the Army who just wanted to do everything to everyone. She declared she was a nymphomaniac; she came on to every doctor, every recruit (including myself which is a shocker) to include the females, and every one of the admin staff. Obviously a no-go.
Then there was the guy in BMT who yanked the tube out of his arm during our blood draw and drank it. Yeah.

Response by SFC J Fullerton made Dec 20 at 2016 3:20 PM

2016-12-20T15:20:15-05:00

That is tough one. Probably the kid who told the doc at MEPS he had a history of counseling for eating feces. Drew a psych consult, and waiver disapproved. And no, we didn't care that he was a shit eater we needed the contract.

Response by GySgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2017 3:34 PM

2017-05-08T15:34:02-04:00

Too many to count. The hardest part was telling kids they couldn't join for irrelevant tattoos and the national guard kid who worked at MEPS had a koi fish on the side of his neck and part up in front of his ear.

Response by 1stLt Ro Gra made May 8 at 2017 3:38 PM

2017-05-08T15:38:35-04:00

I wasn't a recruiter, but my favorite story was taking my physical at Fort Indiantown Gap.... This was probably 1980.... Kid in front of me had long curly red hair, was enlisting in the Marines. The Doc runs through all the questions: seizures, gay sex, drug or alchohol addiction, heart murmor and so on, all obviously answered with "no." Gets to the end "when was the last time you smoked pot?" Answers "last week..." Bam, right out of the line. I don't think it was a drug question, it was an intelligence test.

Response by CPL Jason Hughes made May 8 at 2017 5:37 PM

2017-05-08T17:37:49-04:00

I'm neither, but when I was in BCT, there was a kid who had, BY "DEMONS BE DRIVEN" tattoos on the side of his head.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2017 6:34 PM

2017-05-08T18:34:11-04:00

I'm sure every Recruiter here can share tons of stories. One that sticks out for me was the time I had what I thought was an excellent interview with a young man in his 20's. I thought he was the perfect applicant, until he stepped out of my office in mid-interview, sat down in a crowded Jamaica Ave in Queens and began to meditate. I was like "WTF Over". And people walled around him like this shit is normal! I didn't process him, but my buddy in the MARINE Corps office gave the good'ol college try. PDQ'd at MEPS.

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2017 9:00 PM

2017-05-08T21:00:45-04:00

Guy liked pantera i guess lol

Response by MSG Guy Rex made May 8 at 2017 9:47 PM

2017-05-08T21:47:48-04:00

Once floored a kid who cut a 48 on the ASVAB but was DQed for failure to follow simple instructions (mild retardation). Station commander wanted me to get him a waiver.. what! I eventually took over as station commander

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 8 at 2017 10:58 PM

2017-05-08T22:58:08-04:00

I'm not even a recruiter.. When I was at MEPS I saw an enlistee pick a fight with one of the doctors for, "being gay" because he needed him to bend over and spread his ass cheeks. Idek what branch he was going for.. Let's just say he wasn't a part of his recruiters quota. Lol

Response by PO2 Hannah Bennett made May 9 at 2017 2:10 AM

2017-05-09T02:10:11-04:00

When I was going in there was another girl going with me. When we were filling out paperwork she stops and starts counting on her fingers. The recruiter was confused so asked her what she was counting and I shit you not she literally says "well says 'sex' and I can't think of the number off the top of my head"......umm it means gender. It goes without saying...she didn't want to come back.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2017 6:37 AM

2017-05-09T06:37:07-04:00

One came in for an asvab test with black leather pants and vest and a 3 foot long machete' strapped on his side. My office mates called him "Highlander" Another came in and sat down and said "I killed a man on a school bus once but its not on my record". Another came in with a dead animal (road kill possum) hanging off his backpack. I could go on.

Response by PO3 Matt Benton made May 9 at 2017 10:08 AM

2017-05-09T10:08:34-04:00

Wasn't a recruiter, but we had a guy at basic that wet the bed so bad one night he drenched his bunk mate. The next day he crapped himself marching back from the galley.

Response by SFC Terry Bottrell made May 9 at 2017 10:37 AM

2017-05-09T10:37:57-04:00

Had a female come into the (Army) recruiting office, ready to join. When asking background questions, asked if she had any children, and she said no. In doing a background check, something came up involving a court case over child custody. I asked her again about children, and again she said no children. Then asked her about the court case. Without hesitation, she said she had no kids since they were in the custody of their fathers. Turns out she had five kids, given to the fathers without any court paperwork, and she legally had custody. I spent half an hour trying to explain that they were still her kids, no matter where they were. She wasn't believing me. Thankfully, my station commander saw what was going on and rescued me.

Response by SGT Austin Nelson made May 9 at 2017 1:46 PM

2017-05-09T13:46:42-04:00

In bct we had a guy get sent home, we woke up one morning and his entire face and chest was covered in these nasty looking bumps. Turned out he had some weird form of herpes from birth, via his mother, and he knew it all along!

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2017 2:45 PM

2017-05-09T14:45:12-04:00

We had a kid who tried to(and did) get in who was a little weirdo. His dad was an E-8 so, we bent over backwards to get him in. He swore up and down that he never had any medical issues. After we already took him to Meps, and he was on a plane, one of the marine recruiters meets me outside and asked me why we were even wasting our time with that kid. Apparently, he went to a "special school". Apparently, that school included padded walls. 8 found it weird that I couldn't find too much info on the school. The education verification went through, though. Turns out the kid got kicked out after a few months for psych reasons. Sad, his father was pretty fucking cool.

Response by PV2 Michael Whiddon made May 9 at 2017 3:49 PM

2017-05-09T15:49:08-04:00

There was a kid in my AIT who had 2 extra nipples. You read that shit right. Two tiny additional nipples slightly lower and closer together than the two normal ones. Crazy shit.

Response by Pvt Travis Reiss made May 9 at 2017 4:17 PM

2017-05-09T16:17:12-04:00

this is not apart of recruiting. but when I was in basic. In the second phase of the Marine Corps. A recruit was dropped to my platoon. (We end up being the platoon of the year, so we were a very well trained and tight knit group). needless to say, at his first chow with us (dinner), he decided to stare in the eyes of a senior drill instructor that was directly above us in our barracks. Everyone knows that this is a horrible idea. The senior, slams both of his fist on the table. And tell him, if he has a problem to get up and do something. (To this day I believe that he did not hear him correctly. Because the guy got up.) Before he able was able to wrap the table. About 10 kill hats surrounded him and took him outside for what to be assumed a horrible time. At the end of that night we find out that he is on suicide watch. Apparently he decided he wanted to go to the chaplain and make a complaint. Stating he no longer wanted to live. So now me being on first fire watch of that night, I also had to lose another hour of sleep being the very first suicide watch. That pissed me off royally. I was instructed that this individual have nothing. His bed was completely blank with nothing but a mattress and a pillow with no pillowcase. I saw him playing around with something underneath his pillow. It was a rosary. Normally I would do nothing about this because I do not disrespect anyone's religious beliefs. But I was instructed to remove anything besides his pillow and mattress. So I did. He decides to jump up and grab me in the back. My rack mate who was also on suicide watch decides to put them in a full rear naked choke hold then I punched him Square in the nose. Senior who was on duty that night opens his hatch, sees the 3 of us stadium at attention with his face all bloody up. Then asked "what was going on." I explained. He said "very well carry on". When his hatch close all 74 recruits got up and delivered this man the worst night of his life. Let's just say he woke up with dicks on his face sunglasses and his shoes were dunked in the toilet etc. the following morning. Are kill hat who is probably The most feared individual on Parris Island at that time. (Who was a dual Purple Heart recipient as a sergeant. Sergeant Palacios) Saw this recruit standing in formation and began to light him up for wearing sunglasses. He was Quarterdeck the worst I've ever seen. We all left for chow and he didn't. I never seen that recruit again.

Response by PFC Jesse Stinton made May 9 at 2017 5:37 PM

2017-05-09T17:37:49-04:00

Not really negative but still odd.. we (my recruting station where I joined) had a guy who was 17 years in the Navy but his siblings got decommissioned so he had to change branches.. he didn't want to go army or airforce so instead he went marine corps which didn't allow any retention of rank. He went from an E7 to an E2. His pay cut was more then my pay check and he had to do boot camp all over again.

Response by SPC Bobbie Modisette made May 9 at 2017 6:03 PM

2017-05-09T18:03:23-04:00

We had a female BCT that had two vaginas stack on top on another and both were infected with gonorrhea and the provider couldn't believe it so she sent her to ultrasound to see if she had two uteruses and she did, that was the most strangest thing I ever seen!

Response by SFC Clifton Bowyer made May 9 at 2017 7:44 PM

2017-05-09T19:44:11-04:00

The heck with the recruits, I had a General give me a Letter of Reprimand for being honest. True, I had an applicant for flight school that was scared to death with a hundred questions and I answered them all honestly. The applicants Dad was a big shot Dr. that did not want his 29 year old Son enlisting so he complained and boom ! I had the letter. I knew it was just to placate the Dad because the General stipulated that the Letter was to be removed when I left Recruiting. Never thought I could get into trouble for being honest. Lord knows I saw enough dishonesty in recruiting.

Response by CPO Raymond Kurtz made May 9 at 2017 7:57 PM

2017-05-09T19:57:05-04:00

I am not a fan of Garry Trudeau and wasn't a recruiter, however this Doonesbury cartoon is priceless.

Response by GySgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 9 at 2017 10:15 PM

2017-05-09T22:15:24-04:00

while working at the RS in North Carolina, I had a prospect walk in and said he wanted to be a Marine because he was a hunter, but at the end of the hunt, all you really did was kill a dumb animal... sit and think about why his package never made it to hq...

Response by CPT Jacob Swartout made May 10 at 2017 12:45 AM

2017-05-10T00:45:01-04:00

Some male in his early 20s walked in the office upset and angry and said the Marines, Navy and Air Force wouldn't take him. He then showed us his altered split tongue (cut just like a snake's tongue) and he had piercings all over his face with chains connected to his ears, his nose, his chin, his eye brows, and his cheek bones. He said we were his last chance to join any branch. He also had tattoos all over his neck and some on his forehead and ears. It was a brief 20 seconds that he was in and then left after one of the recruiters told him he was not qualified.

Response by SN Tucker Breton made May 10 at 2017 8:28 PM

2017-05-10T20:28:09-04:00

Kid I went to MEPS with had smoked pot the day before and decided to get creative to pass his drug test: He bought a dildo that matched his skin tone, hollowed it out and filled it with clean piss. He almost made it until it fell out of his pant leg on his way out of the head

Response by PO3 Anthony Cristo made May 11 at 2017 12:26 AM

2017-05-11T00:26:47-04:00

My Irish AOC brother-in-law was a Navy recruiter in New Mexico. A young Native American wanted to join but needed his family's consent as he was underage. The mother refused to speak with him because we was not a Native American and would only speak with a Native American recruiter about her son enlisting. I told him, "Just tell her the truth. You're a Chief. She has to listen to a chief."

Response by SSgt Randy Sanchez made May 11 at 2017 12:42 AM

2017-05-11T00:42:39-04:00

One guy came in just graduated from junior college and wanted to join. Gave him the practice ASVAB but he right came back. I don't understand this question he said. I looked at it and said what's the problem. The problem reads, a baseball team scores 28 runs during a 7 inning game, what is the average score per inning? I ask what's the problem? He remarks I've never played baseball. I tell get out can't use you join the army.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2017 8:59 AM

2017-05-11T08:59:44-04:00

My Brothers roommate in Iraq would invite you in, after knocking, while rubbing one off and listening to Irish folk music. Even though my brother was asleep, and would also try and have a conversation while still beating it down.

Response by PO1 Hector Maldonado made May 11 at 2017 11:21 AM

2017-05-11T11:21:30-04:00

I was a Navy Reserve recruiter, stationed at a NMCRC, with my Marine kin right across the office. Had a guy come in, looking straight up homeless and mental, with a side of crazy. Started asking questions about physical qualifications...could he enlist with only one testicle? How about that and an issue with having been in the Corps before, and getting kicked out for assaulting a DI (funny, he never mentioned how long he had been in the hospital after that). Before the psych consult questions, though, thought I might work him as an APG, but his "employment" for the last 6 months had been standing on corners as a member of the "blue bucket brigades" soliciting donations. So, I decided that I would try to help the man...I sent him across the hall to the Corps, and have them give him some help...As soon as he left, I closed the office for a looooooooooooooooong lunch....

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2017 6:24 PM

2017-05-11T18:24:21-04:00

When I was doing RAP a kid walked into the office and the following happened: recruiter: "you can only have done marijuana and you can only have done it twice; do you understand"guy: "yes" recruiter: "ok, have you ever done illicit drugs?" Guy:"Yes" recruiter: [pause] "like what, marijuana?" Guy: "No, cocaine" Recruiter: [long silence] "ok thinks for coming in" guy: "what?" Recruiter: "remember when I said..." guy: [look of shock at realizing his mistake, starts crying] Recruiter: "do you wanna try the ARMY?"

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2017 6:25 PM

2017-05-11T18:25:43-04:00

*thanks*

Response by PFC Ricky Green made May 11 at 2017 9:06 PM

2017-05-11T21:06:04-04:00

me i entered the national guard before I went active Army but failed the color test so I nfantry was out but the state sent me anyway ,i was supposed to go to ft benning but they sent me to benjamin harrison and i was pissed and they sent me to benning on a new set of orders and it was only after i completed basic that they found the problem and i had to retake the color test with a major telling me the answer and i laugh when i think i am the only color blind man to ever make it into the infantry!

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2017 9:23 PM

2017-05-11T21:23:40-04:00

I was never a recruiter but I wish I knew the recruiter who signed in a kid I met at the shower line a few years ago. He was the real Forrest Gump. I was in shock. But hey!! somebody has to clean the pots, right?

Response by LT William Jones made May 11 at 2017 11:21 PM

2017-05-11T23:21:26-04:00

Fourth Battalion, MCRD, Parris Island. female recruit decided that she wanted to home so she started messing with everybody's head. Came to medical every day. She would sit in the waiting area and read magazines that she got somewhere. Then she started knitting, using string and the ink tubes from two ball point pens. When the Drill Instructor would come and unload on her she would very calmly and very politely tell the DI, "You don't need to be so upset, you might need to see someone for anger management". What was most significant was when, on a Sunday afternoon, she decided to take a walk. She walked over to officer housing and saw a lady sitting on her porch. The recruit went up to the porch and started a conversation. The woman, ever the lady, invited her up and they sat there and had tea and cookies. After a while, the recruit said, "We'll I need to get back" ,and returned to her squad bay. When she left the nice lady called her husband and told him about the Sunday afternoon guest that she had just entertained. The husband came home and, being the Commanding General, he called the CO of Fourth Battalion and asked her to come to his quarters and explain why his wife had spent the afternoon on his front porch with a wayward female recruit. The recruit became a "Rapid" and was off the island most Rikki-tik. True story.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made May 13 at 2017 10:01 AM

2017-05-13T10:01:04-04:00

Call them drill sergeant. Please.

Response by MSgt Jeff Greene made May 18 at 2017 5:29 PM

2017-05-18T17:29:52-04:00

Not a recruit but while stationed at Duluth IAP I had a mother call me to say her son just had a nervous breakdown after completing basic and technical school and was hospitalized at Fort Knox. She then wanted to know how she could get his pay check. Told her that only he could receive his pay after reporting in. A week or so later he reported in as a fire fighter. Within 2 weeks he says to the fire chief he can't do the job, cannot be responsible for someone else's life. We ended up preparing separation paperwork for him and told him to go home (barracks) and we would let him know when the paperwork was done. A couple of days later we tried to call him but couldn't find him at all. We then called him mother in Kentucky and she told us he had come home. We called the MP station at Fort Knox and asked them to serve the separation paperwork for us. When they heard where the troop lived, they refused stating that was "redneck" country and if they went up there they would be shot as cops. We ended up mailing the paperwork.

Response by SGT Dan Howard made Jul 3 at 2018 9:30 PM

2018-07-03T21:30:27-04:00

Private Wooters, he put his fecees EVERYWHERE, pockets, boots, wall locker, even in AR-15 rifle...after my Drill Sgt. Booker almost killed him, he was chaptered out of the Infantry on. A section 8.

Response by SSgt Maxwell Barrett made Aug 6 at 2018 5:55 PM

2018-08-06T17:55:32-04:00

In our RSS one of our prospective recruit's was DQed for infintil pinus... The office never lived down...

Response by PO1 Tony Holland made Aug 6 at 2018 11:08 PM

2018-08-06T23:08:16-04:00

Must smell really bad to cause the SGT to lean back like that

Response by PO1 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 22 at 2018 10:41 AM

2018-12-22T10:41:38-05:00

I have a strong suspicion someone I put in has actual full blown high functioning autism. I'm not a doctor though... Our conversations on the way to MEPS always revolved around her wanting to do scuba diving and how she would read a lot but only non-fiction.

Response by SFC Chris Bolinger made May 21 at 2020 9:37 PM

2020-05-21T21:37:58-04:00

Had a buddy who took an applicant to MEPS. Applicant was still wearing his ankle monitor.

Response by SSG Phillip Bliss made Jul 3 at 2020 11:53 PM

2020-07-03T23:53:33-04:00

Ohhh this is fun! Let’s see, enlisted a guy, goes to ship and I’m updating his tattoo sheet, racing stripe on the penis. His wife was there laughing.
Had a guy come in with a tattoo that the Marines told him wouldn’t fly, I told him that it probably wouldn’t for the Army either. He said, I’ll be back, and I reminded him that it would have to be healed before going to MEPS, came in a month later, and I asked what his new ink was, he looked at me and smiled and said “I don’t have any tattoos”. He scrubbed it off with a Brillo pad.
The guy with the 22 inch neck.
The guy that came in looking like he had been in a bad fight last night, had a clearly broken hand, still filled out an information sheet, even after he was told he couldn’t get in due to the drug trafficking felony. ‘He told me that’s stupid, all I wanna do is die for my country’.
He was the second felon that told me that.
A Reserve SFC came in with her daughter to do her packet, got yo the tattoo part and she said ‘yes’ her mom freaked... demanded that she show it to her, girl lifts her shirt a bit and the word ‘cidity’ was tattooed in very large letters on the bottom of her stomach.
A female that was a JR... same name as her mom and had JR suffix on her BC.
(Not mine) a girl told a fellow recruiter she did porn and told him the site and her porn name.
The guy with the popular cartoon and animated characters with very large human sex features, pickachu had a very large and realistic vagina... etc. he got them all covered in solid black.

So many more fun stories.
I Hope Someone reads this and is like... that’s me!

Response by PO2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 4 at 2020 6:39 AM

2020-07-04T06:39:42-04:00

1985, Ronald Reagan was working on the “600 ship Navy.” I needed waivers for no diploma, 22 cal bullet in leg, amblyopia and petty theft conviction. I left the Navy after 12 yrs (active and reserve) while in Law School.
I am glad that they they took a chance on a Fugg head like me.

Response by SGT Richard Rezac made Jul 4 at 2020 10:59 PM

2020-07-04T22:59:29-04:00

I wasn't a recruiter, but here's my recruit story.

About 3 weeks into OSUT at Ft Benning in '84, we had our UCMJ lecture on a Sunday afternoon from our company CO. Tough guy, was an NCO during Nam. At the end he asked us if there was anything we didn't tell our recruiter, now's the time. A little 5' 4" guy from Jersey (He was in the NJ guard) stood up and said he was on parole for attempted murder. We all break out laughing. The CO yells "QUIET!!!!!!!" so we shut up. "Excuse me, son?" he asks. Jersey guy repeats himself. Our CO tells him to come see him. The rest of go drill for a couple of hours before supper.

As we form up for chow, a Georgia State Trooper cruiser pulls up. Jersey guy is in civvies and brought out by 2 MP's. The Georgia boys re-cull him and put him in their cruiser to start hos journey back to NJ and his parole officer.