Military recruiters intentionally paint the ideal picture of serving without also showing the harsh realities leading low income youth to not know what life they’re getting into

Recruiters lie about military life and overemphasize the positives aspects of military service to potential enlistees. In a study that aimed to assess military recruitment strategies, researchers questioned high school juniors and seniors in several low-income high schools in Southern Texas about their experiences with recruiters. They found that “[a]mong the more than 800 Texas high school students who told researchers Adam McGlynn and Jessica Lavariega Monforti that they had had contact with military recruiters, 86 percent said they were never told about the possible risks of military service" and reported that service “was never portrayed to them as dangerous” (Monforti and McGlynn 10). In fact, the portrayal of military service as being dangerous was reported the least amongst all other portrayals at only 13.5% (Monforti and McGlynn 10). Instead, it was reported that the educational opportunities (61.7%), career benefits (55%), and general “improving life chances” (46.1%) were the aspects of service most commonly portrayed (Monforti and McGlynn 10). Recruiters are portraying military service as overwhelmingly positive and rewarding instead of making students aware of some of the harsher realities, especially the implicit danger of being sent to war. This is further evident through the study’s finding that “half [of those surveyed] responded that no explanation of the difference between combat and non-combat positions was given,” and “two thirds of respondents were given no information about the number of expected deployments and their duration” (Monforti and McGlynn 10). In the words of McGlynn and Monforti, “High school students are being given rose colored glasses with which to view military service and are not being given accurate or honest information about what their potential service may entail” (10). Intentionally, recruiters are leading those who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds into blindly committing themselves to a life that will certainly turn out to be much harsher than they were told and that will not provide everything they were promised.