All the T-34s are gone. No flying in recruiting. Times change as do individual desires. My recruiter went on to command the F-18 RAG and was a CAG. One of the department heads in my first squadron had been a recruiter, later commanded a squadron and then was a NRD CO. That was the height of the cold war. Reagan was building a 600 ship Navy. One of the reasons I currently drill with a NRD is because they have had no aviation officers assigned as officer recruiters for nearly 5 years. The current Enlisted Programs Officer, the department head responsible for all enlisted recruiting, is a LT pilot, and the only other aviator in the NRD. To be a department head and have a super critical mission like enlisted production as a LT is a great opportunity. There is no BSing. You live and die by the numbers your guys produce. There are very few aviation officers in recruiting because there is little need. You guys know how few people are coming into the Navy through OCS. The Navy doesn't need a guy with wings to talk people into applying. You people just keep walking in and call up wanting to be officers. No special fleet knowledge needed to test applicants and hand out applications. Recruiting is a highly critical mission for the Navy, but as it stands, now officer recruiting isn't so difficult and they make goals easily. No need for a hard charging break out fleet officers in recruting duty now. In my day recruiting was a nuetral assignment. It was what you made of it. I actually sought out recruiting in my home town for personal reasons. I did well, was treated alright and it never hurt my career. Fine officers may still get recruiting duty, but they have all volunteered for one reason or another. If it was because it was the only job he was offered, he isn't a real fleet player. If it is because his wife got accpeted to a local grad school and he is actively seeking the job, he may be more of an officer then is needed in recruiting now.
