| We, the Navy, already have recruiting stations overseas. We have one in K-Town, Germany (moved it from Frankfort), closing the one is Naples I think, and have closed the one we had in London. We also have one operating in Japan. We used to have one in the Philipines but closed it (we had an agreement which allowed us to actively recruit Philipinos). I was the Chief Recruiter of NRD New England, part of my territory was the stations in Europe. The sole purpose of the stations was to recruit US citizens living overseas, you'd be amazed at how many there are. We were forbiden by law to recruit individuals of other countries. I can't remember if it was Geneva Convention or another international law. We were not allowed to leave take-one ads nor advertise in local media. We had a difficult time gaining the list of the 400 or so Irish that yearly migrate to the US under a program that allows this. Having been involved in the process I will also say that if the laws were changed the countries we would hope to recruit from more than likely would not allow it. Italy as an example has a mandatory conscription - we had a US-Italian dual citizen we started to process for enlistment, he was declined because of his mandatory Italian requirement (some heavy hitters got involved and we still lost). All that said. We are meeting and even in some cases exceeding the recruiting mission. We are still turning away people who want to join but do not meet the minimum requirements - From the ASVAB to height and weight and other physical problems, minor police involvement and even tattoos are standards which could be relaxed if there was a real problem...there isn't one. |