When I see young men and women standing in long line around the Barclay Training Center, going through physical and psychological pressure to prove their readiness to serve their country, it reminds me of how I was recruited into the US Navy 30 years ago in Harlem, New York. For me, I was curious when I saw a banner on the wall of a recruiting station. The message on the banner read as followed, "We are now hiring." I didn't realize it was a recruiting station. I only entered that building on 125th Street in Harlem following that message. The recruiting station had different offices for the four branches of the US military: Army, Navy, Marine, and the Air Force. It was when I met a recruiter, Petty Officer John Gonzale and told him I was looking for job. To me, it could have been any kind of job. That very day, I was on my way coming from filling out an application for a job as a store assistant in a garment store in Harlem. I was supposed to be waiting for the call from the store manager the following days to see whether I was hired or not. While on my way home, that's when I came across this message on the wall, "We are now hiring." That message was enough to arouse my curiosity. The recruiter told me, "The job we have is military service." My first response was, "I am not an American. I don’t think I am qualified to join your military." He asked, "Are you a permanent resident, do you have a green card." I said yes. The next question was, "Are you a high school graduate?" I said yes. The next thing he did was to give me a quick test on the spot with over 50 questions on papers. He told me to answer as many of these questions in 30 minutes. I would be scored on whatever I answered in those 30 minutes. It was a speed test that was to test my knowledge on basic high school subjects such as math, science, and English. Right on the spot, my score was more than impressive. He told me I was good to go. I was scheduled to come back several days later.
When I came back, I met several other recruits. With all of us in the same room, the recruiter went over the "benefits" of military service: free college education, the opportunities to see the world, free medical and life insurances, getting paid every two weeks." Since the military is competing with stores, food chains such as McDonald, Burger King, Donkin Donuts, etc., the recruiters offer the incentives as motivating factors for the young men and women to consider joining the military. These recruiters have to fill a monthly quota for which they get paid bonuses for the number of recruits they are able to bring in. That you are joining the military as a matter of duty and patriotism to country will be taught later in the recruitment process and as part of the training in bootcamps but the recruiter is enticing the recruits with the benefits the military has to offer these young men and women versus the jobs out there.
After this initial interaction with the recruits, your recruiter tells you to prepare to take the Armed Service Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test. ASVAB covers 9 subject areas which include math, word knowledge, reading and comprehension, electronic information, mechanical comprehension, and object assembling.
You can take your ASVAB without studying the book but the recruiter will encourage you to go to your local library to study it. At the time I took it 30 years ago, library was the option. In 2026, it may be available online. Since I was recruited out of New York City, my ASVAB was administered at the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn, New York. Before a recruiter takes you for an ASVAB, he is sure you can pass the test. Of course, you can retake it if you don’t pass the first time.
Contrast that process to what we are seeing today on social media in Liberia. In a country where jobs are hard to come by, where unemployment is soaring through the roof and their parents are either sitting home or walking from one place to another without job, can we say the first motivation of these young men and women is for the first time they will be able to find jobs and start earning their own money and exercise authority they never have before? Could employment and the opportunity to earn their own money be the only incentives for them that make them to stand in long lines like this for hours? What about the sense of patriotism? Could that sense of patriotism be their only motivation for enlisting in the military, especially at this time of our border crisis with Guinea? But let's be very clear that months in advance, AFL has been publicizing their recruitment exercise. So, it is fair to say that it's simply a matter of coincidence that the recruitment is ongoing at the time when we are locked down in border crisis with our neighboring country, Guinea. Whatever their motivation maybe, let’s encourage these young men and women as they stand in long line, eager to serve their country.
Did I hear some people saying that reading is not important in the recruitment process in Liberia and that the army should focus on physical fitness? Did I hear someone saying that reading as a requirement should be relaxed or should not be a barrier to serve in our military? If you ever think so, you are wrong. This is not our grandparent military of 1900 where anyone even without six grade education was allowed to enter. The modern military required education. It requires training for both the enlisted or the officer ranks. Throughout their time in the military, if they are to advance from one pay grade to another or advance from one rank to another, or if they have to learn valuable skills that could be useful to them in their civilian career years later, education has to be considered. Reading as a requirement to join our military is part of the education as requirement. Anyone who is a high school graduate, should not have any problem reading anything whether on or off camera. That’s how I see it.
