Beyond The Quota

Guest Links:  https://www.marines.com/, https://www.mcrc.marines.mil/Units/Recruiting-and-Retention-School/.

Music:  "Everything Is Working Out" by Sarah, the Illstrumentalist, licensed under Epidemic Sound.  Original work available at https://www.epidemicsound.com/music/tracks/d82030d0-11ae-4ed6-b8c0-54046531b869/.

In this episode, I sit down with my wife Mirlein Tovar and long time friend Raul Muela to reflect on our experiences serving as Marine Corps recruiters.  We discuss how we ended up on recruiting duty, the challenges of meeting mission requirements, and the realities of balancing the demands of the job with family life.  Along the way, we share funny stories, memorable encounters with applicants and parents, and some of the unexpected moments that made recruiting duty both stressful and rewarding.

We also talk about friendships, camaraderie, and personal growth that came from the experience, highlighting the recruits who left a lasting impact on us and the lessons we still carry today.  From long hours and high-pressure environments to laughs, success stories, and unforgettable memories, this conversation offers an honest look at one of the most unique assignments in the Marine Corps.

Whether you're a Marine, veteran, military family member, or simply curious about what recruiting duty is really like, this episode provides insight, humor, and a behind-the-scenes perspective on the people and experiences that shaped our lives.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

This is Sturgis Says It Straight. Straight talk. Real people. No filter. Say it straight or don't say it at all. What's up, everyone? Welcome to another episode. Thank you to all the listeners and supporters for tuning in. I have two special guests today. Returning guests, my wife, Milene Tovar. You guys heard her on the last episode. And then I have a guest calling in from Colorado, Erie Colorado, to be specific. Raúl Muela, uh longtime friend, former recruit Marine Corps recruiter. So today we're going to be going into our basically our recruiting history of when we were in the Marine Corps and just kind of giving you guys an insight of what we went through. So let's get straight into it. All right, guys. So I know that we did recruiting duty many, many years ago. For us, it was 2000, for me and my wife, it was 2010 to 2013. Raul, remind me, what years were you there?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

I was there from 2009 to 2012.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

Okay, so we we got to spend what, like a year and a half uh in the same in the same uh recruiting station, some something like that, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yep, yeah, just about a year and a half.

SPEAKER_03 1:28

Yeah, so uh actually Raul was one of the first Marines that we actually had a conversation with, kind of started talking outside the the recruiting offices, and so we started evolving into a friendship, my wife and I uh at one of our trainings. Uh so that's how we met on recruiting duty uh in Denver, Colorado. Uh we were stationed in a little uh well, Denver, Colorado is the main duty station, and then we were substation in uh Fort Collins, Colorado. And where were you, Raul? I was down in Aurora, Aurora, Colorado, that's right. And uh Raul here is also aka compa. So he's our compadre. For those of you that know what a compadre is, uh it's basically like uh someone who uh basically you bring him into the family as like a second father to your kids. Uh so that's that's what uh Raul is in in our circle and our family. Um, so that's that's kind of your introduction. But go ahead if you guys want to talk a little bit about yourselves. Milane, I know I already introduced you. Uh anything else that I missed?

SPEAKER_04 2:37

No.

SPEAKER_03 2:37

Okay, Raul, you want to say a little bit, little something a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Uh yeah. Um originally from Texas, uh, I was out in California for the beginning of my career, and then I was sent out to recruit duty. Uh, and then we went we decided to go out to Colorado because uh my wife is from there. So I figured if I'm gonna be working late all the time, she can have her family with her. Um, that way it's not too bad if I'm not home.

SPEAKER_03 3:06

All right, and uh big shout out to Laura, if you're listening out there. Uh a big hello.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

Hello, comadre.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

And we miss you. Uh, one of the things that uh people ask is kind of like explain what Marine Corps recruiting duty is like because it is a very unique assignment when you're in the Marine Corps. Uh it's known for its exclusivity, uh, and it has an emphasis, and and it and really actually it doesn't have emphasis on perks, it's very exclusive because Marines uh were a very, I don't know, I forget what the number is. It's like less than two percent of uh population can never claim that they were a United States Marine. I might have the percentage wrong, but it's a very, very low percentage, so we take a lot of pride in that. Um so what's the what's the first word that comes to mind when you hear recruiting duty for the both of you? If you want to go ahead and start rewarding.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Uh recruiting duty was uh to me when I hear recruiting duty, it's it was hectic, um, but rewarding at the same time. I know it it's it sounds weird, but I I think it was rewarding at the end, maybe not while we were going through it. Yeah. But overall it was rewarding.

SPEAKER_03 4:23

All right, what about you, Middle Eine?

SPEAKER_04 4:25

That's a good way to say it, um, Compa. Um, I have to say the first thing that comes to mind is long hours.

SPEAKER_03 4:34

Yes. And along with that, I'm gonna say no sleep. But yeah, but yeah, but but definitely, definitely rewarding for sure. Uh but all those things uh encompass recruiting duty for sure. Uh all right, let's get into um how we got to recruiting duty. Uh first and foremost, did we volunteer or were you voluntoled? So we'll go ahead and kick it off with you again, Raul. Were you volunteer were you volunteer or voluntoled?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

So I actually volunteered to become a drone instructor. Um, but as I volunteered at the time, there was a new thing called the HISS List.

SPEAKER_03 5:10

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Um so I volunteered to be a drone instructor, however, I'll my name was on the HIS list for recruiting duty. Uh so I kind of switched and um just kind of asked my monitor, I was like, hey, what what happens if uh I decide not to go on recruiting duty because I volunteered for being a drone instructor, and uh they actually told me just go ahead and switch it and say you volunteered for um recruiting that way it helps you out kind of get a better spot of where you want to go.

unknown 5:42

All right.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Oh, that's great advice.

SPEAKER_03 5:44

Yeah, that's true. Go ahead, Midlay.

SPEAKER_04 5:47

And for us, uh, we also wanted to go uh DI, dual instructor. Um, so I was actually out there, yeah. You actually said he actually went to school. Um, and in the middle of it, he um got injured and had required surgery on his feet. So we knew that the dream of becoming a dual instructor was basically over.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:13

Um, so we thought about uh recruiting because we wanted to do our special duty assignment together and knock it out at once instead of going through it six years, we did three years together.

SPEAKER_03 6:26

Yeah, and then for those listeners out there that don't know what a uh special duty assignment is, it's basically like if you are a career marine, so if you're thinking about joining the military and doing 20 years, which is required to retire, uh well, that that's not the only way you can retire. Obviously, you can retire uh medically and other reasons, but let's say for the most part, you're gonna do your 20. At some point, you're gonna have to do a special duty assignment, whether it be recruiting duty, whether it be being a drill instructor for those that come into basic training and you know train the new recruits, or embassy duty, which uh we do have embassies all over the world. So those are the three. Am I missing one? I think it is there another one. I think there's one in infantry, right? I just can't think of the name of it right now.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

MCT instructors.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Oh, there you go. Can't forget those guys, very important. Yeah, MCT instructor, infantry instructors out there in Camp Pendleton in uh North Carolina. Shout out to you guys and shout out to all the Marines that are on special duty right now. Um, so yeah, I just kind of get an idea of like how it works, how you get into recruiting. Yeah, so like I said, we volunteered. So when we went to recruiting school, uh, we actually were there because we wanted to be there. It sounds crazy, but yeah, we wanted to be there. Uh, because that's the way you advance in your career. If you're gonna stay long term, uh, that's something that you're gonna want to do if you're gonna want to be successful. So, did I miss anything? Nope. With that? Okay. And then a question here for all three of us. What were the expectations before recruiting duty? Like for me, um, I just knew that it was gonna be a lot of studying, it was gonna be a lot of tests. Uh, that's pretty much it for me. That was like my expectation. And if you didn't make it, then you're you're gonna go back to your duty station that you came from, or what would a duty? I think I explained this in my other episode. Duty station is basically like the company where you work, where you do your trait, where like for me it was communications, my wife was logistics, and then Raul, you were aviation, right? Is it yes, sir?

SPEAKER_01 8:21

I was a helicopter mechanic.

SPEAKER_03 8:23

Helicopter mechanic, yep. So if you failed and you go went back to your duty station, it was not a good thing.

SPEAKER_04 8:30

So yeah, nobody wanted to go back as a failure.

SPEAKER_03 8:33

No, so you didn't want to be that guy or that or that lady that failed. So um the expectations are pretty high coming in. Correct me if I'm wrong though. I think we had to get a minimum of 80%, or was it higher to pass our tests? I think it was 80%, but I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

While while I'm recruiting at the school, yeah, at the school. Yeah, yeah, it was 80%, and some were written, some were oral, uh, and then some was just basically giving the spiel, right? Of hey, do you want to become a Marine? And uh, you got graded by the instructors, and then sometimes you got graded by your peers as well.

SPEAKER_03 9:09

So yeah, so there was it was a lot of studying, that's for sure. There is no C average in the No, no, no, 80 minimum to pass. Um, and that that's the standard. And in a lot of the Marine Corps schools, I believe it's still 80 and some some schools a little higher than 80 minimum to pass test, I believe. I know when I was uh becoming a marksmanship instructor for the Marine Corps, I believe we had to pass with at least the 90%, and everything had to be verbatim. Uh, but you know, it just depends on the school. But recruiting duty has its own challenges, uh, not only all the studying, but we also had to do our physical fitness tests and everything required physically along with everything else. So good times. Um, but um, yeah, that's that's recruiting school and and a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

So my expectations of school was I don't think I had any.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

No.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Um I I think I believe I spoke to recruiters before I went out there, and I I mean they gave me the basics of you know what to expect when you're on the streets and recruiting, but really not what to expect in school. Um, but when I got there, I just I realized it was a lot of training, a lot of studying, and like you said, a lot of memorizing. And then the hardest thing for me was actually performing like the phone calls or the cold calls or just the skits that they have you practice because I am not an outgoing person and I had to be You're not an outgoing, really? I am not.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Oh, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 10:45

I am not, um and recruiting forced me to be a little bit more outgoing because of everything that they put you through.

SPEAKER_03 10:53

Yeah, what about you, Raul? Um, what were your expectations before school?

SPEAKER_01 10:58

Well, like I said, expectations. I was getting ready to be or go to journal instructor school.

SPEAKER_03 11:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

And then when I went to uh recruiting school, I actually had spoken to a few people. Uh they literally told me, um, hey, you know the hiss list, why it came out? And I said, Well, yeah, they want people to go go do these B billets. And um they're all like, Yeah, the reason it came out because we don't have enough volunteers. So you really can't mess up enough to for them to kick you out. Obviously, if you don't do the work and yeah, you know, um, you don't get 80% on your tests and all that. I mean, you have multiple chances to take the test or or do the uh the exercise and stuff. But I honestly, like I said, I spoke to some of the people and they're like, we are doing the HIS list because not a lot of people volunteer. So I kind of had an expectation of well, this shouldn't be as hard um as normal just because we need people to go out on on recruiting duty. So um I really didn't expect much of it. Um, as you all know, I've I'm pretty outgoing. I like to speak to just about everybody. Yes, yes, you do.

SPEAKER_04 12:03

You make friends everywhere you go.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

That that part to me was not gonna be hard. It was just um, you know, being able to do the the the tests that we had and all that stuff. So uh expectations was that like just go in there, take it. Um, and another thing I do want to add, like you said earlier, if you came back from recruiting duty, uh, you were more than lucky just gonna finish out your contract and you weren't gonna be able to reenlist exactly. Yeah, um it's one of those you gotta go out there and be successful.

SPEAKER_03 12:33

So yeah, and just a quick side note, Raul here, he's he's the friendliest guy you've ever met, but you don't want to cross with me either. Okay, he he can meet, make friends easily. You turn around, you're at like we're at a bar at a sports bar or something, and then next thing you know, you turn around and he's he's already made like three friends, and they're already buying him drinks.

SPEAKER_04 12:52

Exactly. So Nashville story. We were at Nashville, we were on top of a rooftop restaurant or bar in the span of an hour. I'm not gonna lie, I think we had like two different sets of people in the table next to ours, and both of them were already making plans with uh our compan about a traveling. Where was that guy from? Do you remember Raul? Where was he from?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

The first group was from Canada, and then the second group was from Australia.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

Australia, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

And they were already making plans, like this guy is their best friend, buying him drinks, and we're here looking at him, like, how do you how can I get a drink? Yes, how do you do it?

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Yeah, but that's everywhere we go, though, everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yeah, funny story about that. Um, friendliest, and you don't want to cross me. Uh when I was in the Marine Corps, when when you people came into my unit, um, some of them would straight up tell me that, like, hey, we heard your, you know, uh you're mean, you you know, uh, and then some of them would be like, hey, you're you're the friendliest guy ever. Uh, what should we listen to? And and I'd be like both. Yeah. Like, you know, it's up to you which side you want to see, you know. Exactly. Um, exactly. However, but but I could be the one that chews your ass, and then um right after they come and tell me you did a great job on something and have a short-term memory, like, hey, I chewed your ass, cool. Continue on. Now, congratulations on what you did, and I'll just go ahead and move forward.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

So, yeah, that's perfect, man. I mean, and a lot of uh good leaders are like that, and that's how they they they you know mold these young Marines and they become successful themselves. So all right. Um, now a question here is what's the first word that comes to mind when you hear recruiting duty? PTSD for you, Midlane?

SPEAKER_00 14:42

I think we already know that.

SPEAKER_03 14:44

What's that?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

I think we already did that question, didn't we?

SPEAKER_03 14:47

No, we did not, did we?

SPEAKER_04 14:49

I think we did.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Oh my god. Strike that then, strike that. Uh here's and I haven't even had a drink today, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:58

I think it's a PTSD. That's why you came back to the phone. That's why I said PTSD. You came back from recruiting duty and it's back over again.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

So in recruiting school, you had to repeat a lot of things over and over again.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

So yes, and my apologies.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

He's back there again.

SPEAKER_03 15:14

Yeah, um, let's talk about our first day on recruiting duty. Um, so what was that like for each and what each one of us? Um whoever wants to start, go ahead and tell us your first day.

SPEAKER_04 15:26

Do you want to go first, Grumpa?

SPEAKER_00 15:29

No, you can go ahead from my okay, ladies first.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Ladies first. Well, I I think for me it was a little bit different from everybody else because I had somebody starting their first day with, um, and that is my husband. We were actually lucky enough to be um in the same recruiting station.

SPEAKER_03 15:47

And nobody wanted us, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 15:48

And nobody wanted us because we were married. Um, and we both had to check in early, earlier than expected. As soon as we got to Colorado, I think within the next day, um the uh the person in charge of us told us you need to come in. Um, and I was like, why? Why I was so upset. So I did not start my first day on a happy note because I was already upset that he had cut our vacation short. And we didn't even get time to settle down.

SPEAKER_03 16:24

Yeah, I think we came in a week early.

SPEAKER_04 16:26

Yeah, it was it was one or two weeks early.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

We were supposed to have two weeks to settle in, and we only got one week.

SPEAKER_04 16:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:32

Yeah, we our house wasn't even fully set, anything, nothing. Uh for me, it was um the like I don't know how to explain this, but we just uh like we had just got there, and for example, like uh you meet the new Marines and you go, you know, at recruiting school, there's a certain expectation, and then when you get there, you're like, what the hell is this? This is nothing like what we learned at recruiting duty. Uh like there were so many things that were that were like so many steps that were skipped. Uh, and I was just like, I don't know if this is gonna work out because I I I like to follow things the way they're supposed to be done. And that was my first impression. Like, no, this is this is not exactly how it how we got taught. So, what about you, Raul?

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Uh, my first day, uh, I showed up. Uh, if you guys don't know, I recruited, well, I said it earlier, I recruited out of Aurora, Colorado.

SPEAKER_03 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

And Aurora is split. Uh, Aurora has the Cherry Creek schools, which are very wealthy uh areas of Colorado. Um John Elway's son played at Cherry Creek High School. Uh went to the Broncos, uh kids played at Cherry Creek, uh, and most of their football team gets uh continual offered. So uh it's split between the rich and then the uh I went to the ghetto schools basically, um, where you have to walk through a metal detector. So my first day, I literally showed up, uh guy named Stasser and Gaussin at the time. He told me, Hey, we're gonna go to school with me. I said, All right, let's go. Uh, we went to one of the ghetto schools. So um whenever whenever we first showed up, it was the same, same reaction as you like, what is this? Like, this is crazy. Yeah, fights happening. Um, so it was just uh it was a crazy first day, and I remember thinking, like, how am I gonna survive this? Um coming to these kinds of schools. But uh, yeah, that was the first day. Uh, after that, I found out that I actually wasn't gonna have either of those schools, uh, like the rich or the ghetto. Uh, they gave me schools out east of Colorado. So basically came through 12 schools. I had 13 of them. Oh, so it was yeah, I think total graduating class out of all those schools was like 120 people.

SPEAKER_02 19:01

And you're expected to recruit.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Exactly. I'm supposed to, you know, bring three people a month. Oh, yeah, right. 120 seniors, it's like uh how am I gonna do this?

SPEAKER_03 19:11

You're lucky if you get one or two, you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Exactly. But but yeah, that was the first day I remember going to the school. But other than that, it's it's I mean, it was as soon as you got in, like you guys said, it wasn't uh warm-up period or anything. It was like, hey, you're thrown to the wolves. Oh, yeah. Go find go find people to join the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_03 19:30

So yeah. Um, and just real quick, I want to just uh for those listeners out there, uh, when you're a Marine Corp Marine Corps recruiter, you get assigned an area. Uh so when we're talking about schools, we're talking about high schools. So you're gonna get assigned, I don't know, depending on where you're at, 13 schools, 14 high schools, you know, some uh are a little bit farther than others. Some are like you gotta travel like an hour and a half away or whatever the case is. So just to kind of paint a picture, uh, you cover a lot of ground out there, especially like in Colorado. We had to we had to do a lot of traveling uh in some parts. Um all right, so um let's let's uh let's go to this one. Um first awkward interaction with a prospect or a parent. Does anybody have one of those that you can think of? Like awkward, you're like, oh my god, what's happening? What's happening right now? Do you have one?

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Well, um my first interaction was with a prospect, and it was a very late night, and we had one of our uh instructors out there who were because when we first get out there, you are in a um, what is that word I'm looking for? Um like a trial period. Oh, you're on probation. Probation, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Probationary period, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

Probationary period, and you're still being instructed on the job training, and he forced us to go to like an Albertons or no, a King's Supers.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

King's yeah, King Supers in Colorado.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

And it was late at night, and he pushed us into this to the store, and he was just pointing at people, go talk to him, go talk to him, go say something, go get his number. And I'm like, oh my goodness. And I came up to this potential prospect um in full uniform, and I was like throwing my skin out there. Well, hi, how are you doing? My name is you know, Staff Sergeant Tovar. Yeah, you know, blah, blah, blah. And he looked at me like, who the heck are you? Like, why are you in my face right now? I'm just I'm in the bread aisle getting bread because my mom sent me to the store. Why are you talking to me? And it was, I mean, I did what I had to do. The instructor said I did very well, but you could just tell that he was very um uncomfortable. Uh, he didn't he gave me his number because I guess he saw the guy behind me. Um, it led to nothing, but it was just one of the That he was just like, what just happened? I don't know what happened.

SPEAKER_03 22:04

And how did and what happened though after that?

SPEAKER_04 22:06

Well, nothing. He just pointed to the next person and I had to go talk to them.

SPEAKER_03 22:09

No, I know, but like how was your psyche after that? Like mentally, how how how did you feel? Were you like, oh no, this is not gonna be good?

SPEAKER_04 22:16

Well, I was I had to force myself to be a comedian. So if he if I needed to be outgoing, I was gonna be outgoing and so on. So it was it, I had to be mentally prepared for it.

SPEAKER_03 22:28

Okay. Yeah, for me, it was uh an uh the first awkward uh one was um I was actually in the office and uh a homeless guy walked in and he said he was interested in joining the Marine Corps. But I mean, of course, you gotta treat everybody, you know, with the same respect and the same, you know, opportunity. So you could tell he was homeless because he came in with his bike and then right behind him he had a cart full of like aluminum cans and like you know, plastic bottles, whatever the case is, and he asked if he can bring his cart in so nobody would steal his aluminum, you know, and his plastic. I was like, Yeah, sure, why not? You know, put it right here. And of course, I had to go through the whole spiel of like you know, why the Marine Corps is the best, etc. etc. Do our little, you know, um informational, you know, thing presentation. Yeah, and um, you know, I he actually ended up taking a practice test. He actually ended up scoring like a 90-something on the practice test. Very smart, very smart individual. Um, but he just didn't have like the mental, how you would say, like capacity or stability, stability. Um, and he was talking about like, oh, I want to go be, you know, protect the president, and I want to be in this and that, and you know, I was like, okay, buddy, you know, um you could just tell that uh he just wasn't in the right state of mind. And uh I felt sorry for him, you know, I felt bad, but uh, I did end up buying him a meal uh because he was hungry. But that was like kind of like my first like, oh my god, this is kind of weird interaction. Uh and I was like, is I wonder and I was thinking, like, I wonder if if we get a lot of these people coming through the offices, and believe me, you you do get some characters coming through. But yeah, but that was my first like awkward, like, oh man, this is kind of weird. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

That's funny, because yeah, you you gotta you gotta treat them with everything. But it it it, I mean, as at the beginning, uh, I thought I was being set up as well. I had a guy just like that that walked in and I thought I was being watched, you know, to see how I felt. Um, and like you said earlier, and like I think Kamada said it too. It's you know, you you come to recruiting duty and you get taught all these things, and then you realize that some of the recruiters aren't using it, uh you just gotta find your own way, you know what I mean. Um I think my first weird interaction was actually with the mom. She's the one that called me and said, Hey, uh, my son wants to join the rain corps. He's uh 18 years old, he graduated. Um he's he's an amazing kid, all this other stuff. So I thought, you know, this is gonna be easy. I went over to the house, Pope. I guess the the first the first clue should have been they had a wheelchair ramp in the front door.

SPEAKER_03 25:13

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

Um so I didn't think anything of it, you know, maybe the parents or you know somebody else. Uh no, I come in. This kid is in a wheelchair, he's missing both legs. Oh wow. But the mom wants him to be a Marine.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I sat there and you know, I didn't want to be mean or anything. So I just sat there and uh, you know, did this the spiel and all that, and uh um, you know, I don't know if you guys remember but the benefit tags. Oh, yeah. The 11 traits to be able to talk, and you gotta get them to do it. And you know what? I was there with another recruiter because it was my first home visit, and he just looked at me. I could tell he just wanted to start laughing, but he I looked at him like, Do you really want me to to to pack him out? I mean, he doesn't qualify. Uh and and he was like, Yep, like he just looked, gave me the look, like, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 26:03

He probably just wanted you to practice how good practice.

SPEAKER_01 26:06

Yeah, get practice on it. And and at the end, it was funny. The mom was like, How did he do? And and you know, he did take the practice test on my laptop, and I think he scored like an 80-something.

SPEAKER_02 26:16

Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

And the the funny part is is he's all like, I ran up on it, and and now you have you have to run three miles, and I I just held him. I was all like, Oh wow, like how are you gonna run three miles, bro? But I'm like, I'm pretty sure you're fast, you know. But that was my first uh home visit, and it was it was quite awkward, but we got through it. Um, and then as you go along, you know, you realize the school teaches you some stuff, but yeah, it really doesn't work as well, you know. So you gotta kind of make your own way of getting people in.

SPEAKER_03 26:51

So yeah, you gotta give it like your own twist, you know, your own wording. What works for you, yeah, exactly. Because I've I felt like when we followed the actual script, I sound like a robot, it just didn't sound natural. So I just kind of threw my own words in there, you know. And uh speaking of the benefit tags, um, these are 11 tags that you get issued when you become a recruiter. And um you when you do your presentation, um the the applicant or the prospect picks three out of the 11 of like what's important to them. And the 11 benefit tags are pride of belonging, challenge, leadership and management skills, self-reliance and discipline, courage and self-confidence, physical fitness, travel and adventure, educational opportunities, technical skills, professional development and opportunities, and financial security.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

So damn, did you have those memories?

SPEAKER_03 27:52

No, no, of course not. I had them written down here because there's no way I would I would remember that.

SPEAKER_04 27:57

I was like, damn, I don't remember any of them.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

No, I I had to I had to go back and kind of dust off some some notes from back in the days because no, there's no way I would have remembered that right now. But I remember putting those benefit tags on the table, and you know, the kid had to pick you know three of them. And most of the time it was travel and adventure. Because they wanted they want to see the world.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

If I remember, yeah, if I remember correctly, I think we had what six that were tangible, meaning yeah, they get something out of it, yeah, money, you know, all that stuff, and then there was five that were intangible, which um you you yeah, you can't really score that. Yeah, you're gonna get money and travel on a venture and all that stuff. So yeah, uh, yeah, I I remember most kids um take the tangible ones, which was funny, you know. It's like I want something for me right now, what am I gonna get right now?

SPEAKER_03 28:49

And you know, and most most people and most kids think like that. You know, once they mature, of course, you start to think about the different things that are actually important in your life and not really the physical things, but you know, yeah, that takes time.

SPEAKER_04 29:02

I remember mine. Mine was challenged, that was my top one. The reason why I joined the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

I don't remember mine.

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Yeah, I don't even think they did that to me because I already had a brother that had joined. Um, and I was an easy like I was literally the first senior. Yeah, yeah, I was the first senior. My my mom signed, my dad was not around, so um, I think we had to write a statement of you know, he's not here, he's not around. So I I mean, I think I joined the first day that I could join, which was I think it was like June 11th, I think.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

For now, I wasn't even a senior yet, but like the summer going to my senior year, I had already joined.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Oh, so you so you were in the delayed entry program for like a year at least, right? Yeah, quite a long time.

SPEAKER_04 29:48

Yeah, I was in it for nine months.

SPEAKER_03 29:50

Ten days.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:53

Yeah. I was a direction. Well, I was like, I was a recruiter's dream too, man. Went into the office. Literally that day, I took my and I mentioned this before, I took my my written test the next day, physical, and then I was off to boot camp ten days later.

SPEAKER_04 30:06

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:07

I did my IST, which is like your physical fitness test before you, you know, your initial strength test. Yeah, to make sure you can do pull-ups, you know, the one and a half mile run, and then the um the crunches, which is uh sit-ups basically. Yeah, yeah. All right, um, let's get into the reality of recruiting. So, what what's what was our daily schedule like when we were recruiting those three years? Three grueling years.

SPEAKER_04 30:33

Very early mornings when you had to take um kids uh down to MEPS.

SPEAKER_03 30:38

Can you explain what MEPS is?

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Um yeah, I mean, uh, this is where we take them, where they have to do their physical exam. But once they had passed the the ASVAB, um, and correct me if I'm wrong, if first they would have to do the ASVAB, then if they passed the ASVAB, they would do the physical portion next. Um it's been a long time, so I don't remember quite clear, but um this is where they went and they had to do the complete medical examination, uh, which included them doing like duck walks and you know other flexibility movements and they get grilled by the doctor, you know. Have you ever had a broken bone? Do you have any medical conditions? And of course, the answer is always no, no, no. Um, I mean, I didn't brief on that, but you know, that's the answer that they would give.

SPEAKER_03 31:33

Yeah, of course you didn't brief them.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

I heard I heard allegedly, allegedly, if there's something wrong with you, if you put yes, that means your enlistment stops. Yes, but if you put no, it's new opportunities.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

You don't go, you don't move forward if you say yes.

SPEAKER_04 31:47

I I had no idea what those you know what that stood for, but thank you for telling me. Wink, wink, wink, but yeah, wink, wink, yeah, and so if you had to get a kid uh down to MEPS at four in the morning and he lived in another state, for example, I know Sergio, that you had uh to go to other states.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

Yeah, Nebraska.

SPEAKER_04 32:07

And I remember clearly having to ride with you um to pick up a kid in a different state, and we had to carpool and take turns driving because we had to leave uh night, pick them up, be at MEPS by four, and then repeat the process when we dropped them off. So sometimes we are on the road all day long.

SPEAKER_03 32:27

We didn't sleep sometimes, and then expect to uh work a full day.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

Yeah, and still make phone calls, get those leads.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Everything.

SPEAKER_04 32:34

Yeah, how about you, Compai? What was your schedule like?

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Uh same thing, early mornings. Um, I think at the beginning, you know, my boss that I had, he was uh 80 84 12, which is a career recruiter. That's where he's gonna stay.

SPEAKER_03 32:50

Yeah, that's a designated number.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

Yep, he was he was literally all about hey, you're up in the morning, um, which I disagreed in, but he would have us be at the office calling people before school. Yeah. Um disgusting. Yeah, you know what I mean. Who wants to be woken up by nobody? Hey, this is uh, you know, Stephanie.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

You know, what some people are not even warning people.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

No, no, yeah, we were there and we had to make our calls, and um, you know, and and that's what I hated because you make calls and you had to do time marks, and then however many calls got you an answer, and then how many answers got you an appointment. Um, and if you were just making calls to make calls, I mean you had to. I think at one point I was scheduled or I I had to to meet my quota, I had to make like 600 calls a day or something.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Oh, hell no.

SPEAKER_04 33:44

So we didn't that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

When you yeah, when you when you have that the schools that I had, but you only have 120 seniors. I mean, I'm calling all of them you call the same list.

SPEAKER_04 33:55

Call them all six times right now.

SPEAKER_03 33:57

The same list. Like I just talked to you an hour ago.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

Yeah, have you changed your mind?

SPEAKER_03 34:04

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_04 34:07

We did get some type of hazing, if you would say hazing. I remember when I first got there, I had to stand on my desk. Oh, yeah, and make phone calls, and I couldn't get down from my desk until I got an appointment.

SPEAKER_03 34:20

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

I know I was hazed.

SPEAKER_03 34:24

Yeah, I remember that. Um yeah, and I'm not gonna say who, but and then when you made your second appointment, you could sit down on your chair, down on your chair, so that happened to me. Yeah, it happened to me too.

SPEAKER_04 34:36

I think he felt bad for me after a while though, because I I was definitely getting no bites.

SPEAKER_03 34:40

Yeah, imagine somebody walks in though and you're standing on your desk making a phone call. In uniform, yeah, in uniform, like what the hell is this person doing? Yeah, not a good look. Um, but yeah, a lot of phone calls, interviews, a lot my favorite was the school visits though, because uh, you know, that's when you would have the for me, it was like that was your best chance because you're seeing the students like face to face, they're interacting with you, and you know, you take your pull-up bar and you set it up, and then you do a little pull-up challenge, give a t-shirt for the guy that does the most pull-ups during like a lunch event or something, and that was pretty cool to me. That was like the best part. Uh, but then sometimes dealing with those schools though, they were like super anal about things. I'm is that can I say anal in here? That's your show. No, they were just very strict about like where we could where we where we can set up, how long we could be there. Like they just had so many parameters for us. Um, so I felt like sometimes we we we didn't get like full range, you know. I don't know about you, uh compadre, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:47

Funny funny story about that is uh I had a I still remember the school Hankley High School. Hankley. Hankley High School. Okay, and I went in there and I sat on my pull-up board and everything. Um and there was a kid that just came over and grabbed the lanyard, and I'm like, hey, you gotta earn that, you gotta do some pull-ups. Uh and then I went to grab the lanyard and he pushed me.

SPEAKER_03 36:10

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Uh no when he pushed me, I grabbed him and I was about to punch him. No.

SPEAKER_04 36:17

That would have been the end.

SPEAKER_03 36:19

Yeah, that would that would not have been that would not have been good.

SPEAKER_01 36:21

Yeah, no, it would it would have been crazy, but the funniest part is uh it's one of those schools that I know you guys watched a lot. So um I'm not joking. About five seconds later, staff Sergeant Well over the intercom. Staff Sergeant Weller, can you please come to the front office?

SPEAKER_03 36:37

Can you you would have been on CNN, bro?

SPEAKER_01 36:39

I know.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

You would have been on the yeah, you would have been famous.

SPEAKER_04 36:44

But that's just disrespect. Like, who do you think he was?

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Yeah, no, then that's the that's the thing. And uh after that, they they actually um took that school away from me and then gave it to somebody somebody who was nicer. I guess I don't know, you know. Uh so it was it was yeah, it was a funny story going over there, setting up the pull a bar, and then you know, not lasting that long. Uh another another story at another school, uh Eagle Crest High School, like you said, you know, they tell you where you can go. I was literally in a closet, like uh, like uh like I'm not joking. I couldn't set a pull a bar. Um went in into a closet. They can they come in and see me if they specifically asked to see me. Yeah, uh, so it was it was crazy.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

Yeah, I I had two schools like that.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

Me too. They told me do not talk to them unless they unless they talk to you. They talk to you first.

SPEAKER_01 37:40

Yeah. Well, that with that school, what's funny, it's uh you know me, Coppa. Oh, yeah, I I I don't hold my tongue. And um, so the reason why they had me in the closet is because there is an army recruiter that had gotten caught um trying to have you know relations with the inappropriate, yeah. Yep, and all they said was, hey, all recruiters, you know, are are doing that. And I remember vividly, uh her name was Ms. Simpson, the the principal, and um there was a teacher that got caught. I don't know if you guys remember that in one of the school districts. A teacher got caught having relations with the student as well. Oh, I ran to her office and I was like, get all the students away from the teachers, get all the students away from the teachers, and she's like, Why? I'm like, Did you see the news? And she's like, Not all teachers are the same. And when she said that you should have seen her face, I like what you just like stop. You should have seen her face just stop, like, okay, Steph Sormore. Like, you can go into the cafeteria.

SPEAKER_04 38:45

See, that's what I like about you. You definitely make it happen. Yes, you you definitely uh uh find a way or a loophole to to get what you need to make things happen.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

Yeah, and there, I mean, there were some schools that were very welcoming, not all schools were like that. Some of them would like invite you for like award ceremonies, even not not towards the end of the year, but just even just involve you as much as they could, you know, a special rally or something, a football game, you know, whatever, they would invite us. Color guard ceremony, yeah, and that was fun. That was fun. Um, but you know, shout out to those schools that were very welcoming. Uh, because it's not easy, it's not an easy uh duty to be in in the first place. No, and then when you don't feel welcome, it's it just makes it even harder.

SPEAKER_04 39:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:31

And then let's also uh go ahead, uh you know that that we're talking about adapt and overcome, whatever, find a way.

SPEAKER_03 39:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:39

Um, I I think you guys know I played you know basketball for the Marine Corps Camp Pendleton team.

SPEAKER_03 39:43

Yep.

SPEAKER_01 39:44

And uh I that I use that um on recruiting duty. I used to go over there and tell guys, like, hey, I'll play you one-on-one. Uh, if I win, then you get to come into office and at least try and see, you know, if this is for you or not.

SPEAKER_03 39:56

Yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do, you gotta get in however you can. Yes, use whatever you can, whatever's in your tool belt, use it, whatever skills you have, whatever experiences that you have that you can relate and connect with, that's what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

I would tell them, I'm a girl. If I could do it, you can do it too. Yeah, but I guess you can't.

SPEAKER_03 40:13

You can't say that no more.

SPEAKER_04 40:14

No, no, no. I would tell them, oh, but I I can see that you can't.

SPEAKER_03 40:18

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:19

They're really what do you mean I can't?

SPEAKER_03 40:20

That old reverse psychology, right? That we learned at recruiting school. The Jedi mind trick.

SPEAKER_04 40:26

The Jedi mind trick, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 40:27

Yeah, um, uh, so yeah, basically, of course, we worked long hours. Um, I looked this up, guys, on Chat GPT or Wikipedia or something like that. It says recruiters on Marine Corps duty work 50 to 70 hours per week.

SPEAKER_04 40:42

I would say more.

SPEAKER_03 40:43

I say more, right? More than 50 or 70 hours a week, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

Especially if we're trying to make mission.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

50. No, that's too low. 70. I don't know. It's kind of closer, but yeah, I think more than 70 hours a week.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

I would say maybe 80. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Probably closer to 80 a week. I mean, literally, yeah. We would sleep a few hours a night if you were lucky.

SPEAKER_04 41:02

Yeah, I re I remember clearly waking up before my kids were up. Um, like I said, especially if we're taking kids to MEPS. Right. And then getting home late when my kids are already getting ready to go to bed.

unknown 41:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:15

And I remember what does MEPS stand for again? Is it military entrance processing? Processing station. Oh, processing station. Okay. I was just trying to remember. I mean, I don't recall everything, all the little words and phrases that we use on recruiting duty and acronyms. It's been a long time. Yeah. Um, but long, long hours for sure. Working months. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

I remember I used to have Laura come over and uh you know to where I worked and we grocery shopped together. Um, but then I stopped doing it because she called me a creep. Uh I remember I remember we were at uh I think it was King Scoopers as well, and I'm pushing the cart, and Laura's, you know, doing the shopping, and then I see a guy, and I'm like, man, that guy looks in shape. Look at him, like he looks like he could do some pull-ups.

SPEAKER_03 42:01

Like, dude, stop stop creeping up on people.

SPEAKER_01 42:05

Like he's you know, because um, you know, the age was like 17 to 28 or whatever. Like he looks he looks in that range, you know, he looks like he could do some pull-ups. Like, all right, let's go, let's go talk.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

Were you like, oh, he were you like, oh, he looks fit. Yeah, he looks fit.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

I bet you I bet you he can squat a lot.

SPEAKER_04 42:25

Yeah. So you were killing two birds with one stone, grocery shopping, actually, three grocery shopping and stocking. No, no, no. Grocery shopping, spending time with the wife, and multitasking. Well, yeah, definitely multitasking.

SPEAKER_01 42:38

That's for sure. And that's what I learned, you know, at the beginning, it was just work, work, work, and then I realized what worked for me. Um, you know, I'm not gonna lie, that towards the end of my career, my recruiting duty, um, I wasn't working as much because what I would do is um so I had those schools out there, and then finally they getting close close by. And you know, when when you're at a school, there are schools that have 120 seniors, and then they give you one school that has 600 seniors, yeah. It's like a gold ring, you know what I mean? Yeah, of course. You're you're you're usually working all that time. Uh, I started getting, you know, a lot of contracts, and what I used to do is I used to uh my my uh poolies. Uh poolie is a person that has enlisted and is waiting to leave uh to to the marine corps to boot camp. Yeah, basically. I used to tell my police, yeah. I used to tell my pulleys like, hey, listen, you can go as a private E1 or you can go as an E2 if you provide me two references um that you end up getting in the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_02 43:40

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

Um so I used to teach them how to actually ask the questions that I would ask before they even brought their friends over. So I knew if they were coming in, they were already kind of you know screened a little bit, maybe at least the medical portion and uh the police involvement and all that stuff, and all I had to do was was do my skills. With the benefit tags and stuff. So towards the end of my recruiting career, it was a little bit of a technical. It also helps that the recruiters that I was with, they were amazing people to work with. We were all just different kinds of life. And we actually, so we got a new boss and we sat down and we said, do we want to be like win awards? Or we just want to have you know happy, happy time being being a recruiter. So we all looked at each other and we said, uh, yeah, we're just gonna, you know, make quota, uh, they give a couple more if we can.

SPEAKER_03 44:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:35

Uh, and then just going by. I wasn't trying, I wasn't trying to put the whole you know school in the Marine Corps anymore. At this point, it was like, hey, I'm gonna meet my quota. However, I do want to say, I don't know about you, Compo and Comade, but um at the end of the day, I think I put 70 78 kids in the Marine Corps.

SPEAKER_03 44:51

Oh wow. Wow, that's that's a good number. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:54

I know, I know for a fact I remember um you and um, of course, Sergio were great recruiters. Um, you guys have the charisma, you guys were putting in um a lot of individuals. I didn't get to actually recruit as much. Um, after my first year, I took over the station that I was at. Um, but I had, of course, different pressures, you know, trying to make mission for the station and other that. But you two, I mean, you guys made it happen a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

I appreciate that. Yeah, it was. I mean, like when you're talking about charisma, I think you just have to be very relatable. You know, you have to be you have to adapt to whatever the situation is and just blend in as much as possible and fit in, you know, one way or another.

SPEAKER_04 45:39

Well, it doesn't hurt that you're likable.

SPEAKER_03 45:41

Oh, well, thank you. Sometimes, right? Not all the time.

SPEAKER_04 45:45

Yeah, sometimes. Yeah, unless he pisses me off. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:50

Um, so as far as like, you know, the day-to-day and and our schedule on recruiting duty, what do you think would what do you guys think was the the hardest part? Like if you had to narrow it down to like, yeah, this was the hardest part of the day-to-day, what would you say?

SPEAKER_01 46:07

For me, the hardest part, honestly, uh was probably finding a point to where you're like, hey, you just gotta get out, you know what I mean? Yeah. Uh I gotta go home to, you know, I think when I came out here, Lata was pregnant. So we had just had a a baby. Um, and I remember I remember my boss telling me, like, hey, I knew you just had a kid, but take your the list um to the hospital.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

From the school.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Yeah. So the schools give us lists, right? Yeah. And it has, you know, people that opted in or opted out, whatever that has phone numbers and numbers. Take your list home and call um on your when you got time. And I think, you know, at the end of it, that was the hardest part is trying to find a a point to where it was like, all right, it's time to go home. Yeah. Um, because I think you guys are just like me and I don't like to fail. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 46:57

So I hate failing.

SPEAKER_01 46:58

We gotta do what we got.

unknown 47:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:00

Thank you, mission was number one. Um, I think for me, the hardest part was being away from the kids so much. You know, we were both recruiting, so it's not like they had a parent at home. Luckily, my mom came out there with us and she was helping us with the kids. Um, it was, you know, the four of my kids, and then we also um were taking care of my nephews.

SPEAKER_03 47:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:24

Um, so we had three, four extra kids, and just not being able to dedicate so much time to them because you know, we had to make mission, we had to recruit. Um, and it's not just about making mission as a station or our little um substation. It was about making mission as the entire recruiting station. So if other recruiting um substations were not um gonna make mission, we all had to contribute toward towards the overall mission.

SPEAKER_03 47:55

Yeah. Agreed. Uh, and I'm gonna say the same thing. Uh, for me, it was just not being able to see the kids as often as I would have loved to, and spending time as a family, because obviously, but you you you have to have that mindset going in that the quality of life is not gonna be the greatest during those three years, and they explain it to us. I mean, you gotta be mentally prepared for that.

SPEAKER_01 48:18

Yeah, but I do gotta say right now that I had a buddy that his quality of life and when he got back from recruiting duty, he said it was amazing.

SPEAKER_03 48:25

Really? Uh literally, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

Well, later I found out that uh he was only on recruiting duty, actually recruiting on quota for about two months, and then he got uh I think I can't remember what job it was at headquarters.

SPEAKER_03 48:38

Oh, it must be nice.

SPEAKER_01 48:40

Yeah, but he still got the recruiting ribbon and everything.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

Oh dude.

SPEAKER_04 48:44

We we knew if we knew a few like that actually.

SPEAKER_03 48:46

Yeah, the ones that say they were on recruiting duty, but didn't really recruit. And you know who you are.

SPEAKER_04 48:52

You sure do.

SPEAKER_03 48:54

We're not gonna name names, but anyways, um uh here we go. Um, do you guys think that is there a skill that you think that you use to this day that we learn on recruiting duty?

SPEAKER_04 49:06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 49:07

What would it be for you?

SPEAKER_04 49:09

Like I said earlier, uh uh be a chameleon. Um before I would, it was really hard for me to make friends, talk to people. I had a wall up. Um, and I had to bring my wall down and be more relatable to people. And yeah, I use that now daily. Um, and it helped me be a better person. Um, it helped me be a better leader after recruiting because I was able to relate more with my Marines.

SPEAKER_02 49:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:38

Um, so it taught me a lot uh how to be more personable with people.

SPEAKER_03 49:44

Okay, for me, I would say uh learning how to read people better. You know, you're analyzing them and you're kind of figuring, oh, you know what? You know how when we interview people, it's like, oh, what is that really what they want? Yeah, what's the need behind the need? Remember that, compa?

SPEAKER_01 50:02

I was about to say that for me, that's what it was. The need behind the need is okay, you're asking me for this, why do you need it? Yeah, you know, uh is normally like you see the need. So the initial need is there, and then okay, but why why yeah, yeah. And I think I've used that. You get really true. Yeah, you get truly what what drives them or what's driving them for this. So um I use it still to the job that I have now as a vendor project manager. There you go. You know, it's like you you you want this, okay. Why do you want this? Well, how is this gonna help your company? How is this gonna help whatever? Um, the need behind the knee cobalt.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Yeah, and I still use that to this day, like I said. Um, what what are misconceptions? What are misconceptions out there, do you think, about what recruiters are or how how we are as recruiters? What do you think are some misconceptions?

SPEAKER_04 50:53

That they um I think for one, they think we force people to enlist, and and really we don't. Uh I mean, I think we're very selective.

SPEAKER_03 51:02

We have to be.

SPEAKER_04 51:04

Um, and when we get people to enlist into the Marine Corps, it's because they've proven to themselves and to us that they're able um to really meet the physical and mental requirements that it takes to be a Marine. So we're not stealing people off the street. I mean, they they join because they want to join.

SPEAKER_03 51:28

Yeah, I think for me, like for specifically for Marine Corps recruiting because this is what we're talking about. We're talking about Marine Corps recruiting. Of course, you got the other branches out there, but a misconception, I think, for us is that we're crazy. Oh, you know what I mean? Like, oh, don't go talk to the Marines. They're they're they're not, you know, all the whatever.

SPEAKER_04 51:48

They're just they're not all there.

SPEAKER_03 51:49

Yeah, they eat crayons, you know, they whatever. They're just not all there. And I think that's one of the things, like, no, no, my mom didn't want me to talk to the Marines because you guys are crazy. You guys eat babies, you know, whatever. You know, you guys you guys drink cobra blood.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

I had I had a mom that came in and uh um she literally asked me that. Was like, I was like, hey, I heard Marines have to kill their firstborn, you know. Yeah, it's not a boy. And I said, no, ma'am, it's not the first one, it's the second one.

SPEAKER_03 52:20

Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

She looked at me funny and walked out the door.

SPEAKER_03 52:24

Yeah, no, I I I don't blame her for walking out. But yeah, that was me. What about you, Kumpa?

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Uh I think misconception is uh that I think that everybody's a salesman. You know what I mean? Like once you've been on recruiting duty, they call you a salesman, but um, like you said, it's not people get out there, do what they have to do. Um but I had a I had a couple of the recruiters that work with me that were extremely shy. Um how they got through recruiting duty, I I have no idea. Um, but they're still they weren't salesmen. Like it's yeah, it's crazy. Like, yeah, I I I yeah, I I don't think that we're all salesmen.

SPEAKER_03 53:04

No, I and I'm gonna agree with that too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Yep. What worked the best was just be yourself, honestly. You know what I mean? I think that's what that's what that's what helped me out is you know, be myself if I didn't know something. Uh I think I tried, I had never played lacrosse. Uh I went out there and played.

SPEAKER_03 53:21

I could see you right now.

SPEAKER_04 53:23

Wait, did you have boots on where you were playing lacrosse?

SPEAKER_03 53:26

Did you have cowboy boots on?

SPEAKER_01 53:28

You know, I always wear my boots, composed. I know you do.

SPEAKER_03 53:30

This guy always wears cowboy boots, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 53:34

I played lacrosse, I played tennis. Um I think I even went to a chess club.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

Oh, damn. You know, what hey, did you have your were you adjusting your glasses every time you made a move?

SPEAKER_01 53:45

I didn't have any on, but yeah, of course I did. With my pinky up, of course.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

There you go. Um, yeah, no, this guy he loves his cowboy boots. And shorts. And shorts. All right, let's get let's go through some uh quick uh some quick questions here. Um we've already talked about weirdest prospects and then like funniest. I guess yours counts as a funny parent encounter, Compa. The the mom, the kid. Well, you had a couple. Uh, but what's the most outrageous X excuse that we heard out there for missing appointments? You know, you'd set up the appointments, you went through all that work, and then they don't show up. You know, you have six appointments line up, and the reality out of those six appointments, you know, maybe one shows up, maybe two if you're lucky. That's the reality. Yeah, and we we would hear tons of excuses. So do you guys remember any of the excuses that you would hear that were very common?

SPEAKER_04 54:40

I'm gonna have to think about this one. But you want to go first?

SPEAKER_01 54:44

I think I have one dude that said um he got off work. He used to work at the Best Buy that was close by the office. Yeah, he said he got off work and was kidnapped. Um that's why you couldn't come to the appointment. Yeah. But the funny part is is I don't know if you guys remember, but back in the day you you you could text the kid and call them and they wouldn't answer. But if you if you messaged them, um, and we had, I don't know about you guys, but our boss made us get Facebook accounts. Um if you Facebook messaged them, like they would answer right away, right? So he sent me a a Facebook message, says I can't make it because I've been kidnapped. Like literally oh gosh.

SPEAKER_04 55:27

I don't think I have any anything outrageous like that.

SPEAKER_01 55:31

No, no, I think I think I remember I said, uh, like you've been kidnapped, you know, the Marines can help find you, I'll come find you. We'll we'll find you.

SPEAKER_03 55:42

Yeah, for me, like outrageous. Um, I don't know if I had any outrageous, outrageous ones, but you would always have the ones like, oh, I had to stay late after school, or I couldn't get a ride, or and I'd be like, Don't worry, I'll go pick you up, give me your address, you know. But and they would just continue to come up with excuses, no, but I I have to do this, I gotta do some homework, and I mean the normal excuses I think that you would get on a day-to-day. Uh, but outrageous though, I can't really think of one, to be honest with you. I think the kids were just, you know, according to them, they were too busy, too busy with life. Or I had to work an extra shift, or I had to, or I got called in to work at the movie theater or whatever they worked at. Um, and then next thing you know, you see them like on their bike, you know, crossing the street like 10 minutes later, you know, with their buddies or something like that. You know, just be honest and say, you know what? It's not for me. I don't want to interview. I would have I would have liked preferred that much better, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but the kids are kids though. Um let's see here. Did you guys have any embarrassing moments on recruiting duty? I did. Like happened to you to you, too, like you personally, things something that happened to you that were you like, oh my god, I can't believe that just happened.

SPEAKER_04 56:59

Um, I'm gonna have to think about that one too.

SPEAKER_03 57:01

Okay, so I'll I guess I'll go here. So I was at I was at I was at Northridge High School in Greeley, and I was walking to go get my pull-up, you know, bar set up, and you know how we had like a bag for it or whatever, or no, no, it wasn't a bag, but I was carrying something. I had like something in my hand, and then I had the pull-up bar on my other hand, parts of the pull-up bar, and I freaking tripped in the hallway, and everybody saw me, dude. Everybody, and it was so embarrassing, man. Like everybody was laughing, and I didn't I was just like, dude, why now? Like, I'm just trying to go get set up my pull-up bar.

SPEAKER_01 57:43

Yeah, but that's just picked up the gun and left company, dude.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

I I should have just started doing push-ups off like like I did it on purpose or something, or did like or do like a cartwheel or something. But I just remember like falling and I just kind of I just kind of sit there like sat there for a little bit. Like, what do I do?

SPEAKER_04 58:03

Wow, but did did it help you? Like, did people come up to you like they felt bad for you? They're like, I'm gonna go talk to no, not really.

SPEAKER_03 58:10

You would think, right? No, nobody came to help me at all. I just had to get up, like, dusted my uniform off, and you know, picked up my bag and and the pull of bar and then set it up, and they were just looking at me like, dude, this guy is you know, whatever. What a what a moron or whatever. I don't know. But I and I don't I don't remember that day going very well either.

SPEAKER_04 58:32

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:34

Anything for you, Compa? Any embarrassing moments?

SPEAKER_01 58:38

I I don't think so, Compa. If there was, I'm at the divulging here in this.

SPEAKER_03 58:41

You mean you didn't you mean you didn't have your cowboy boots or uniform on accident and went to work like that? That didn't happen.

SPEAKER_01 58:47

Um I actually got my my blues blouse one time.

SPEAKER_03 58:51

You um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:53

Yeah, I think I showed up to the school and I had a presentation too. That was that was the worst part about it. Oh I was present. Uh and I showed up, I didn't have my blues blouse.

SPEAKER_03 59:03

So what'd you do?

SPEAKER_01 59:06

So luckily one of the other recruiters uh did have it. So like here's the yeah, I was like, here's the uh no, I he did the presentation. Um I think I changed into my camis because I had them uh in the vehicle.

SPEAKER_03 59:23

And for those of you that know what camis are, those are your utility uniforms, like the ones you the camouflage ones that you wear when you're out in the field.

SPEAKER_01 59:30

Yeah, I don't know if you guys remember, but they used to be they they would allow us to wear like our came bond with a black shirt that said pain is weaknessing in the body. Yeah. So then I wore that because I had that in the car. Uh and then I just told everybody that you know I had lost my voice. So uh the other recruiter was gonna present. Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

Yeah, you have to think quick though, because uh a lot of times you get put on the spot and you're like, oh damn, what am I doing? So you just gotta think quickly. Um but yeah, that's just embarrassing. I just I just kind of thought about that. Um let's see here. Um do you have an uh an applicant that like you'll never forget or or recruit that you put into the Marine Corps or the late entry program that you're like, you know what? I still remember that kid. Do you guys have somebody like that?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:19

I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:20

Okay. Who's that for you?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:22

Um it was this, it was my first year. I was still recruiting. Um, and it was one, you know, chubby little kid um whose father was um did eight years in the Marine Corps. Okay, and he wanted to follow in his footsteps. Um, so I went and I went to his house. His father was, you know, super eager to talk to me and excited about his son's career. But you know, the poor kid was very out of shape, um, never done a pull-up in his life. He just, you know, didn't have the physical capabilities to even pass the initial strength test. Um, but he did pass the ASVAB, um, and he didn't have any medical issues. Um, so we enlisted him, and this guy, I mean, he proved us all wrong. By the time that he left to recruit training, yeah, he was doing 10 pull-ups. He had lost so much weight. I mean, he basically turned um his whole life around and dedicated his whole time. Um, and the reason why I remember him is not only because of that. I mean, I he was a complete success story, but um his within his first year in the Marine Corps, he was in a horrible car accident. Um, and he was medically discharged. And I I still feel pain for him. You know, I just took her.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:48

He wanted it really bad, huh?

SPEAKER_04 1:01:49

He wanted it really bad. And I know that he could have gone for it just because of the dedication he showed. And, you know, things happened, and he was unable to to complete his enlistment.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:00

Yeah. For me, it was uh my first my my first contract actually that I put in the Marine Corps. Uh his last name was oh, Gabriel Houston was his last is his name. Gabriel Houston. I still remember he he was having a hard time um passing his his test, his pull-up test. And um because what was the minimum? I remember it was it two or three.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:21

I think two, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:24

He couldn't do two pull-ups. And uh we worked with I worked with him for like two weeks. And uh he finally, you know, was able to do his two pull-ups, you know, got did his physical enlisted, and he was the very first one that I actually put in. And he was like the the perfect pulley that you would want in your pool because he was the one that would get like the other guys to come in on time, the other pulleys, he was always the one helping making phone calls, uh whatever was necessary to to get the mission done, he would he would he would be the guy. So uh so shout out to Houston. What about you, Compa?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:07

I think I've got two um that called to mind, and one of them uh last name Worley. Uh his parents died, I think, when he was fifteen. Uh he had a younger brother and sister uh that were I think they were like five years younger than him, so they were like 10 and 8 or something like that. Yeah. And uh he dropped out of high school because he was living with his aunt and uncle, but they made him work to supply food and stuff for his siblings. So he quit high school, uh got his GED, and then I he came in trying to join the rain court, and I said, Hey man, like he was I think he was 18 already, and I was like, You can't join, like you got a GED, you gotta get some college credits. Um, which he went, we found a school for him. Um and what made me upset is the fact that you know you needed to have 15 college credits if you had a GED. And right before he got his final credits, that school got off of the list of approved colleges. Oh and I mean he was just devastated, but he didn't bat an eye, he just said, All right, let me transfer and finish it off, and he did. Um, and then once he graduated boot camp he actually adopted uh his brother and sister and took him out there with him.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:25

Oh, that's very cool. That's a good story, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:28

Yeah, I still remember him, and then the second guy is Johnson. This guy was just a freak of nature. Like he he didn't play any sports, but he was just fit. Um, I remember him being into CrossFit and he was just crazy. Like, I'd be like, Hey Johnson, can you uh you need to come sign this? He's like, I'll be there in 20 minutes. And I thought he was driving over there to the office.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

He got there, he was all sweaty and he ran over there. Yeah, he ran over there.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:53

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:53

He was just an amazing guy. He actually uh he got a 99 on the Yasvad, which is a perfect score basically. And all he wanted to do was be infantry. Uh and his parents were not happy, but um, they actually didn't sign for him because he was 17 when he first wanted to join. Uh and the parents did not sign for him. And they uh they were totally against him being a Marine and and all this other stuff. So when he turned 18, he finally was able to enlist by himself. Uh, I put him in infantry. Uh he actually ended up going to uh Force Recon. Um and then the last I heard, um, he actually got out of the Marine Corps and was working covert for the CIA.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:34

So wow, that's awesome, bro.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:36

Yeah, yeah. So so it was crazy. And the funny story about that is I remember the parents um when he graduated boot camp, they came to the office right to say hi and stuff. And yeah, the parents were wearing like proud parents of a US Marine, and like I said before, I don't hold my tongue. So I'm like, Why are you guys wearing those? And they're like, What do you mean? I'm like, Why are you wearing those? Like, you're not proud. You were totally. Against him. You didn't even write him one letter when he was in both campaigns. You have to call him out though, yeah. Yeah, I was like, all of a sudden, you guys are proud parents. Yeah, U.S. Marines. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:10

No, good good for you. Good thing you put him on the spot like that. Um I guess along the same lines, um, did we have a moment where we realized that damn, we're actually changing lives? Did you guys have a moment like that?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:24

Yes. Well, for me was that kid.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:26

Yeah, that was your story, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:27

That was my story.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:29

Uh I think the same thing for me as was Worley.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:32

Yeah. So yeah, I I think it all ties in there. Um and of course, you know, I I don't know about you guys, but I still have um individuals that I put in the rank with that that still are in touch with me. They still reach out every once in a while. They're like, hey, how you doing? You know, thank you once again. I know you don't remember me or whatever, or maybe you do remember me, but they just want to tell me like how successful they're doing, or like, oh, I'm over here now, I'm doing this. I have four kids now, whatever the case is. Do you guys ever get that? I don't know about you.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:02

Uh I got a lot of I got a lot of invites to uh promotions and stuff like that. Um you know, like I I think being real with the with the guys that were coming into the Marine Corps, I think that's what you know I still kind of keep in touch, like you said, maybe sporadically and stuff, yeah. Um especially while I was still in the Marine Corps, I used to keep in touch with a lot of them and get you know invitations for you know staff and CO promotions and stuff. And I mean that's when you're sold, but yeah, yeah, but yeah, so all right.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:33

Um let's get into just real quick. Our some of the best memories that we've had we had together on recruiting duty. Obviously, that's where we met. Um, you know, did we ever have any road trips together that we you can think of? Well, I mean, we went camping.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:48

We went camping. I think that was one of the best times um for us. Um, and I love the discada that uh compa made.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:57

Uh can you elaborate on what that means, babe?

SPEAKER_04 1:08:00

Well, I I don't know what's everything in it. I think it's I think Kopa can do a better job of explaining. I'm just gonna do a recap and you could jump in at any time, compa. But it's a lot of meats, right? Um put together and you cook them. Go ahead, go ahead, tell your how it's done.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:16

Yeah, no, it's just it's just a bunch of meat, steak, hot dog, uh, ham, chorizo. Uh if you want, put some onions and peppers in it, you know what I mean? Just let them all cook down together.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:29

And marinate.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:31

And it's called Descala, right? Descala, yeah. Yeah. That's a reasonable thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:36

Is that a Texan thing? Oh, you mean yeah. I well actually I've seen it out here as well. Yeah, I'm I'm living in Colorado right now, and I've seen it out here, but it's called the Disco because you know, you make it into in like a pot called the Disco. Yeah, over an open fire or a gas fire or whatever, but that's the reason it's called that.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:55

Yeah, and then I know we we we had a couple Marine Corps balls during you know uh our time on recruiting duty. With the Marine Corps ball is is like every year we celebrate the Marine Corps birthday uh and we have a big celebration. And of course, the Marine Corps was founded in a bar, so of course we have a good time and we drink and we celebrate and all that. And uh do you guys what was your favorite ball on recruiting duty? Do you have one specifically or no? Like a time that you're like, Oh, yeah, that one ball we had.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:22

Probably the first one.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:23

The first one, yeah. Yeah, um, I remember I think for me it was the last one we did because your mom came, my brother came, and um we uh it was uh at one of the big big hotels, big fancy hotels down there. And then uh it was a good time. We we actually did a little parting afterwards in our room. And though that's what I like about the Marine Corps, the camaraderie. You know, that's that's one thing I do miss. I don't know about you guys, but I do miss that. Uh but we had the we had the the uh privilege to hang out with you, Compa, and and you know, uh get to know you and your family. Uh got closer throughout the years, we're still close to this day. Um, and that's that's those are the things that you you you love about you know your time in the Marine Corps, or for me.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:10

I think that's one of the best memories. Uh I don't know if you guys remember, I'm pretty sure, because we bring it up every time we we see each other.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:16

Uh the time then uh for uh I think it was his third birthday. My oldest is third birthday. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:23

Oh, here we go, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:27

I don't know. I'm just I'm just gonna end up with it. No, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:29

You could you can go ahead and throw it out there.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:32

That ended it with Mike Tyson tattoos, yeah. Or not tattoos, they're face painting, but yeah, they were face painting.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:39

Yeah, let's follow them.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:40

We replicated it.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:42

Yeah, and let's just say that that day we ended up leaving early.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:46

I took them home early.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:47

I got a lecture, and I think we took the long way home, right? Because you wanted to keep lecturing me. Right. That's the way I remember it.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:54

Let's just say they were having more fun than the kids. Um, you see grown men waiting in line to get their face painted instead of the little how old was your son? Two or three?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:04

Two or three, I think. Was it his third birthday you said? Yeah, I think he was turning two. Yeah. Two. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:11

He was he was a little baby, and instead of the having the kids wait in line, it was the grown men getting the Tyson tattoo on their face.

SPEAKER_03 1:11:19

Yeah. But and see, but those are the things about being in the Marine Corps that I that you know, you remember, you miss, even though, yeah, we were crazy and we did stupid stuff sometimes, but like just the bonds that we had, you know, wherever we went or whatever we did, we did we had we had a great time. Yes, we worked hard, but we also played hard. Yeah, we had a good time.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:41

Definitely. And being away from family, I mean, we are in a different state, haven't we nearby? My mom was living with us, but yeah, besides that, we didn't have family there. And you, uh and and combare um really embraced us. And um, I mean, even uh her parents, you know, welcome us. Um, and they just are so warm, yeah, um, so welcoming. And and every time we see them, it just feels like you know, we're with family. And um, you guys made it definitely made it better for us while we were out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:14

Yeah, and shout out to all the all the Marines that we made, you know, we build relationships with out there, even we even if we haven't talked for a while or whatever, you know, shout out to you guys. Uh Christian, shout out to you out there if you're listening. Um, you know, just we had some good times out there, and um, yeah, I just kind of wanted uh throw that out there. Even though it was a hard duty station, we we we didn't we were able to make some good memories out there. Um you guys good for you guys where you guys want to do a quick rapid fire before we leave?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:43

Sure. Yeah, go ahead.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:45

All right, um let's see. Favorite recruiting area?

SPEAKER_04 1:12:50

Uh Esther.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:52

Compa.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:54

I think it was the uh even though it was small towns, I like going out east. Um yeah, that was that was the best times.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:02

I love Greeley for some reason. It smelled like cow poop, but I loved Greeley. Uh let's see here. Best food area that you you know you would frequent a lot.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:13

There was this uh Japanese spot right next to my office, yeah. And I think once a week we would meet there. Um, you guys would have sushi, um, and I would have like the tempora. The bento box the bento box, and um it was great. I really enjoyed that restaurant.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:31

For me, I gotta say taco John's. They don't have them out here. No, they don't with the tater tots. Oh I mean, not the best burritos in the world, but it hits the spot.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:42

How about you, Compa?

SPEAKER_01 1:13:44

I think for me was it was a place called Woody's Wings, and the reason why, because we ate for free, we put a we put a kid in his dad, his dad owned it. Or I don't know if it's a franchise or what, but he he was he was either manager or he owned that one spot. So um we could go there at any time to get to give us wings for free. So that was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:05

All right, and then uh let's go ahead with another one here. What's one thing you guys miss?

SPEAKER_04 1:14:09

Really living in Colorado. I enjoyed it. Um, if it wasn't for certain people that messed it up for me, I think I would have wanted to become a 12 and stayed living uh living out there.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:20

I really and ended your career out there, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:22

Yeah, uh it was a great time, and maybe that's one of the reasons you know that we bought a house there again and we're hoping that we could jump around once we retire. But yeah, Colorado is beautiful and being close to to people we we love.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:36

Yeah, for me, I gotta say uh I miss the the camaraderie, the friendships out there, the good times. You know. What about you, Compa?

SPEAKER_01 1:14:45

Same thing, camaraderie, the friendship is the top. I mean, now you guys are out in California, so we spend um less time actually physically with each other, but I know we speak quite a bit, and every time we meet up, it's it's it's it's fun.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:58

Yeah, definitely is. Uh, and one thing you definitely don't miss the long hours. Yeah. I'm gonna say long hours. Yeah, I'm gonna just say the having to have that phone next to you sleeping with it 24-7. Yeah, I have to do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:15

Because you have a kid in MEPS and you're like, I don't want to get a call.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:18

Yeah. All right, guys, thank you. Um, we're gonna wrap it up here. I want to thank uh Raúl Muela one more time for joining us this evening. Uh I appreciate your time. I know you're a busy guy too. You're always it seems like you're always at advanced, dude. You always got like a party or something to go to. You're a busy guy, huh?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:38

Well, I'm during the day I'm at work, so now that the boys are in summer, I try to take them everywhere. I mean, we have a pool here, I take them there. We just came back from actively. I think we we went together one time and um just trying to give them as much time with me now, you know, because I know when I was in I was deployed quite a bit, you know, back to back and stuff. So just now that that I'm gonna just be with them.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:02

So yeah, enjoy as much as you can with your kids, man. Because they grow up so fast they grow up quick.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:07

I know your your oldest is two years away from graduation and moving on to bigger and better things. So yeah, definitely take advantage of that time.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:16

Yeah, so thanks again, and thank you again to my wife, Middle Eine, for joining us for this episode. Uh, hopefully you're gonna join us for more, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:16:23

If you have.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:24

Okay, and then uh, um, we would love to have you again at some point, you know, once we get going, um, and once we get on video too, maybe we can get you on video as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:34

Yeah, you and Comare.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:35

Yeah, we'll have a uh maybe like a like a couple's talk or something. You know we're not gonna win, Quapa. It's not gonna go well for us.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:42

But I think that'll work because I think your podcast is what an hour, an hour and something. And uh, I think every time we get together we speak, we we you know we meet up, we speak for three o'clock, three o'clock.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:55

We can go for hours and hours. Yeah. Uh so yeah, thanks again. Um, and then for all of you out there that are thinking about going to recruiting duty, if you're in the Marine Corps, or those that are thinking about joining the Marine Corps, um, if you would like more information, go ahead and check my link and I'll have some information there for you. So once again, thank you guys. Uh, any for any last thoughts?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:21

It was nice talking to you, Compa. Thank you for joining us um and reminiscing about good old times. Now that it has is behind us, we could definitely laugh about it. Um, and uh it was definitely a good hour spent with you.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:35

Oh, it was more than an hour.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:36

Oh, well, whatever time we spent with you, it was good.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:38

Yes, it was really good time. Exactly. We planned for an hour and it was more. I'm pretty sure we would have kept going if we could have gone on forever.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:46

Definitely.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:46

Yeah, all right, guys. Well, thank you again. Uh, that concludes our today's episode. Hopefully, you tune in next time. Have a good one. If you're enjoying the podcast and want to help support future episodes, you can check out the link in the show notes. Your support helps keep the podcast going, and it's greatly appreciated. Also, please leave a review and share with friends. That's Sergio Says It Straight, where the truth comes out. Whether we planned it or not, catch you next time.