Military enlistment is usually the route many high school graduates, or young people in our community, turn to when they are unsure about what they want for themselves in the future. However, many of them are misguided and provided with wrong information by recruiters they come to trust. Recruiters try to persuade potential enrollees by doing everything they can to reach their number of recruits goal by a certain time. The young citizens are promised free healthcare, jobs, housing, education, and good pay during and after service. Many have tried to speak up and put a stop to this, but The Pentagon is never held responsible since they state that their recruits should have read their contracts thoroughly before signing and agreeing. Civilians risking and signing away their lives should not have to worry about the empty promises being made to them.
My father and I have always had a deep connection and always tell each other everything. For the sake of this interview, I will refer to him as Ramon Bojorquez. It was a sunny Tuesday morning when I sat with Ramon after breakfast in his living room and began my interview. Ramon, still wearing his pajamas, got comfortable on the couch sipped his coffee and started small talk. I began by asking him about his experience while under his four-year contract in the U.S. Army. "Well, it wasn't as easy and fun as everyone makes it out to be," Ramon stated. He said it came with difficult training and many long hours. It was also very difficult to be away from his family for long periods of time. I myself remember that at just three or four-years-old, I would wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning just to say good morning, good luck, and goodbye to my dad before his very long day, since sometimes he would not be back until after bedtime. After this, Ramon went on to state that life after completing his contract with the armed forces wasn't what he had expected. Like many young men and women his age, Ramon wanted to pursue his dream job. Since he was in middle school, he had always hoped he could follow a career that would allow him to help people, so he settled on trying to be an EMT or a Firefighter.
However, because pursuing a career in fire science or the medical field required schooling, and with a family to support, he realized he needed to seek a faster route that would allow him to provide for his family. With no idea of where to start, he sought advice from family members and career advisors to find out about his options and identify what the best path for him to take would be. He saw that many of his family members and classmates had joined the military as a way to do something with their new adult lives and they seemed to be financially stable. So, he met with a recruiter who broke down what being in the military would be like and was provided with the advantages and differences between the military branches. After Ramon mentioned that he would consider it and reach out back to them if interested, just like other young citizens straight out of high school, he was targeted to join the armed forces and the frequent call-backs began. Because new high school graduates usually are unsure about what they would like for their futures, they become easier to persuade and are more prone to signing contracts without thoroughly reviewing them. This fact makes it easy for recruiters since the Army's goal is to have 100,000 new recruits every year in order to keep their numbers up (Magan).
Beyond the difficult training and many long hours. It was also very difficult to be away from his family for long periods of time. I myself remember that at just three or four-years-old, I would wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning just to say "Good morning, Good luck, and Goodbye" to my dad before his very long day, since sometimes he would not be back until after bedtime. Ramon enlisted from 2005 to 2010. After his five years of service and returning from a tour to Afghanistan, he began to display symptoms of PTSD, which is a common mental health disorder in veterans. After going to the VA Medical Center for an evaluation, he began to experience the empty promises made by the armed forces. During this medical visit, Ramon was informed that he would be charged since he did not meet the required disability percentage. Ramon added, "It wasn't until an old knee injury that I had obtained while serving had resurfaced, was I eligible for free medical care." The military had also promised him and others that they would help them with job opportunities. These opportunities never came; so, as Ramon failed to secure a job to continue to support his family, just like many other veterans, he turned to illegal activity.
Benjamin Krause explains this in his article “IG: VA Improperly Paid Incarcerated Veterans $59 Million": While I was incarcerated, I was extremely surprised to see that a big percentage of the men I met were veterans and were in there for similar reasons" (disabledveterans.org). This goes to show how a vast majority of veterans go through troubles and receive no help. Many of their disability checks were revoked since they would miss their 6 year mental health check with administrators from the VA department. The system was not understanding or sympathetic of individual 5situations and did realize that the main reason why most held the position they did was because of those veterans that risked everything for the nation’s freedom and security.
I was very surprised when Ramon stated how he was not the only veteran at Lompoc Federal Prison. There were many that were in there for similar offenses as Ramon's. The amount of veterans in prisons and jails around our country went down by about 20,000 between 2004 to 2011 (Bureau of Justice Statistics). However, it is still unacceptable that these men and women have to go so low after being heroes to this country, and all because they were denied the support in job opportunities they were promised but still had a family to support. Ramon was told that when applying for jobs after serving, veterans were always given preference over other candidates, especially in jobs associated with the government. Ramon told me, "It had only been four months after my contract ended that I came back to the Imperial Valley and applied for the CBP. They knew about my previous job and stated that I was too aggressive in my responses in one of the exams." I found this quite shocking as no consideration was made that took into account Ramon’s recent ETS (Expiration of Term of Service) from the military.
The academy that newly hired CBPs are required to attend would have been a good opportunity for the government to assist Ramon with reshaping his trained philosophy to conform to that of the new hiring agency. Wasn't there anything the Army could have done to transition him back into civilian life? Again, empty promises were noted by the lack of support provided after completing a contract with the military. They could have provided some anger issues or psychological classes to help him adjust. It makes me question the integrity of the government as a whole. Do the broken promises attribute many veterans being homeless or resorting to illegal activity? Ramon stated that many of the homeless veterans are mostly Vietnam veterans, or veterans that served a long time ago, since the contracts back then were even more restricted as situations and did realize that the main reason why most held the position they did was because of those veterans that risked everything for the nation’s freedom and security.
This all began to come together and make sense to me now that I am older. I never understood why Ramon would go as far as dealing with narcotics and risk getting incarcerated; but now I do. It was all for his family. Ramon wanted to be able to provide for them and ended up in prison for four years because his former employers did not deliver the promises they had made when he was younger. "I wish that there had been somebody that could have warned me in my youth," Ramon said, "What they don't tell you is that you only receive all the promised benefits if you ETS with high ranking or spend 20 years or more in service.
It is so sad that many of my fellow peers had to go through this when we risk our lives for this country. How can an administration responsible for the health and sanity of war veterans wait so long to evaluate their previous employees? This is the reason that many veterans struggle to stay afloat and become homeless or sometimes even worse. All these men and women want is to provide and stay healthy for their families, and they aren't even given the chance to do so with the empty promises made. It is astonishing how these brave citizens risk their lives for their country and its people, yet they are unable to receive the benefits that they were promised by their recruiters. These promises have been proven to be untrue in many occasions and these soldiers have to learn the hard way (Glidewell,).