https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/02/us/army-recruiting-tech-industry-seattle.html
This may be off topic because it deals with enlistment but living in Seattle this rings so true. Both my sons had to deal with the negative military attitudes at their high school when they decided to accept their AROTC Scholarships.
Recruiters have a tough time here. I remember going to a district sponsored College/Career Fair while they were in high school. The Military recruiters were not allowed on the main floor, they had to set up in a stairwell behind doors. I suggested they leave one person back to watch the tables while the others took turns walking the floor. That did get a few to come back and talk with them, that is until the patents found them and quickly pulled then away.
When recruiters were allowed to come to the school to speak, the school made sure they had someone opposed to the military there to speak as well, recruiters dreaded coming to the school because they knew what was coming when they did.
For a region that has a large military presence, JBLM, Whidbey NAS, Naval Station Everett, Bangor Sub Base and Bremerton Naval Shipyard....all within driving distance, you would think there would be a better connection to recruiting. That is not the case here as it is with regions in the south and midwest that have military installations nearby. We have a very deep military history here, but you have to dig deep to learn about it, Seattle has a pretty big rug that they like to sweep things under.
I wish them the best of luck in this new approach, it will be an uphill climb.
This may be off topic because it deals with enlistment but living in Seattle this rings so true. Both my sons had to deal with the negative military attitudes at their high school when they decided to accept their AROTC Scholarships.
Recruiters have a tough time here. I remember going to a district sponsored College/Career Fair while they were in high school. The Military recruiters were not allowed on the main floor, they had to set up in a stairwell behind doors. I suggested they leave one person back to watch the tables while the others took turns walking the floor. That did get a few to come back and talk with them, that is until the patents found them and quickly pulled then away.
When recruiters were allowed to come to the school to speak, the school made sure they had someone opposed to the military there to speak as well, recruiters dreaded coming to the school because they knew what was coming when they did.
For a region that has a large military presence, JBLM, Whidbey NAS, Naval Station Everett, Bangor Sub Base and Bremerton Naval Shipyard....all within driving distance, you would think there would be a better connection to recruiting. That is not the case here as it is with regions in the south and midwest that have military installations nearby. We have a very deep military history here, but you have to dig deep to learn about it, Seattle has a pretty big rug that they like to sweep things under.
I wish them the best of luck in this new approach, it will be an uphill climb.