"Did he tell you that you could go into the fire department?" I asked.
"He said that I could put that in as my request for skills and they would try to place me there." Mike said. "It sounds like a pretty good deal."
"Yeah." I nodded thoughtfully. "It sounds like one."
"I made an appointment to talk to him tomorrow." He said.
I chewed my lip a little, knowing that the recruiter had every intention of getting Mike to sign his name to the line tomorrow, knowing that Mike would most likely do so if left to his own devices. What to do?
I picked up my beer, which was warm at that point and tasted like shit but I took a big drink of it anyway.
"I've looked into the military a little bit." I told him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." I affirmed. "It could be a good career move under certain circumstances, but there's a few things you have to realize."
He scowled a little bit. "What do you mean?"
I took a deep breath. "Well," I said. "First of all there's the recruiter. You have to understand what his purpose is. In our country we have a volunteer military. There's no draft in place so they have to staff everything with people who have signed their names of their own free will. In order to do that, they have to make the military look attractive to their prospects, to draw them away from civilian life. That's where the recruiter comes in. He probably sounded like he was your best friend, right?"
Mike shrugged, scraping away a little more gasket. "Yeah, he was pretty cool."
"That's because he's a salesman. His job is to sign up people for the Air Force. He wouldn't be doing it if he wasn't good at it. So he'll pretty much tell you anything in order to get you in there. He'll go on and on about how great the Air Force is but he won't tell you the unpleasant parts because that might put you off a little. So the first thing you need to realize is that the recruiter is not really your friend. He has a job to do, and his job is to sign you up."
"Yeah," Mike scowled further, "But…"
"Now hold on." I interrupted. "I'm not saying the military is a BAD idea. I'm just trying to get you to see that the recruiter can not necessarily be trusted to hold your best interests in mind. Can you see this?"
He thought for a moment and finally nodded. "Yeah." He agreed. "I see where you're coming from."
"For instance," I said. "Did he mention the ASVAB to you?"
"The az-vab?" Mike asked.
"Armed services vocational assessment battery." I translated. "The ASVAB. It's a test they give you once you're committed. It's a general knowledge exam designed to get into your mind a little and see what makes you tick. Psychologists and so forth have designed it and it measures what your strengths and weaknesses are. From that, they determine what job you're going to be assigned to once you're in."
"But he told me they'd put me into the Firefighting School." Mike protested.
"No no." I corrected. "You yourself just told me that they would put that in as a request for skills and TRY to assign you there. He didn't actually say that you would be put in there, did he?"
Mike thought for a moment. "No." He finally said. "He didn't. But still, my request will be in. Why wouldn't they put me there?"
"Lots of reasons." I explained. "First and foremost your ASVAB might say you wouldn't be a good firefighter. If that's the case, then you won't get it no matter what. If your ASVAB says you'd make an excellent, oh, missile technician in some silo in North Dakota, then that's where you're going to go. But even if your ASVAB says you'd make a good firefighter, there might not be any openings for that skill. I imagine that firefighting and MP skills are taken up pretty quickly."
"If they don't give me what I want." Mike said firmly. "Then I won't do it."
"That's the catch." I told him. "You take the ASVAB after you've signed your name and committed yourself. You would have taken the oath at that point. You can't back out after that. You'd be in for four years, doing whatever they wanted you to do. If they wanted to send you to Germany to clean out shithouses, you'd be doing it. Once you sign your name, you're government property. The only way out at that point is some sort of discharge that would be other than honorable. It could be medical, psychological, dishonorable, but no matter what it would be, it would destroy your chances of getting on with any fire department anywhere."
He had stopped scraping the gasket and was looking at me. I could read his face and could see that a part of him wanted to be angry with me, to storm out of my garage for telling him something he didn't want to hear. But another part of him, the part that was becoming an adult, was also there. That part was carefully considering what I'd just said.
"Are you sure about all of this?" He asked me.
"You don't have to believe me." I told him. "You have an appointment with the recruiter tomorrow. Ask him all of this. Ask him directly if what I've just told you is true. He'll hem and haw and try to convince you that you'll almost surely be put in the firefighter class but he won't give you any sort of guarantee in writing and he won't be able to say, "Mike, you WILL be in that firefighting class". I'm not wrong about this Mike. You need to be wary of making impulsive decisions that can erase four years of your life."
He nodded, not speaking.
"If you don't join up." I told him. "You can take the Spokane test again next year. Or you can start applying at other departments around here. Someone, somewhere is always hiring. Seattle Fire hires twice a year I hear and they pay quite a bit more than Spokane. Put in your interest cards everywhere and fill out the applications. Take the tests even if it's some bum-fuck Egypt department that you'd never work for. It's good practice. In the meantime, sign up for the fire science classes at the community college."
"College?" He asked, never having considered that concept.
"Why not?" I enquired. "It's cheap and it gives you something to do. When you go to the interviews you can tell them that you're working on your degree in Fire Science. They love that shit. Once you get hired you can drop out if you want. Or you can continue. My point is that just because you missed one test the first time, you don't have to do something rash like joining the military. If you do that there's a good chance you might regret it later and have no way out. If you stick it out for a while you might get hired somewhere else or you might get hired at Spokane next year. If none of that works out, then maybe you can give the military a try. But there's no hurry is there? The Air Force will still be there in a year, won't they?"
"I suppose so." He told me.
"Just don't let the recruiter seduce you tomorrow. Be on guard and ask the right questions. Remember that the recruiter can act like your friend, he can make you believe he's your friend, but he's not your friend. He exists to get you to sign your name. He doesn't give a fuck about you."
Mike nodded. He didn't commit himself one way or the other but I knew I'd given him a lot of food for thought. I hoped it was enough.
The conversation soon turned to other things. We worked for another three hours and finally the engine was back together.
"Okay." Mike told me, standing near the back of it. "Fire it up."
I turned the key and it roared to life, sounding exactly like an eight cylinder, gas-guzzling engine should. Mike proclaimed the boat fixed. Of course it still had to have it's registration updated but we made tentative plans to take it out the following weekend.
I thought about reminding him of what we'd talked about as he headed home but decided not to. I could only hope his maturity would win out over his other side.
I didn't get a chance to talk to Mike for a few days. The day after the boat was fixed Nina and I spent the day together downtown, catching a movie and then having dinner together. We made out a little in my car at a deserted park but did nothing fancy. My mind was preoccupied with a thousand things, as was hers. We said our good-byes at her doorstep at ten that night, exchanging a demure kiss. I then went home and wanked myself to sleep.