Mr. Chair, when an interested person comes into a recruiting centre, they see a standard customer service desk, like they'd see in any properly run establishment. We ask them why they're there, we thank them for coming in, and we invite them to sit down.
Most people have an idea of what they want to do. Fortunately or unfortunately, it's based on war movies, books, video games, or, best of all, from the advertisements you see on television, the fight campaign--in that case a better idea. They will generally come in and say, “I want to be in the air force”, “I want to be in the army”--in fact, a lot say they want to be in the army-- or, “I want to be in the navy”.
Then we sit you down to evaluate what are your strengths, your aptitude. You do a very rigorous test, and out of that comes your suitability for things you could do, based on what you've done to date. Then we question if you are interested in any of those. If you say, “Yes, I am, but do you have any other choices?”, we may say, “Yes, you're in luck, these are open”. Then we carry on the process of medical, etc., ultimately leading to an offer and enrolment.
My military career counsellors are quite good at the subjective and objective portions of trying to figure out the best fit for a person. I'll be frank: they're a mix of guidance counsellor and used car salesman. If someone comes in and says they'd like to be in the army and want to do a particular thing, they will be asked if they have thought about an alternative. It's something I want and they want: it's like a dance of the dialectic. We bring them to a point where both groups are happy.
We don't lie to anyone or not say what the trades are about.