The recruiter told her about some of the tuition assistance and student loan repayment benefits the Army offers. When the light changed, the young lady was on her way, and the recruiter finished his run. He hurried to shower and change before meeting a recruit at the station by 9 a.m. Alejandro and Bocanegra work in one of the country's largest and most famous cities. But recruiting in metropolitan Los Angeles is not a glamorous business.
Recruiters work long hours, have unpredictable schedules and face a myriad of challenges.
Those challenges are different in affluent Santa Monica, where Bocanegra recruits, from those faced by Alejandro in East Los Angeles, where virtually everyone is of Hispanic descent, and English is often not spoken in the home. Often, the people who are most interested in enlisting aren't qualified, and the ones who are qualified often don't want to enlist. Another situation I run across is that I'll find candidates who are both interested and qualified, but whose parents will not support them in their decision. Cultural factors play a big part in the challenges Alejandro faces. For example, when the recruiter stops to talk to two young men waiting for the bus, he finds out that they are brothers and that the older one has just gotten out of prison after serving almost a decade for manslaughter.