Good thing. Without that background, it was a good thing a female friend had already told her about her great experience in the Army. Otherwise, the first-year college student might very well have turned around and never looked backnot have enlisted.
"I’m an independent spirit, but honestly I was a little overwhelmed when I walked into the recruiting center and it was all males from a combat arms background," said Kennedy, now a sergeant first class and recruiter who works as the professional development noncommissioned officerNCO at Recruiting Command headquarters in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
Kennedy’s experience is an example of why the Army has set out to drives home a recent point of emphasis for the Army: grow and leverage its corps of female recruiters. Several of the women talked with Army Times about how the service's treatment and perceptions of gender have changed as it the Army opens ground combat jobs to women, and what female soldiers can contribute to a recruiting center’s successrepertoire.
Young women's fears about their quality of life in the Army and the rigors of basic training are the most common obstacles female recruiters say they have to overcome.
Sgt. 1st Class Taisha Franco says a photo of her family in her office is one way she shows women it's possible to have a family life and an Army career.
Photo Credit: Army
Kennedy, who is 5-foot-1, 118 pounds, says women can more easily convince female recruits that they can hack it at basic.
Sgt. 1st Class Yanitzas Betances-Leger
, a center leader for the Harlem Recruiting Center in New York, has encountered the same concernsobjections. She says views trust and credibility are to be the linchpins of recruiting. A New York City native, native recruiting in her old backyard, she particularly understands their importance beyond just gender. She Betances-Leger said many in her neighborhood distrust recruiters, regarding them as salespeople just trying to meet quotas. Her own mother — including her mother who "did not approve of me joining the Army, not at all," she said. Her mom's view changed after seeing the changes in her daughter’s life.
"She walks around with my recruiting card … four of my cousins actually joined, one being a female," said Betances-Leger, who has served for more than over 16 years. "Women in the Hispanic community, they don’t just go by what they read. They go by if someone they know [has done it], someone relatable."
Sgt. 1st Class Yanitzas Betances-Leger says credibility is crucial for a recruiter.
Photo Credit: Army
Still, conveying to knocking down false perceptions and showing recruits how much the Army has to offer women does not end the struggle for recruiters. Betances-Leger said women are still seen as the underdogs who have to "put 110 percent into every task" to prove themselves, and others agreed.
"You realize quickly in basic training, as a female, you're looked at in a different manner," Franco said. "They're never surprised if you fail, they're more surprised that you made it."
But Franco also cited women reaching higher echelons of command as a sign of progress and that the culture is shifting. Regarding combat jobs, Kennedy said even women who don't want those jobs respect the decision to replace idea of replacing gender-based restrictions with more objective job requirements; it sends a broader message about what the Army values, and could attract more women to the service.
"A year ago we didn't have the opportunity for women to serve in every single" military occupational specialty, Kennedy said. "A more fair and equal organization, that will change the minds of a lot of females."
Drill Sgt. Maria Florez motivates a challenger last fall during mudder event in California. The Army participates in such events in hopes of attracting recruits.
Photo Credit: Pfc. Timothy Yao/Army
