Despite growing political divides, LBCC has an increasing amount of recruiters on the Liberal Arts Campus, whose purpose is to help and guide students that are interested in the military.
The Army recruiting station located in Lakewood is hard at work recruiting students from LBCC to their own military branch, while navigating the questions and topics that students have.
Army Staff Sergeant Michael Looney has been working at the Lakewood recruiting station as an active duty recruiter for the past five months.
“LBCC has been extremely cooperative with us,” Sergeant Looney said.
LBCC has been a hot spot for recruiters, such as Sergeant Rivera, to come on campus and set up tables to speak to students.
Looney expressed that the backlash for their work or being in the military is very minimal on campus.
“It happens, but not here. Most students aren’t really rude, they’re just busy trying to get to class and everyone has somewhere to be,” Looney said.
The Army recruiters do not like to stop or be pushy with students, said Looney. They instead allow students to come up to recruiters, encouraging them to ask questions.
“Every recruiter is different. We look at the goals of an individual and focus on how the Army is going to help those goals. I myself have not hesitated to give two of my contacts to the Air Force, because they met their goals better,” Looney said.
As for students who have general political questions, recruiters on campus try their best to answer questions about enlisting but stray from other topics.
Sergeant First Class Jeremiah Johnson, an Army reserves recruiter, has spent three years at LBCC.
“LBCC has a mixed crowd. Most are in their early 20s, and we tailor to all of their needs,” Johnson said.
Due to the Viking Promise, students are offered the first two years of college free, decreasing the amount of students that want to join the military for financial help.
“If an applicant is low income, if they need more opportunities, if they don’t like going to school or can’t afford higher education, I usually encourage those kids to go the active duty route,” said Johnson.
In fact, according to Looney, most students at LBCC would rather go active duty than reserves, which only requires meeting on base once a month and two weeks out of the year, “to explore, see other places, and get more assistance.”
Vernon Robinson, an LBCC student and Navy Vietnam veteran spoke about the recruiters on campus and the school’s support for them, and the ability for students to co-exist with them on campus.
“I think they are a positive influence and I was glad to see their presence. It’s a good sign of the changing times,” Robinson said.
Army recruiters are now in a position to be targeted for attacks, yet they remain neutral and unaffected at LBCC. Their presence here on campus is to answer questions and pass out information about what students don’t know.