They are looking for people who are physically fit, have a clean criminal record and a high school diploma. What they don’t tell you is that military recruiters are also looking for students with empty pockets.

With this in mind, recruiters go to local colleges in hopes of persuading students to sign up.

The recruiter’s handbook refers to the military as a product that can be sold; they even have quotas. There is more than $300 million in scholarship money for service members, veterans and dependants.

Active duty members who serve at least two years are eligible for $985 per month for 36 months.

Military recruiters on campus are like drug dealers outside of a 12-step program; they know what you want and they know where to find you.

Recently, two Army recruiters on campus, approached a couple of men who apparently did not meet some requirement, as the conversation did not last long.

The next prospect was a thinly built man with long hair and a band T-shirt.

Perhaps they were offering him free haircuts for a year. Or maybe they told him that life was waiting for him in the Army.

I approached these recruiters to hear their side of the story.

We walked around campus and talked. I asked one of the recruiters what type of person he was looking to recruit and asked how he would approach them.

He explained that they typically look for athletic individuals. The Army offers money for college, the recruiter said. And this is the strongest motivator for the majority of the candidates.

All candidates must take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test to determine their level of trainability.

That night I found the ASVAB test was online. It’s an aptitude test that determines the applicant’s ability to do basic arithmetic reasoning, reading comprehension, word knowledge and mathematics knowledge.

I took the abbreviated version that had 40 questions; the full-length version is 200 questions.

With my highest scores being in paragraph comprehension and word knowledge what kind of jobs would I qualify for in the army?

According to the ASVAB, I would make an excellent clerical assistant. I guess the military isn’t the right fit for me.

However, students who are thinking about signing up should start asking questions to find out what they are really getting into when signing up for the military.

After all, signing your life over to the government is not a decision that should be taken lightly.