CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM At the Army recruiting office in Aiea, U.S. Army Reserve* recruiter Kimberly Christopherson talks with Natasha Louis-Kang.

Army recruiter helps
people find their way
in the military

Kimberly Christopherson Title: Sergeant first class, U.S. Army Reserve* Job: U.S. Army Reserve* recruiter

Kimberly Christopherson joined the U.S. Army 17 years ago and loved her career so much that she became a recruiter for the service 2 1/2 years ago.

Christopherson, 37, acknowledges that recruiting has been more difficult lately, but she declined to say whether it's because of Hawaii's tight labor market or darker reasons such as the continued fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Maj. Christopher Cutler of the Army's Honolulu recruiting company said Tuesday the Army in Hawaii met 100 percent of its Reserves recruiting goal for June and, "on the active side, almost made our goal.")

Christopherson said that in her own case, she joined the Army while living in Virginia Beach, Va., where her father was stationed in the Navy, because she wanted to "run away from home."

"I wanted my college paid for, and to get out and see the world," she said.

Since then, she said, she has indeed gotten around -- to Alaska, Arizona, Canada, Mexico and now Hawaii (her mother is from Maui).

A graduate of Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, Christopherson is single, lives in Mililani and is finally working on that college degree, majoring in accounting at Hawaii Pacific University.

Question: Why did you join the Army?

Answer: I've been in the Army 17 years, and being a single woman in the military, I've been very well taken care of. I pay my own bills, I have a house, a nice car, and I thought that, especially here locally, because I'm Hawaiian Chinese, that the people, especially the females, should know that there is more out there than just getting married and having children, that we can have both.

Q: What else have you done in the military?

A: I've been in all three branches of the Army. I've been in active for eight years; I was in the Army National Guard for Hawaii for about four years; and then the rest of my time has been in the Reserves here, active as a reservist.

Q: How many people do you think you've recruited during your career?

A: Almost 60, I think.

Q: What kinds of people have you found most likely to join?

A: It varies. It depends what's going on in their lives at the time. We have people getting out of high school and wanting to go to college. ... Actually, I just put a girl in last month whose main thing was that she wanted to serve her country. Her father was unable to, so her thing was, "I want to take my dad's place." And, you know, that was really touching.

We also have a lot of prior-service people coming back and wanting to go back in.

Everybody's looking for something different.

Q: Is there an average age?

A: It varies. I'd say the average I put in would probably be about 24, 25.

Q: The Army apparently has missed its recruiting goals for each of the past four months. Do you think that's because the war in Iraq has been going badly or more that the labor market has been tight and civilian jobs are easier to get?

A: I would think the tight labor market would have something to do with it.

Q: And the Iraq thing?

A: I don't really know about that. It has been difficult lately, but those who want to join are still out there, and our job is to talk to as many people as we can, to give them information, and it's up to them to decide if they want to do it.

There's a little more hesitation, maybe, but like this girl, the most important thing to her is serving her country, and that's all she says.

Q: Do they set recruiting goals for you?

A: Yes, they do.

Q: Is Hawaii, like the rest of the nation, not meeting its goals, or are you doing OK?

A: I think we're doing OK comparatively. I know personally I'm doing OK.

Q: What about reports that the Army has been relaxing -- or lately at least bending -- its standards as to whom it will accept as new recruits?

A: Here locally, I know that we do live up to a certain standard. We go by the regulations, and if a recruiter was caught doing something like that, that would not be tolerated.

Q: What's the strongest, most convincing part of your pitch that entices people to join the Army?

A: Everybody comes with something specific in mind. You're either going to join or you're not. Our job as recruiters is to let them know what we can offer them, what benefits there are.

Q: Do you sit at a desk and wait for people to come in, or do you have to go out and find them?

A: Actually, I get a lot of referrals from the Reserves. A lot of my friends are there and people come to them asking for information, mostly about the Reserves, because I'm a Reserve recruiter.

Q: That means what?

A: I recruit for the Army Reserves. Some people are looking for a full-time job, and that would be the active duty, and some people, for whatever reason, the Reserves would be a good way to go.

Q: What's the basic requirement to get in?

A: The Reserves have to be between the ages of 17 and 40. The active duty is 17 to 35. A high school diploma is preferred. You can have a GED or C-based (study-work program) diploma.

Q: What is the Army doing to improve the incentives for people to join?

A: The bonuses have gone up. Like for the Reserves, I just enlisted a prior-service who got $15,000, whereas before, the max for Reserves was $8,000.

Q: How long of an enlistment term is that?

A: He did six years, and we get two weeks out of the year for that, and one weekend a month.

Q: When were the glory days, you might say, of military recruiting, when it was easiest to entice people to join the volunteer military?

A: I don't like the world "entice" because, like I said, people are going to do it or not. Everybody is doing it for their own reasons. Like when I did it, it was to run away from home. I wanted my college paid for, and to get out and see the world.

Q: Did you get to do those things?

A: I have. I've been to Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Arizona, Hawaii.

Q: Have you done any time in Iraq or Afghanistan yet?

A: No, I haven't.

Q: How long do you personally intend to stay in the military?

A: Until they kick me out. I mean, it's a great life, and if I didn't think it was, I wouldn't have asked to become a recruiter.