Military recruiters making the most of Spring Break

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND - Twenty-five push-ups will earn you a U.S. Army beach chair and a high-five from the recruiter in the tent across from a hotel bar.

Down the beach, U.S. Marine Corps recruiters cheer on young men in swim trunks trying to beat the day's chin-up record - 28 as of 2 p.m. Wednesday.

As college students descended on South Padre Island for Spring Break this week, so too did military recruiters, who like any good marketers never pass up the chance to reach out to their desired audience.

"This is our target market, 17- to 25-year-olds," said Paul Harp, a retired soldier who coordinates marketing for the U.S. Army.

"It's Spring Break, so they want to get things. You'll see very few of us actually sitting down with them and talking, because of the atmosphere."

Beer-guzzling college students looking for the next party might sound like a difficult group to reach, but legions of companies set up product giveaways and contests around South Padre Island during Spring Break.

Just on the small stretch of beach in front of the Radisson hotel, there were reps for razor blades, energy drinks, car insurance companies and beach sandals.

One of the most visible is the military, which is hoping to attract officer candidates from the crowds of students.

Recruiters task themselves not with signing up recruits but "planting the seed," as U.S. Navy recruiter Brady Bales puts it.

Whether it's Army, Navy or Marines, college students are invited to stop in and fill out a card or survey in exchange for a T-shirt or other swag. A few weeks later they'll probably get a call from a recruiter.

"Being here, we're looking to impart a certain image," said Marine Capt. Jeffrey Tew.

"Our standards are tough, physically, mentally and emotionally. The image we like to project is a group of elite warriors who can think outside the box."

Tew, who's 28 years old, actually signed up for the Marines Corps not long after meeting a recruiter on South Padre Island when he was in college. They talked on the beach, and when Tew began considering a military career he remembered the impression the recruiter had left, Tew said.

How successful recruiters' efforts are during Spring Break is impossible to gauge, though.

They get thousands of students' names and telephone numbers but will readily admit that most are dead ends, simply students who wanted a free beach towel.

Blake Guard, a freshman at Texas A&M University, said he stopped by the Army tent every day to pick up a fresh T-shirt and towel, using friends' and family members' names so the recruiters wouldn't catch on.

"Back at A&M, people are always handing out free (stuff), and it's the same here," he said. "I've been having such a great time. A couple years ago I was watching this on MTV, and now I'm here. My friends back home are really jealous."

On Wednesday morning, Bayles, an electrician in the Navy who signed up to recruit hoping for a promotion, was waiting for his civilian staff to set up a flight simulator intended to mimic the experience of a Navy pilot.

Most of the recruiters on South Padre are actually greatly outnumbered by their civilian marketing staffs, in the case of the Army attractive college-age men and women who try to lure in passersby.

Bayles had worked Spring Break last year and thought the military's efforts were probably wasted.

For complete coverage of Spring Break, go to www.TheV247.com.