I spent 17 years in the military, 6 years Navy and 11 years Army. While
in the Navy I went to an Army aviation post to cross over services into
the WO flight program. I was told that I had to be an E5 minimum to
qualify (I was), as well as take a battery of tests on flight. The stack
of study books they gave me stood several feet tall lying on their side!
As far as the argument about recruiters - if you ask questions, they
will give you appropriate honest answers. If they do not, they are far
more liable than the average grunt. Recruiters are held to a much higher
standard than most of the rest of the enlisted, precisely because of the
generalized opinions like have been stated here. Misleading
prospective recruits can result in very severe penalties, including
article 15 bust. I was never mislead by recruiters, and in fact they
were very helpful in getting me what I wanted. It is in their best
interests to do so - you are more likely to be a happy camper and sign
up/stay in/ not be a problem in boot, etc. If you talk to a recruiter
and he intentionally misleads you, you have a number of options to
pursue, none of which will result in a pleasant ride for the recruiter.
And as far as salesmen; if it weren't for them, how would you buy
anything? There are unscrupulous people in every profession that exists,
but they are in the very tiny minority. You only hear about them,
unfortunately, because all the honest ones aren't "newsworthy".