LANSING, MI—Noting that the 18-year-old was “pretty much on board” once he saw boots and fatigues, Army recruiter Mark Delacourt confirmed Monday that he didn’t have to reach too deep into his bag of tricks to snag this one. “I barely even got one sentence out about defending American values and serving with honor before he said, ‘Okay, let’s do this,’” said Delacourt, adding that he had a whole song and dance ready to go about “challenging yourself to see what you’re really made of” that went entirely unused. “As it turned out, just hearing the word ‘combat’ and looking at a pamphlet with an armored Humvee on the front was apparently good enough to reel this guy in. I didn’t even have to touch my whole stockpile of talking points about going to college on the G.I. Bill or acquiring vital job skills, and frankly, it probably would’ve gone in one ear and out the other anyway.” Delacourt added that because the interaction was over so quickly, he could save his free “Go Army” hat for the next one.

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