I believe they think the military is a good opportunity for people, but their practices still feel predatory to me.

I get it. I totally get it. They've got an office, a gameplan, a database, an advertising budget and a massive government bureaucracy with hundreds of years of experience and you've got a bum leg and a Facebook profile. And they can lie with impunity. They may not even know they're lying - they're selling you on what they know but it's not like they're your agent. They're onboarding you and then you're someone else's responsibility. It actually makes it easier - they're likely to hear back from the guys they've helped while the guys they've hurt aren't likely to call them up and bitch them out because if the military is a bad fit for you, there are people you're angrier at than the recruiter.

It's also probable you're smarter than them. No blame on them - they joined the military and ended up in a sales career so they're in a strange corner case but regardless, they aren't the ones in the SCIF coming up with battle plans. Regardless, there are lots of people who don't see through it and there are lots of people whose expectations are exactly met. It sounds like you aren't one of them and I agree: the sooner the recruiters figure that out, the happier everyone will be.

I wish there were more options for social mobility outside of enlistment, because a lot of them are going to be killed or crippled or mentally sundered by it.

Totally agree. I knew a girl whose stint in basic landed her a permanent handicap permit simply because the drill instructor decided that she absolutely could run four days on a shattered kneecap. I just had lunch with three ex-navy guys, though, who frankly were not headed for great things. They're now job-holding kid-rearing society members.

Takes all kinds and yeah - if recruiters annoy you you aren't the military type. I sure wasn't.