From: Ad 

George Sherwood wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Oct 2006 06:43:53 +0000, Ad wrote:
>
>> George Sherwood wrote:
>>> On Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:40:43 +0000, Adam wrote:
>>>
>>>> However I am obviously not about to name names period let alone in a
>>>> public forum so you will just have to accept that it is hearsay.
>>>>
>>> Well look at the statistics, not hearsay.  The education level has gone
>>> down a little bit for the Army, but not in the drastic, picking up the
>>> crack heads way that you implied.
>>>
>>> George
>> I did no such thing. I merely pointed out that the Mil is a social
>> program writ large & that they have dropped their entry
criteria & this
>> helps make it a better social program as it's now more inclusive.
>>
>> I'm not quite sure where your defensiveness comes from as certainly the
>> PBI & the lower ranks of the navy have always been a way out for those
>> in the lower rungs of society.
>>
>> I think the fact that you elide the lower rungs of society with
>> crackheads is your problem not theirs.
>
> Your original statement:
>
> "The military is a social program writ large esp now they've dropped
> their entry criteria."
>
> This statement wasn't met to say the military is now taking in the dregs
> of society?  Of course it was.  I just pointed out that the standards have
> actually been maintained pretty damn well considering a war is going on.
>

No it was meant to say exactly what it said. They have dropped the entry
criteria & it is functioning as a social program. You're the one
wandering off in eliding the those needing a social program with being
crackheads.

> Haven't heard much lately about missed recruiting or enlistments goals?
> Why?  Because they are making them.  Enlistments in record numbers, not
> withstanding you "data point" in the Atlanta airport on how all the
> soldiers hated it and wanted out.
>

"Army moves to recruit more high school dropouts Posted on Mon, Oct. 03, 2005

By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY

Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Army Secretary Noel Harvey and vice chief of staff Gen.
Richard Cody said Monday that the Army was using looser Defense Department
rules that permitted it to sign up more high school dropouts and people who
score lower on mental-qualification tests, but they denied that this meant
it was lowering standards.

Until Army recruiters began having trouble signing up enough recruits
earlier this year, the Army had set minimum standards that were higher than
those of the Defense Department.

The Army has a recruiting shortfall of 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers over the
past 12 months. It hasnƒ ™t fallen so short of its annual goal since 1979,
several years after the Vietnam war.

Harvey and Cody addressed the recruiting issue in news conferences during
the annual convention of the Association of the U.S. Army.

The Department of Defense "standards on qualification tests call for
at least 60 percent Category 1 to 3 (the higher end of testing) and 4
percent Category 4," the lowest end, Harvey said. "The other
services follow that standard and the Army National Guard always followed
it as well. But the active Army chose a standard of 67 percent in
Categories 1-3, and 2 percent Category 4." It now would use the
Defense Department guidelines, he said.

Cody said that increasing the number of people with General Education
Diplomas allowed to enlist in the Army wasnƒ ™t really a lowering of
standards. GEDs are certificates granted in lieu of high school diplomas to
dropouts who can pass an examination.

The Armyƒ ™s figures show 6.5 percent of all enlisted soldiers held GED
certificates at the end of 2004, the last year statistics were available.
The Army plans to keep its limit on new soldiers with GEDs at 10 percent in
any year."

Even the Army Secretary & vice chief of staff agree that the standards
have been lowered. Maybe it's difficult to notice that in Azerbaijan but
those fitting prosthetics & dealing with the wounded have noticed.

> I don't have a problem.  Some of my best Sailors over the last 20+ years
> have come from the lower end of the educational/financial spectrum.  I am
> incredibly proud of what they have accomplished and what the military
> allowed them to accomplish.
>

So they were ex-crackheads?


Adam

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