Military age young people

[m1ashooter]

The facts are the facts. The same statistics were just release in the Retired Officers Magazine. I work with a lot of young people and a few years ago was active with my sons JROTC unit. Parents have allowed the creation of at least a generation of young people who can't qualify for enlistment because of the behavior medicines that the educational systems and doctors have pushed on them. My son is a young Bosuns Mate 3rd Class in the USCG. The USCG has around 40,000 people that apply for around 4500 boot camp positions annually so the standards are very high. Even then you still get young people doing stupid things that get them thrown out.

One of the problems we really face is the nature of conflict in a really big war is there will be no time to build up the forces like we have done in the past. We will have to fight with who we have and what we've got.

[blackhawknj]

Remember too many kids today are growing up fatherless. I did in the 1950s and 60s, back then I was part of the 15 % or so, today I'd be in the majority.
One of the nails in the Carter Administration's coffin was the revelation in the Spring of 1980 that 46 % of the Army's first term enlistees were Cat IVs-the "three hots and a cot crowd".
I remember Jack Anderson wringing his hands, writing how the nations defense had been foisted of on "the poor, the uneducated, the disadvantaged and the desperate". In 1982 it was found that 46 % of the Army's first term RE enlistees were Cat IVs. People I knew who served as junior officers and EM then had few kind things to say about the NCOs they had to put up with, and I have talked to a lot of recent veterans who got fed up with the PCness, the double and triple standards, the favoritism shown to certain groups on today's military.

[Vern Humphrey]

There is no question that AR (Anal Retentiveness, aka Political Correctness) has done enormous damage to the Armed Forces. But from my experience, if we had to land on Omaha Beach or Iwo Jima again, we have the men who could do it.

[Allen]

There is no question that AR (Anal Retentiveness, aka Political Correctness) has done enormous damage to the Armed Forces. But from my experience, if we had to land on Omaha Beach or Iwo Jima again, we have the men who could do it.

I hope you're right. At least we have better weapons now. Perhaps a similar conflict now would be easier to win and with less blood spilled.

[blackhawknj]

"There are no bad soldiers, only bad officers." Napoleon
"There are no bad soldiers, only bad regiments." William Slim
"A competent leader can get efficient service from poor troops, while on the contrary an incapable leader can demoralize the best of troops."
John J. Pershing
The troops I served with 1967-1971 were just as good as this country as ever had, while in WWII if we had had officers such as Calley, Medina, Barker, Henderson, generals such as Westmoreland, Abrams, Weyand, Samuel Koster, Keith Ware....
"Give me iron in the men and I don't worry about the iron in the ships." Farragut

[Sunray]

"...growing up fatherless..." Ditto. My pop died when I was 6. I was Commissioned in 1982.
"...if we had had officers such as..." You did. So did we and every other military.
Abrams was a LTC eleven days before his 28th birthday during W.W.II. The 37th Tank Battalion, which Abrams commanded, spearheaded 3rd Army. Westmoreland was no slouch either. Their issues came from White House interference.

[barretcreek]

David Pergrin took command of the 291st Enr. at 25. His book is a worthwhile read.
In the period up until the '80s there were church run schools which provided real choice vs. the public 'education' system. Still have Catholic schools in some parts of the country and somehow students whose parents are barely getting by are admitted and graduate. One of the campaign promises 'Rats make is 'NO MORE CHARTER SCHOOLS!' because the alternative to the indoctrination system has a lot of support in less affluent communities and the NEA and AFT can't stand having competition.

[blackhawknj]

In WWII bright young competent leaders rose rapidly, while George C. Marshall told Eisenhower to be ruthless in relieving incompetents. In Vietnam "too many brigade and battalion commanders were simply trying to punch their tickets" to quote an Army general while another noted that the failure to mobilize the reserves resulted in Regular Army OCS standards falling to the "Calley-Medina level" to quote another general.

[Vern Humphrey]

David Pergrin took command of the 291st Enr. at 25. His book is a worthwhile read.
In the period up until the '80s there were church run schools which provided real choice vs. the public 'education' system. Still have Catholic schools in some parts of the country and somehow students whose parents are barely getting by are admitted and graduate. One of the campaign promises 'Rats make is 'NO MORE CHARTER SCHOOLS!' because the alternative to the indoctrination system has a lot of support in less affluent communities and the NEA and AFT can't stand having competition.

You've got that right -- the Public School system has collapsed and turned into an indoctrination system.

[EO1]

The numbers are misleading. If true, the reference is to the population as a whole, not recruits. It's the recruiters job to make sure the recruits will pass because he does not want too many DQs on his record.
I transport recruits to MEPS and there are many more now than during the O years, thanks to our man Trump. So many more that the Denver MEPS cant handle the numbers and they are being sent to Albq and SLC. With nary a one getting DQd. And these kids range from 17 to 25+ in age, some even married. And they are much smarter than I was at that age.
So you guys can get your knickers untwisted, we're in very good hands.