75% of 18-24 year olds unfit for military service

[halfmileharry]

I worry about the mental status of the 75% that can't make it into military service...are they the next batch of mass murderers?

There is an upside here. That lowly 75% will be the first wave killed off when the world falls to ****.

 

[actaeon277]

This is no joke. The Army and Marine Corps can bring more technology to bear inside a tent out in the woods than you would find in a corporate headquarters in Manhattan. And the people running all that gadgetry are barely out of high school. Those kids have to be highly trainable to achieve what they do.

I remember at 19, acquaintances would ask why I joined, wasn't I smart enough to get a job.
They were running the fry machine at McDonalds.
I was standing watch as a Reactor Operator (trainee).

 

[IndyTom]

I remember at 19, acquaintances would ask why I joined, wasn't I smart enough to get a job.
They were running the fry machine at McDonalds.
I was standing watch as a Reactor Operator (trainee).

And, while they've still got the grease scars, you still don't need a nightlight?

I think a lot of the recruiting is still in areas where the kids don't think they can get out otherwise and, if you're already in a place like that, the seems like it reduces the likelihood of them being fit for service. My father and grandfather served, but I also saw what my dad went through and couldn't see myself joining up unless I was absolutely needed to defend my country. With all of the SJW crap being spewed these days about our service members, I think it takes even more of the "shine" off of duty (even if it is BS, things eventually resonate with people if heard often enough (e.g. "assault rifle")).

 

[Thor]

I remember at 19 .

The reason I joined I tell kids as they interview for access to a service academy...when I graduated from HS I wanted to crush things and blow stuff up. Tanks, Army, squares filled. I spent a lot of time in the desert watching the AF fly back to Las Vegas every night and thought: ya know, if someone was going to do this as a career...

When I joined the AF the first thing I asked the recruiter was how close I could get to the pointy end of the spear.

 

[seedubs1]

Fact is, these days, if you sign up, you're going to the sand box and might die. Hard to get the brightest people to sign up for such a risk when they have other options.

Most of the best and brightest don't feel the need to give up part of their youth in service to their country.

The kids that wanted to crush things and blow stuff up were the ones I knew that joined. Johnny Coke bottle glasses that stayed in the chemistry lab after hours and had a SAT score off the charts wasn't the kind of kid I saw signing up.

The reason I joined I tell kids as they interview for access to a service academy...when I graduated from HS I wanted to crush things and blow stuff up.

 

[Thor]

Yeah, but my IQ was 150 in the 5th grade, I had lots of options...but then again I came from a family with the tradition of service so sign me up for the warrior caste.

 

[actaeon277]

And, while they've still got the grease scars, you still don't need a nightlight?
..
.

Now that you mention it, I thought it was my glowing personality. But it could be the radiation.
I regularly had to stand in front of my department head about why I exceeded the radiation limit set by my sub.

 

[Woobie]

Fact is, these days, if you sign up, you're going to the sand box and might die. Hard to get the brightest people to sign up for such a risk when they have other options.



The kids that wanted to crush things and blow stuff up were the ones I knew that joined. Johnny Coke bottle glasses that stayed in the chemistry lab after hours and had a SAT score off the charts wasn't the kind of kid I saw signing up.

Actually, recruiting went up when the war started, and fell off as deployments started decreasing. I did a brief stint in recruiting, so I have a pretty good handle on who does and doesn't join.

Johnny Coke bottle glasses would have been disqualified by vision at MEPS. But most of the smartest people I've known were in the military. I've sat in the Supply NCO's office before first formation and listened to in depth discussions on quantum physics. That was at an Infantry unit. I've seen people do things in the dark on zero rest and little food that most people couldn't begin to work out in perfect conditions. The logistics that your average brigade or battalion S4 works out on a routine basis would melt brains at GE. And they adapt on the fly. What I'm saying is, there are some brilliant minds in the military. But they want to serve. Some people, no matter their intelligence, aren't wired to be takers. They want to give back. So they put in a uniform of some sort, whether that be military, police, etc.

 

[patience0830]

Wife's grandson had the Army recruiter at the house tonight. The boy is above the 75th percentile on the partial ASVAB the recruiter has on his laptop. Takes the real test Thursday. I didn't tell him I was in the 92nd percentile when I tested in 1985. They made me a Russian linguist. The boy wants to be a veterinary technician. Don't know how many slots the army has for that specialty. Talking about JROTC as a senior and ROTC at Ball State. Hope his determination doesn't flag.

 

[Woobie]

Wife's grandson had the Army recruiter at the house tonight. The boy is above the 75th percentile on the partial ASVAB the recruiter has on his laptop. Takes the real test Thursday. I didn't tell him I was in the 92nd percentile when I tested in 1985. They made me a Russian linguist. The boy wants to be a veterinary technician. Don't know how many slots the army has for that specialty. Talking about JROTC as a senior and ROTC at Ball State. Hope his determination doesn't flag.

That's really cool!

 

[KellyinAvon]

I was thinking about that too.

 

[Trigger Time]

Fact is, these days, if you sign up, you're going to the sand box and might die. Hard to get the brightest people to sign up for such a risk when they have other options.



The kids that wanted to crush things and blow stuff up were the ones I knew that joined. Johnny Coke bottle glasses that stayed in the chemistry lab after hours and had a SAT score off the charts wasn't the kind of kid I saw signing up.

I had a sports scholarship to purdue and i chose the military. I was an A and B student. Not a dummy but not the smartest in my class by book standards.
In the military I excelled. I wasn't part of "big army" but I was what they wanted for what my job was and I wasn't a dummy. When I volunteered several times by the time I got to where I was going and I knew the risks I signed up for. Then
When 9/11 happened it was a whole new ballgame. It was on like donkey Kong and you know what? Many of the smart brothers I had re-enlisted without question to go kill enemies of our country and the world. Some of them didn't come home alive but I won't let anyone sully their memory and call them stupid for giving the last full measure of devotion for their brothers and their country.
A few of my brothers are now millionaire businessmen. Guess they weren't as dumb as what some think about our military members

 

[Thor]

What Trigger Time said.

Johnny Coke bottle glasses was 4F anyway.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I remember at 19, acquaintances would ask why I joined, wasn't I smart enough to get a job.
They were running the fry machine at McDonalds.
I was standing watch as a Reactor Operator (trainee).

Yeah, at 19, I was stationed in Okinawa, fixing J-79 engines on F-4 Phantoms. My HS buddies were dropping out of college for being drunk and lazy. Wasted loads on Mommy's and Daddy's money in the process.

 

[Jludo]

Actually, recruiting went up when the war started, and fell off as deployments started decreasing. I did a brief stint in recruiting, so I have a pretty good handle on who does and doesn't join.

Johnny Coke bottle glasses would have been disqualified by vision at MEPS. But most of the smartest people I've known were in the military. I've sat in the Supply NCO's office before first formation and listened to in depth discussions on quantum physics. That was at an Infantry unit. I've seen people do things in the dark on zero rest and little food that most people couldn't begin to work out in perfect conditions. The logistics that your average brigade or battalion S4 works out on a routine basis would melt brains at GE. And they adapt on the fly. What I'm saying is, there are some brilliant minds in the military. But they want to serve. Some people, no matter their intelligence, aren't wired to be takers. They want to give back. So they put in a uniform of some sort, whether that be military, police, etc.

I thought the smartest guys were usually civilian contractors. The Manhattan project, skunkworks, the Apollo program, the military has to have expertise but I was always under the impression the people designing and building the rockets weren't in the military.

 

[Woobie]

I thought the smartest guys were usually civilian contractors. The Manhattan project, skunkworks, the Apollo program, the military has to have expertise but I was always under the impression the people designing and building the rockets weren't in the military.

Programs like that are bound to have pretty limited employment. If you look at the larger population of civilian contractors, by and large they are former military. They are usually hired to do jobs that the military doesn't have an MOS for. So they take a "grey beard" with expertise in a military field, and have him fill a niche that field requires. They also use them to fill shortages. Warrant Officers are often severely understaffed, due to a lack of qualified candidates. So they will take somebody smart enough but not fit enough, or unwilling to remain in the military, and contract him or her to plug the hole.

 

[Thor]

I thought the smartest guys were usually civilian contractors. The Manhattan project, skunkworks, the Apollo program, the military has to have expertise but I was always under the impression the people designing and building the rockets weren't in the military.

Quite often they are retired military hired to retain the expertise.

 

[Thor]

What Woobie said. I'm working with some guys now who were all elint operators in the Navy who are now developing electronic warfare systems for a civilian company for military test and training.

 

[Jludo]

Quite often they are retired military hired to retain the expertise.

I don't think there's going to be a consensus as folks coming from a military background know smart people they've worked with and folks not from a military background also know smart people.
I'd be curious to see a list of the smartest people though and whether or not they went through the military.

 

[Woobie]

I don't think there's going to be a consensus as folks coming from a military background know smart people they've worked with and folks not from a military background also know smart people.
I'd be curious to see a list of the smartest people though and whether or not they went through the military.

Smartest? I guess that depends on the standard. I doubt many of the top physicists have seen much of the world outside of a university campus. If excellence in an academic disciplines me is the standard, I would bet the rate is pretty low. But if you used IQ or some other metric, that number would probably be a little higher.

Many high schoolers are required by their school to take the ASVAB, because it has benefits outside of military service. By definition, most fall in the middle of that bell curve. Yet out of a sample of around 40 people, we had 5 soldiers in my basic training platoon measure above the 90th percentile. These were all infantrymen, not satellite or intel people. That isn't an uncommon experience.