Quote:
Originally posted by Wayne at Pelican Parts
HA! You need to read the *whole* story, not just some fluff piece put out by the AP. The Army's recruiting costs have skyrocketed, and they have significantly lowered their standards. Read the real article, published by a *real* newspaper, the Wall Street Journal:
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Yes, and that's only one of the issues. The Army's standards for recruits varies according to the part of the country they're recruiting from. Southern recruits, since more southern men have traditionally volunteered, are of a higher standard, recruits from California, New York, and large cities tend to be recruited from a lower set of standards because the military tradition is lacking or next to non-existent. You'd have a hard time getting any recruiting sergeant to admit that, but it's true.
One of the attractions of the military is they put you in charge of really expensive, neat equipment at a very early age. In my father's P-38 squadron they had a replacement pilot arrive, qualified in the aircraft, and all of 18 years old. That was in the european theater too.
I served with a helicopter pilot that flew missions in Vietnam at age 19, in a UH-1M gunship.
Of course, the military loves these young guys, they'll do dangerous, sometimes suicidal, actions without thinking about it.