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mysfit

Military recruiting issues

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4 minutes ago, mysfit said:

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/19/pentagon-buildup-troop-recruiting-shortage-351365

 

Wow. Those numbers are just shocking in terms of obesity and education.

We need to follow the Switzerland model where everyone serves.   Too many thoughtless wars are fought because they are someone else’s kids.   

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1 minute ago, sactowndog said:

We need to follow the Switzerland model where everyone serves.   Too many thoughtless wars are fought because they are someone else’s kids.   

You are missing the point of the article.  These young people are not fit enough to serve.  

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Holy crap!  I'd be curious as to how this portion fares vs previous decades.

"Nearly three-quarters of Americans age 17 to 24 are ineligible for the military due to obesity, other health problems, criminal backgrounds or lack of education, according to government data. That's a harsh reality check for the Pentagon’s plan to recruit tens of thousands of new soldiers, sailors, pilots and cyber specialists over the next five years."

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1 hour ago, sactowndog said:

We need to follow the Switzerland model where everyone serves.   Too many thoughtless wars are fought because they are someone else’s kids.   

Not to mention getting these kids in shape and possibly teaching life long lessons in staying fit, employeed, interested in public service and out of legal trouble.

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4 minutes ago, NorthWestCowboy said:

Not to mention getting these kids in shape and possibly teaching life long lessons in staying fit, employeed, interested in public service and out of legal trouble.

By the way.  I’m not sure they should be trained in the National Army.....

I think gun control, 2nd amendment and how we staff and how largely we staff a national army all comes into play here.

http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2016/08/01/why-we-need-independent-militias/

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45 minutes ago, NorthWestCowboy said:

Holy crap!  I'd be curious as to how this portion fares vs previous decades.

"Nearly three-quarters of Americans age 17 to 24 are ineligible for the military due to obesity, other health problems, criminal backgrounds or lack of education, according to government data. That's a harsh reality check for the Pentagon’s plan to recruit tens of thousands of new soldiers, sailors, pilots and cyber specialists over the next five years."

On top of that, they are purging current military members that want to continue serving, for things like tattoos.  

 

 

 

 

down in a hole.jpg

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2 hours ago, sactowndog said:

We need to follow the Switzerland model where everyone serves.   Too many thoughtless wars are fought because they are someone else’s kids.   

Would probably do them some good to be in a military training type of situation, shed some lbs, get some skills, get some discipline, etc.....

I'm for everyone serving in some capacity, fwiw.  I think it gives people a good base for future success.

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4 minutes ago, Jack Bauer said:

Would probably do them some good to be in a military training type of situation, shed some lbs, get some skills, get some discipline, etc.....

I'm for everyone serving in some capacity, fwiw.  I think it gives people a good base for future success.

It also exposes you to a more diverse set of your countrymen. 

Thay Haif Said: Quhat Say Thay? Lat Thame Say

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Isn’t getting into shape part of the training? I lost 40 pounds in one summer when I was 21/22 just using whatever they had at 24-hour fitness. The military must have better resources than that. Can’t they just make weight loss a condition of enlistment? Give them a timeframe to meet the weight requirement and if they don’t do it, they’re discharged. No good? 

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Hmm... I think a large part of this is the increase of diagnosing issues. I mean, take the 10 Vietnam draftees deemed to be fit to serve and I sincerely doubt that all 10 are deemed fit to serve in today's army.

Furthermore, I tried to go the OCS route and was deemed not fit to serve because of an adult asthma diagnosis. Now, I run all the time, I swim, I work out, I self got a 90 ish on the physical fitness test; the only "medication" I take is claritin. I was diagnosed with allergic asthma one summer working in cheyenne when I was coughing in my sleep. 

Remember that every argument you have with someone on MWCboard is actually the continuation of a different argument they had with someone else also on MWCboard. 

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8 minutes ago, happycamper said:

Hmm... I think a large part of this is the increase of diagnosing issues. I mean, take the 10 Vietnam draftees deemed to be fit to serve and I sincerely doubt that all 10 are deemed fit to serve in today's army.

Furthermore, I tried to go the OCS route and was deemed not fit to serve because of an adult asthma diagnosis. Now, I run all the time, I swim, I work out, I self got a 90 ish on the physical fitness test; the only "medication" I take is claritin. I was diagnosed with allergic asthma one summer working in cheyenne when I was coughing in my sleep. 

I'll bet the obesity rate has increased a lot in the half-century since Vietnam.

Thay Haif Said: Quhat Say Thay? Lat Thame Say

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9 minutes ago, Old_SD_Dude said:

I'll bet the obesity rate has increased a lot in the half-century since Vietnam.

Probably. I still give it the suspicious eye look when 50 years ago we'd take people who were caught attempting armed robbery and stick 'em in the Marines and then today talk about no qualified candidates. 

Remember that every argument you have with someone on MWCboard is actually the continuation of a different argument they had with someone else also on MWCboard. 

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I can tell you from coaching football at the high school level for 28 years that kids are totally different muscularly and size wise.  Back in my day there were 0 knee injuries and very few players were over 200lbs and the players that were 250 or more didn't play because they were too fat and out of shape.

Now days most of the starters are over 200 and O-lines are often averaging over 250lbs.  Knee injuries are common and so are Achilles injuries.   The kids are not active and they have weight room strength not core strength.     

Just my opinion but all the TV stations and computer games have created kids that are sedentary, they are not active.   They are not out of the house hunting or exploring.  We used to ride our bikes 25 miles to the lake and up into the mountains to camp.   No one sat in the house all day because there was nothing to do.

Obesity is accepted now even in high school sports.  This is a modern day problem.

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1 hour ago, happycamper said:

Probably. I still give it the suspicious eye look when 50 years ago we'd take people who were caught attempting armed robbery and stick 'em in the Marines and then today talk about no qualified candidates. 

I think it's a number of factors. For one, Vietnam occurred when the baby boom was at its peak. There were a lot of people at the right age. But the military was also massive then. We had over 500k men just in Vietnam. That's more than the entire Army today, and we also had several hundred thousand more Army personnel in Germany. So I'm sure as you say they were less picky. As I can attest to from my time in the Army in the late 70's, they weren't concerned about drugs either before or after you signed up. I was never tested the entire time.  :hookah: 

Thay Haif Said: Quhat Say Thay? Lat Thame Say

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2 hours ago, SJSUMFA2013 said:

Isn’t getting into shape part of the training? I lost 40 pounds in one summer when I was 21/22 just using whatever they had at 24-hour fitness. The military must have better resources than that. Can’t they just make weight loss a condition of enlistment? Give them a timeframe to meet the weight requirement and if they don’t do it, they’re discharged. No good? 

A morbidly obese kid in my neighborhood enlisted and he came home about 170 pounds and pretty fit.  He probably weight 320 in high school.

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