Posted on 08/10/2007 3:52:16 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
How about the brave and the poor who will have to babysit the unwilling, degenerate, unproductive, foolish, and silly?
I for one would rather spend my time fighting the enemy. I'm no war "Czar" and that's just this 16 year (and counting) vet's opinion.
Household Income of Recruits
Like their peers in 1999 and 2003, recruits in 2004 and 2005 came primarily from middle-class areas. Poor areas are proportionally underrepresented in the wartime years (2003–2005).
The infantry/artillery, etc. is different.
In my experience as an MTI having trained both male and female airmen, I can relate the following:
In a flight of 50 men, you will get about 5-9 % of trainees that are not worth cr*& and will never be worth anything. You do not want to be in a critical situation with these people.
In a flight of females, you get about 12 to 15% of the same.
“I’m somewhat confused by your post. What do you mean by “volunteered for the draft”? Was he drafted, or did he volunteer because he knew he would be drafted anyway? If he volunteered because he knew he would be drafted, hoping to get some leverage by playing the system a bit, he was certainly a more strategically aware person than most, probably superior in many areas.”
Back in those days, if you were IA with no disaualifiers, you KNEW you would be drafted. If you volunteered, you got NO special assignments or training. You simply got your two years started. He could have enlisted, for three years, and received certain assignment/training opions, but did not.
Obviously he turned out to be superior. But he was a young man, somewhat struggling with life, back then. I know, I was his friend with similar problems, but a couple of years younger. His father kicked him out, he was living at grandmas, goofing off in community college.
It was one of those decisions-—”I might as well get this over.” He came hme from Basic and said “I like it—they are going to send me to Jump School.” Next came Ranger and OCS. Of course by then a person has had to re-enlist.
I understand. Thanks for explaining. I know that there is a certain type of bright but unfocused young man who thrives on the clear expectations and rigid discipline of the military.
PIck a year between now and 1980...
No not at all. The model of conscription used in the fifties assured that for the most part, the average able bodied man served in uniform. The standards were high and a much larger proportion of Ivy League grads, NCAA athletes, etc. were serving in some form or fashion. Nobody ever executed people for refusing the draft. Typically they were jailed or offered the opportunity to serve as CO’s; most took the latter and many ended up highly decorated.
Well, if you held men and women to the same fitness standards the majority of army females would not pass; the remainder would be in the lower quintile of performance. Our training and testing has been watered down to accomodate the gals; talk to somebody who is familiar with SERE school in the eighties and SERE school today.
Well, men and women have never been held to the same fitness standard. Intelligence tests, yes.
Fitness standards all over the board have been watered down, just look at any high school now as opposed to 30 years ago.
I do not think women should be drafted, but on the other hand, there are some women that make excellent pilots and ship drivers, just as ther are men who make excellent clerks and computer programmers.
“I oppose a draft for the usual reasons. But it would almost be worth it to see the punk Lefties come face to face with reality. A decision they would have to make with real consequences. So sweet to see them hauled off to prison.”
2 years national service, mandatory. If you want one of the skilled military jobs and training, volunteer for 4+ years. Just want to do the required 2 years and get out? There are plenty of meals to be cooked and buildings to be painted on military bases. Those jobs don’t discriminate against sex, infirmity or sexual preference, everyone gets to play. No college deferments needed, you can go to university after you serve your 2 years.
“If you want one of the skilled military jobs and training, volunteer for 4+ years. Just want to do the required 2 years and get out? There are plenty of meals to be cooked and buildings to be painted on military bases.”
I’ll share what I recall from my time as an Army Personnel Specialist, FWIW.
A big component of aptitude for Infantry is IQ. You want a good infantry, you put smart people there.
Low IQ is for cooks, low/unskilled maintenance.
How do you get high IQs into the service? One way is conscription. I served during Vietnam with many college grads that got drafted.
They gave college deferments, not exemptions. (So many are so ill informed about the draft.)
The US used the draft during Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. It has been the norm, not the exception.
After 9/11/2001 it might have also made this war with islamofascists “popular.”
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