| Tango01 | 16 May 2019 9:08 p.m. PST |
… — and most careers, too. "YORK, Pa. — The numbers are staggering: Seventy-one percent of young people are ineligible to join the military, according to 2017 Pentagon data. The reasons: obesity, no high school diploma or a criminal record. The problem isn't just a military one, though: It's an issue for businesses as well because the vast majority of that age group isn't eligible for many jobs either, said retired Rear Admiral Thomas Wilson…."
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| Thresher01 | 16 May 2019 9:50 p.m. PST |
Ha! That's way off. Just imagine once they start factoring in "medical marijuana" AND "magic mushrooms" usage. Then, the number of ineligible people will climb precipitously, further. Of course, the military, in time of need, will just change their standards, like they've done previously. |
| Old Wolfman | 17 May 2019 6:55 a.m. PST |
Main one for me was only having a GED,and being a bit top-heavy. Eyesight likely would've kept me out too. On a practice ASVAB test,over 30-odd years ago,I did quite well; with math being the sticky point. |
| FatherOfAllLogic | 17 May 2019 7:03 a.m. PST |
Yeah, back in the day people knocked out their front teeth to avoid service! Standards have evolved. |
| Pan Marek | 17 May 2019 8:35 a.m. PST |
Thresher-
Yep. Its why they invented Basic Training. |
| Garand | 17 May 2019 10:04 a.m. PST |
A lot of soldiers that were rejected by the draft in the US in WWII were later made eligible when the Army needed more warm bodies carrying rifles. 71% of people may be ineligible NOW because its a smaller all-volunteer army. But in the time of a national crisis, I think that number would go wa-ay down… Damon. |
| Andy ONeill | 17 May 2019 11:06 a.m. PST |
They widen the tank hatches as well? |
| ernieR | 17 May 2019 11:11 a.m. PST |
most of them you couldn't get their faces out of their phones long enough to get them to stand at attention . |
| Andrew Walters | 17 May 2019 12:29 p.m. PST |
Unless the military needs more than 29% of the workforce this is not a problem. Only a small percentage have what it takes to be brain surgeons, pro basketball players, or underwater welders, but those fields are still competitive: we have more than enough people to fill the slots. As for jobs, thankfully, our economy no longer requires everyone to contribute. Since forever, people of the age of rear admirals have been deploring the uselessness of the young. I'm sure our rear admiral friend remembers being much more competent when he was their age, but he ended up a rear admiral so he was hardly typical, was he? I'm not saying society isn't going down the drain, I'm only pointing out that it always looks that way. |
| Tango01 | 17 May 2019 12:40 p.m. PST |
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| whitejamest | 17 May 2019 12:41 p.m. PST |
Come war time, watch that number shrink to about 5% ineligible. Those standards become very flexible when they need to, and the army has a talent for getting people into the shape it wants them in. |
| Pvt Snuffy | 24 May 2019 1:59 p.m. PST |
Actually, I heard from a recruiter that's it's 94% ineligible BUT it may have been he was saying out of the entire population, not just "young people". |
| Lion in the Stars | 24 May 2019 7:17 p.m. PST |
Considering that the US military employs 0.45% of the US population, and less than 5% of the 18-40 population, That's not a huge problem. Though there is a big problem with the lack of physical exercise in schools, lots of kids just don't have the joint strength to handle military-level exercise and are getting hurt on Uncle Sam's dime. |
looks at a multi-period building.