Army Lowers Standards to Ease Recruitment Crisis
When faced with defeat, move the goalposts:
UPDATE: See also this story about military recruiters helping teens fake high school diplomas.
Facing recruiting shortages brought on by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has decided to accept a greater number of recruits who score near the bottom of military aptitude tests, the secretary of the Army said Monday.Maybe this desperation is why they're harassing and jailing veterans who peacefully protest campus recruitment drives.
Coming off a recruiting year in which the Army fell short of its goal of 80,000 active-duty soldiers, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey announced that the Army would allow up to 4% of its recruiting class to be Category IV recruits — those who scored between the 16th and 30th percentile in the battery of aptitude tests that the Defense Department gives to all potential military personnel.
UPDATE: See also this story about military recruiters helping teens fake high school diplomas.
3 Comments:
I believe (OK, actually know) that diploma forging was going on even before the services were having trouble making quotas.
In the case that I'm aware of, it was more for the poor soul's good than trying to meet a quota. It was pretty much the only way for him to get out of an abusive relationship. Talk about being led around by the gonads.
On the other hand, this person is thriving now and doing incredibly well for himself and the service now.
Used to be the Army was an option for young people facing a jail term. Used to be the Army taught remedial reading at basic training. High School drop outs could always join the Army... then.
Not now. Standards went up because recruiting goals could be met taking the higher scoring applicants, the ones with diplomas and without even misdemeanor and juvenile convictions. It's even harder to get into the Air Force or Navy, not that the AF or Navy is *harder* but because there are more applicants and the ASVAB score limit can be set higher.
In some cases the disqualifications for military service have nothing to do with the ability of the people to do the job. Air Force pilots have more applicants than slots so some issues, such as eyesight, are used to reduce applicant numbers.
If the Army is taking people with lower scores it is because they believe enough of those people have the ability to do the job that it's worth the hassle of the ones who will wash-out of training. If they start to take people with non-violent juvenile records or other issues it will be for the same reasons. These people used to be directed to the Army as a good way to straighten out their lives and for a great many of them it worked.
Will they put a gun in the hand of an unqualified dullard? People *in* the military have a better sense of self-preservation than that.
This crowing about desperation is unseemly, and I'm tempted to say typical.
http://madeucegunners.blogspot.com/2005/10/record.html
http://www.madison.com/post/blogs/militarymatters/index.php?ntid=56658&ntpid=2
Just in case anyone actually cares.
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