While you have been seasonally greeting, I've remained vigilant, preparing you for the day ahead. Today we give thanks to the US Armed Forces, our canary (parrot) in the mineshaft.
Obviously, the military performs tasks that most of us neither want to know about or think about having to do ourselves. Think Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.
Our armed forces do what they are told with the resources given to them, and it's up to them to get the job done. Military commanders are only criticized for being in situations they shouldn't be in, by politicians who didn't protect them in the first place.
Two 2010 Army studies were published which up front, loud, in your face detailed the areas which will cripple it's future.
Draw a mental picture of a 2010 Army recruit. Patriots? Some. Kids looking to beat the sheriff? A few. Young people hoping to better themselves? Most certainly, it surely isn't the free work clothes which draws them in. In reality a pretty wide cross section shows up at a local recruiter.
In June the Army reported that 27% of recruit applicants are too fat to enlist. The spirit is willing, the body isn't able.
Last week, it was reported that 23% of recent high school graduate applicants failed the Armed Services Qualification Test,the entrance exam if you will. My suspicion is that this number is probably a constant, and reported every few years as news, but still it is unnerving.
If your curious, you may take the exam here without fear of a recruiter getting in touch. There are 4 parts. Arithmetic Reasoning, General Science, Math knowledge and Word knowledge.
So is there an answer? Certainly not one the Armed Forces can take on alone. They can't fight obesity, stupid and politicians at the same time. God bless 'em, for we know not what they do.
Toad
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6 comments:
I heard a lot of them do not even know how to skip!
Or read or write cursive
"And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I
wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and
guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill,
KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and
he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down
yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me,
sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy.""
--Alice's Restaurant
By Arlo Guthrie
i enlisted in army reserves at the ripe old age of 41, and shipped off three days before my 42nd birthday. we had 27 out of 60 recruits fail our first PT test (that's almost 50%).
while at basic training (the basic training is the same regardless if you're reserves, national guard, or active duty), i suffered a torn meniscus in my left knee. while at the troop medical center, the physical therapist told me of a large amount of stress fractures occurring in the military because of young recruits who were sitting in front of the x-box during the years their bones were firming (10 to 15 years old) instead of playing outside.
sarah palin can say what she wants about michele obama's fight against obesity, i have seen the results for myself.
(oh, and there are 8 parts to the ASVAB; General Science (GS)
Knowledge of general concepts from life, earth, and physical sciences
Arithmetic Reasoning (AR)
The ability to answer word problems that involve basic arithmetic calculations
Word Knowledge (WK)
The ability to recognize synonyms of words
Paragraph Comprehension (PC)
The ability to answer questions based on short passages (of 30-120 words)
Auto & Shop Information (AS)
Knowledge of automobiles, tools, and shop terminology
Mathematics Knowledge (MK)
Knowledge of math concepts, including applied arithmetic, algebra, and geometry
Mechanical Comprehension (MC)
Knowledge of basic mechanical and physical principles
Electronics Information (EI)
Knowledge of electronic principles and terminology, and basic electronic circuitry.
proud to say i scored a 99%!)
I still use my basic training fitness tests requirements in my daily exercise plan. Working so far.
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