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Heritage Foundation study of military recruits

Who would have guessed that couch potatoes playing with video devices and eating fast food would be in poor physical shape, or that lower academic standards for HS graduation would render fewer able to comprehend what they read, making the military readiness and training process much more difficult?
 
I wonder about the role of the drugs long administered to the younger generations, especially Risperdal. That is the drug that often causes gynecomastia on young males.

The chickens are coming home to roost...
 
Barnacle said:
I didn't read the study, but I'll take a wild guess for the reasons: excessive food intake?!?
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Excessive food intake combined with complete lack of physical exercise. Several generations of over protected kids who never had the chance to play outside in nature? And the use of psychoactive drugs prescribed off label. IMO

Read the study, it's fascinating though sad.
 
Thoreau72 said:
For whatever reasons, today's military recruits are too often not physically qualified to enter service.

https://www.heritage.org/defense/re...sis-young-americans-unable-serve-the-military

It would be interesting to hear any thoughts on this phenomenon as described in the study.
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Been trending this way for several decades. When you live in a world where kids have to be told to go outside and play instead of sitting in front of a television or phone playing games you are going to end up with weaker and weaker generations. Unfortunately I do not see this trend slowing or stopping, in fact it seems that it may be getting even worse, technology when not applied properly can do harm. This will cost us as Nation when it comes to the quality of our fighting men and women, thankfully only 10% of the Army are actually in Combat Arms, and the number is even less in most other services except for of-course the Marines.
 
Thoreau72 said:
For whatever reasons, today's military recruits are too often not physically qualified to enter service.

https://www.heritage.org/defense/re...sis-young-americans-unable-serve-the-military

It would be interesting to hear any thoughts on this phenomenon as described in the study.
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No surprise here. When I was growing up we walked to school. Spent after school and weekends on bikes or playing sports. Came inside when the street lights came on or dinner time depending on season. School was about reading, writing, and arithmetic. Books instead of video games, smart phones, and TV.

Most of us could pass basic physical and educational tests.
 
Barnacle said:
I didn't read the study, but I'll take a wild guess for the reasons: excessive food intake?!?
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ttwtt78640 said:
Who would have guessed that couch potatoes playing with video devices and eating fast food would be in poor physical shape, or that lower academic standards for HS graduation would render fewer able to comprehend what they read, making the military readiness and training process much more difficult?
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Thoreau72 said:
It would be interesting to hear any thoughts on this phenomenon as described in the study.
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It's health and physical fitness that's driving this.

ttwtt - On your mention of education, our educational attainment rates have sharply increased over past generations. Additionally on on of the other criteria factors, juvenile arrest rates have also been declining for twenty years. (And as an aside, looking at the broader picture beyond just juvenile rates, the USA is seeing record lows of crime across the board with some few minor exceptions.) So both of those would've improved eligibility.

However on the health front, obesity rates continue to climb. Obviously you can be physically unfit and also a healthy weight, but I think it's hard to say the reverse. So for young people the obesity rates is between 1 in 5 and 1 in 4. And as people age it gets even worse. For adults it's 1 in 3. The Baby Boomer generation has the highest rate of obesity of anyone.
 
Thoreau72 said:
For whatever reasons, today's military recruits are too often not physically qualified to enter service.

https://www.heritage.org/defense/re...sis-young-americans-unable-serve-the-military

It would be interesting to hear any thoughts on this phenomenon as described in the study.
Click to expand...

Drive down any middle class street and what do you see? Nothing. It looks like a neutron bomb went off. No one is outside. From space, we look like fireflies that comes out at dark (cars) , and go into a structure with a door that opens up and we hide in there (attached garage).

I see a few "skaters" here and there. One or two twenty something joggers. One opioid O.D. (just kidding).

I suggest we increase boot camp six months since we have to teach most of them how to read and speak understandable English.
 
brothern said:
It's health and physical fitness that's driving this.

ttwtt - On your mention of education, our educational attainment rates have sharply increased over past generations. Additionally on on of the other criteria factors, juvenile arrest rates have also been declining for twenty years. (And as an aside, looking at the broader picture beyond just juvenile rates, the USA is seeing record lows of crime across the board with some few minor exceptions.) So both of those would've improved eligibility.

However on the health front, obesity rates continue to climb. Obviously you can be physically unfit and also a healthy weight, but I think it's hard to say the reverse. So for young people the obesity rates is between 1 in 5 and 1 in 4. And as people age it gets even worse. For adults it's 1 in 3. The Baby Boomer generation has the highest rate of obesity of anyone.
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The lack of being in decent physical shape is the first cut which does not mean that these folks would then make the second educational level cut. The fact that ever more now have HS diplomas does not mean that the educational level (language and math skills?) required to get that HS diploma have not been lowered. Educational levels required for the operation and maintenance of today's high tech weapon and support (transportation and communication) systems have risen while the educational levels (language and math skills?) required to get a HS diploma have fallen.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
The lack of being in decent physical shape is the first cut which does not mean that these folks would then make the second educational level cut. The fact that ever more now have HS diplomas does not mean that the educational level (language and math skills?) required to get that HS diploma have not been lowered. Educational levels required for the operation and maintenance of today's high tech weapon and support (transportation and communication) systems have risen while the educational levels (language and math skills?) required to get a HS diploma have fallen.
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That's why the military has AFQT/ASVAB. Can you show any evidence that scores on those are going down? Congress has had a law in place only since the 90s that says that a recruit's AFQT score can not be in Category 5 (0-9) to join. Most branches don't allow Category 4s to join. These have been shown to correlate very well with reading levels. So is there evidence that more are joining with lower (below 50) AFQT score than over?
 
roguenuke said:
That's why the military has AFQT/ASVAB. Can you show any evidence that scores on those are going down? Congress has had a law in place only since the 90s that says that a recruit's AFQT score can not be in Category 5 (0-9) to join. Most branches don't allow Category 4s to join. These have been shown to correlate very well with reading levels. So is there evidence that more are joining with lower (below 50) AFQT score than over?
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I'm not sure what you are asking here. I'm not saying that more are joining (being accepted by the military) I, and the OP link, are saying that more of those wanting to join are being rejected.

Study: Nearly 1 in 4 Students Fails Military Entrance Exam | Fox News
 
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ttwtt78640 said:
I'm not sure what you are asking here. I'm not saying that more are joining (being accepted by the military) I, and the OP link, are saying that more of those wanting to join are being rejected.

Study: Nearly 1 in 4 Students Fails Military Entrance Exam | Fox News
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That would put them at or below 25. That is pretty much where most branches put their limit. So of course that would make sense. The AFQT is based on a percentile and if you place the qualifying percentile at around 25, then 1/4 of the people who apply should "fail". In fact, the branches all have their AFQT minimums at 30 or higher. So it actually speaks well for our education that less than 25% don't qualify based on scores, because it means more than 75% of applicants are better than 30% or higher of the population as judged by these tests.
 
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ttwtt78640 said:
Who would have guessed that couch potatoes playing with video devices and eating fast food would be in poor physical shape, or that lower academic standards for HS graduation would render fewer able to comprehend what they read, making the military readiness and training process much more difficult?
Click to expand...

It's too hard for teenagers to get a part-time job nowadays. Sitting on their asses is all they have to do.
 
roguenuke said:
That would put them at or below 25. That is pretty much where most branches put their limit. So of course that would make sense. The AFQT is based on a percentile and if you place the qualifying percentile at around 25, then 1/4 of the people who apply should "fail". In fact, the branches all have their AFQT minimums at 30 or higher. So it actually speaks well for our education that less than 25% don't qualify based on scores, because it means more than 75% of applicants are better than 30% or higher of the population as judged by these tests.
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Except since 99% of those taking the test have at least a HS diploma or GED that is not very good news.

Mauricio Lonza maintained a B average in high school and through a couple of years at Kansas State University. But three times he failed the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery before he got a passing score.

"Math was never my category," said Lonza, 21.
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https://www.military1.com/army/article/461797-military-turns-down-80-of-applicants/
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Except since 99% of those taking the test have a HS diploma or GED that is not very good news.

https://www.military1.com/army/article/461797-military-turns-down-80-of-applicants/
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It is still the same. Not having a high school diploma doesn't change what your reading level would be when it comes to the ASVAB. A variety of people drop out of school without getting their diploma for a variety of reasons, not just because they are "stupid". And some people are just bad at certain types of tests.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Perhaps being physically out of shape limits which jobs that they will seek.

https://www.google.com/search?q=con...=1&fpstate=tlexp&htiq=construction labor jobs
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Minors can't get those kinds of jobs anymore. Times have changed since you and I were teenagers.

I worked those kinds of jobs starting at about 15, during the summer break, and when I sent to basic training I was like, "eh...it's kinda tough". The guys that had never done any real physical labor were sucking wind, even a few of the high school sports heros.
 
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