The title should be edited to include a year.
U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
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Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#72If you want more recruits, you simply need to pay more.
Not really that simple for something as complex as the military. Look at mercenaries, get paid shit tons, still always need more.
Could they learn from the mining industry? Terrible job, long hours in the middle of no-where (in Australia) and poor family life, but the salaries and benefits are huge. There is no shortage of people wanting to work in the mining industry.
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#73Less people being willing to go fight and die in pointless wars is at least a small positive sign for society.
Neutrality is support for might makes right. Choosing to be neutral is to say that the strongest party should win. Not being prepared to be violent makes you harmless. Having the capacity for violence and choosing not to use it makes you peaceful. If you speak softly, but don't carry a big stick, then you are just speaking softly. Might might not make right, but it determines who gets to make the rules.
Then you get something like the KPA (North Korean army): not very good at fighting wars but quite good at construction work.
In order to have a capable military, it needs to fight wars. Hence all the countries joining the US in Afghanistan to achieve valuable on the field training.
What use is a big stick, other than intimidation, when you just carry it around, not knowing how to actually use it?
Future recruits will also need to be good at E-sports, as they'll increasingly be in charge of drone operations.
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#74This article needs a 2022 tag
Oops, posted the wrong link, Army (2022) vs Navy (2024), https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/01/27/no-diploma-no...
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#75I am a well educated individual. I did not have to work very hard at all for a well paying job after college from a respected company. I have skill sets that are absolutely in demand, particularly in areas the military would like. When China re-colonized Hong Kong I gave strong thought to joining the military. When Russia invaded Ukraine, I similarly felt called to join the military, if not to fight for Ukraine, to p…
Beautifully well-put.
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#76Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#77A bit of sensationalism going on. They still have to pass a standardize test that mostly proves they have an IQ suitable for military service. There are people that could be a great soldier/servicemember that didn’t make it through high school. Some will flourish under a military environment that failed out of high school. I don’t really like people assuming somebody that didn’t graduate high school are somehow infer…
I suspect the real issue is that a high school diploma doesn't represent a signal anymore at the low end.
Many failing students simply got passed through grade to grade.
If a high school diploma has no value as a signal, requiring it throws out eligible people for no reason whatsoever.
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#78They should institute a voluntary conscripted amnesty/asylum for those who entered into the country and are on immigration parole. This program could allow for retroactive application to spouses/children (no extended family transferability until completion of service contract). There would be no need for sign-on bonus, you could add additional qualifications for g.i. benefits in the form of naturalization. It would r…
I'm a little worried that if we implement the "service guarantees citizenship" scheme you allude to, we'll be forced to fight a war against an interstellar insect race soon after.
I giggled at this, but in starship troopers you'd not inherit citizenship.
OP's proposal seem more like what the Roman empire did granting citizenship to conscripted barbarians, which worked or not depending on your perspective.
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s not a numbers game anymore, it hasn’t been for decades.
in an all out war, it certainly is a numbers game. There just hasn't been all out war in decades, but that doesn't mean one isn't around the corner. Being prepared is better than not.
Except those numbers now translate into money and resources needed to build units. In the past the units were human.
Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a good sign for a country that depends on its military to maintain a hegemony. It’s also not like our “enemies” are reducing their armies or anything.
human wave is not the game. The Ukraine-Russia war has shown us how important the technology is. The whole war is fighting with drones to detect and kill enemies.
At least in the current Ukraine context: tech + a lot of dumb 155 mm shells, highly mobile artillery. Although guided shells would be even more useful if they were cheaper to build.
Russia's human waves were just means to reduce the prison population: practical stalinism 101. They are phasing out prisoner benefits as the recruiting pool is getting smaller. Also there is an increased chance Putin might order be mass mobilization after he wins the elections in May.