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U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

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241–250 of 280 posts

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#241
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The whole war is fighting with drones to detect and kill enemies. This is a very wrong take. A big continental war like this one in Ukraine is fought with artillery and with enough men capable of holding the territory (already under control or conquered), i.e. the story of WW1 and the WW2 (when it came to the Eastern Front). You don't have that, you lose. Trouble for Ukraine (and for the West supporting Ukraine) is…

A “continental” war without air superiority. You think Russia against Greece or Turkey who just got multi dozen gen 5 and 4.5 aircraft (not sure when delivery is) would be the same? No. It’s not even continental. It’s a proxy war.

This is on the same level of hubris as militarly comparing Russia with Italy in February 2022 based on their nominal GDP figures alone, and yet, here we are, two years later and major politicians here in Europe warning us about a future war with the same Russia.

I guess the Germans or the Brits didn’t get the memo that the Greek aviation would be enough of an opposing force.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That standardised test administered by the US military has some history. The idea was that folks who were below an 85IQ would be harder to train. During the Vietnam war they tried abandoning the requirement and the results were sad. It cost the military a lot more in remedial training, but the real tragedy is that these folks died at 3 times the rate of people who would have passed the test. They weren’t cut out to b…

The only thing on the ASVAB the Army cares about is the GT score. When I took the test as a dumb high school kid I was only smarter than 79% of the population and had a GT score of 107, which is too dumb to become an officer. Many years later after almost 7 years programming full time in the corporate world I retook the ASVAB. Then I was smarter than 98% of the population and had a GT score of 129. The max is 130, so…

It's probably more accurate to say that the skills are durable.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#243
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because they've been "taken from China" over a century ago doesn't mean they're not "Russian" today. They surely have Russian documents and were allowed to vote in Russia for their president. They might be ethnic minorities, but this fact comes with the size of this country. And yes, I'm aware of the point you want to make. I do know that there is a huge racist issue at play. They're still Russians, though. Thos…

Thank you. When people say "Russian" they have an expectation. What is the difference between these foreigners and there ethnic groups in your eyes? >They surely have Russian documents and were allowed to vote in Russia for their president. I'm not sure if you were trying to be funny but you are.

> When people say "Russian" they have an expectation. What is the difference between these foreigners and there ethnic groups in your eyes?

Their nationality, obviously.

Additionally, in this conflict, often the fact that the foreigners have a choice to join the war.

> I'm not sure if you were trying to be funny but you are.

I'm aware of the diplomatically said, "flawed democracy" which is the Russian political system, but the fact remains valid.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'Some', 'could', 'mostly', not too strong arguments for the abolishment of generic rules applied on all. 'Some' 'could' see that the ability of jumping the requirements of education is 'mostly' coincides with a certain level of mental abilities. 'Some' smart people do not participate in organized education and 'some' graduates regardless of modest abilities, but those are never arguments for the generic population an…

> Some', 'could', 'mostly', not too strong arguments for the abolishment of generic rules applied on all. "Some", "could", and "mostly" are words that people use when they're concerned with saying what's true, not when they have a weak argument. The facts are rarely absolutes and if you don't use qualifying words like that, what you're saying is rarely strictly true.

Sounds like you confuse the word true with wishful thinking.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#245
post #38

[flagged]

They vaccinate for all sorts of diseases. Covid is no different. It’s a risk and threat to them being functional as an organization.

They dropped the vaccine requirement, so the COVID vaccine was different in their eyes.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#246

[flagged]

You obviously have no idea how many shots are mandatory for recruits deploying It would be a significant strain on their logistics, which the us military is very good at, to let these shots be optional It's mission oriented, not politics.

Except the US military made them no longer mandatory, and even allowed discharged troops to come back.

Sounds like it was a significant strain on their logistics to mandate the COVID shots, not to allow them to be optional.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#247
post #156
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They vaccinate for all sorts of diseases. Covid is no different. It’s a risk and threat to them being functional as an organization.

> They vaccinate for all sorts of diseases. Covid is no different. But the covid vaccines ARE different: Vaccines typically take 10-15 years of research and clinical trials before approval [1]. The covid vaccines OTOH got developed, "tested" and approved within the timespan of less than a year. They literally had to invoke a sci-fi trope ("warp speed") to justify this timetable [2]. > It’s a risk and threat to them b…

Thanks for this great response. At least they stopped mandating it, unfortunately mandating it killed people and used up lots of good will.

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That standardised test administered by the US military has some history. The idea was that folks who were below an 85IQ would be harder to train. During the Vietnam war they tried abandoning the requirement and the results were sad. It cost the military a lot more in remedial training, but the real tragedy is that these folks died at 3 times the rate of people who would have passed the test. They weren’t cut out to b…

The only thing on the ASVAB the Army cares about is the GT score. When I took the test as a dumb high school kid I was only smarter than 79% of the population and had a GT score of 107, which is too dumb to become an officer. Many years later after almost 7 years programming full time in the corporate world I retook the ASVAB. Then I was smarter than 98% of the population and had a GT score of 129. The max is 130, so…

> My ability to read and instantly formulate logic substantially improved as I got older through practice

I’d argue that is more intelligent. People generally get smarter as they age (up to a point)

That’s why IQ is relative to your peers. A child with a high IQ may still not be as intelligent as an adult with an average IQ

Re: U.S. army drops requirement for high school diploma (2022)

#249
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the vast majority don't get their 20. It's like >80% leaving before 20 yrs. The bigger contributing factors to declining enlistment are: general lack of support for the military among younger people (the latest round of forever wars didn't exactly help), better options in the civilian world (especially increasing benefits on student loan suppprt), and decreasing physical fitness (the increase in obesity rates di…

People have different ideas about life. If you can get a 9-5 job that pays the bills why join the military and be deployed overseas for months on end not being a part of your family? The civilian sector has the same problem with truck drivers and maritime shipping.

Yup exactly

> The civilian sector has the same problem with truck drivers and maritime shipping.

Hell, maritime anything. Even super local ferry work has a hard time recruiting.

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