Soldiers are generally quite busy with their military work to go through even a GED process.
Presumably the idea would be to test them on intake, assign them to GED prep classes accordingly, and begin basic once they've finished their education?
Quick google has claims most people prep and pass their GED in 3 months which is already longer than the basic training recruits go through. Depending on their MOS school they go to after that you're maybe adding 30-50% training time and that's assuming they can hit the average GED time.
It’s somewhat more likely that you don’t statistically, yes. Admittedly I don’t really get the point when they already aptitude test, but I also like to hate the military so whatever.
If you suck at statistics sure, I didn't fail high school. I left voluntarily for a better opportunity. If someone interprets that as the same as someone who tries to complete high school and fails they are the ones we should worry about. If you use something that people didn't do as a signal you run into all sorts of problems.
True, I’d agree it’s a terrible proxy for aptitude.
A 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…
The problem is that a high school education represents literally years of knowledge a person has accumulated. People not having that knowledge means they will not be able to participate. It's not about whether they will be smart enough to learn; it's about the fact that they will have to be taught. There's no foundation to build on, there's no axiomatic knowledge we can rely on. People who haven't graduated high scho…
When I dropped out all of my teachers said "you know, some of the smartest and successful people dropped out" etc. The fact that "education" is compulsory isn't really a good indicator, depending on what kind of abilities we're talking about. Years of "knowledge" "accumulated" sounds a little unmalleable. A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are for. On the other hand, standardization, setting a low enough or average enough common denominator, socialization, behavior modification, etc are all features of the education system which do provide some utility. I'll be the first to say an org or team of outliers isn't generally going to be effective.
On June 1, 2022, the Marines tweeted out a helmet with rainbow bullet tips for Pride Month: https://globalnews.ca/news/8888090/marines-rainbow-bullets-p... is one such link, you can find others. The US Army 2021 video, "Emma, The Calling," is exactly what I described: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-Yslv4PME And the "Army sees sharp decline in white recruits." https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/01/10/army-se…
>There are families in which four generations have served, with the current generation of fathers telling their kids, "You shouldn't go serve there, because of your skin color. Because my friends still in there are seeing people promoted or not based not on their skills and proven character, but on their skin color." what about this?
On June 1, 2022, the Marines tweeted out a helmet with rainbow bullet tips for Pride Month: https://globalnews.ca/news/8888090/marines-rainbow-bullets-p... is one such link, you can find others. The US Army 2021 video, "Emma, The Calling," is exactly what I described: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8-Yslv4PME And the "Army sees sharp decline in white recruits." https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/01/10/army-se…
I guess you're conceding and admit that yes, indeed, what I quoted has not happened.
> I could continue if I wanted, but I'll stop there
Conveniently stopping before most of your claims were addressed of course
A 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…
Even with a decent IQ, failure to finish high school usually indicates very low commitment / time preference / overall “with it” ness. It’s not a good thing that this is the future of our military but not at all surprised that the military is having recruiting problems.
As I mentioned above, most of my teachers supported me dropping out and told me of the successful types they knew like me. However I would like to stress that this kind of path isn't for everyone and having a low-enough common denominator and standardization does have utility. For most people, not finishing high school could very well mean a lack of commitment. Especially if they need external motivators as most do. However in my adult life as an autodidact and "life long learner" I don't see a lot of self-direction or commitment coming from the general population of graduates.
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.
The difference is people don't die off or develop life crippling ailments (physical or mental) on the same numbers.
US military are notoriously underpaid. Increase the base pay, increase the long-term incentives. They're not working for tips.
They aren’t underpaid, at least not on the low end. A raw recruit (E1) gets $23,000 per year. Housing, food, work clothing and healthcare is paid for. After tax, it’s like ~$1,500 in completely discretionary income. This is why you get 19 year old new recruits buying new sports cars. They can afford it. The smart ones start socking away money while they are young. A new officer (O1) gets $43,000 per year. If they are…
It's very difficult comparing salaries in different nations, because expenses vary so much. However, your comment confirms my opinion. I would like to see a 50% increase in that E1/E2/E3 base pay. I've worked with them - they earn it.
>That starts with the fact that the US doesn't do compulsory military service, because soldiers who don't want to be there aren't effective soldiers (note that Israel does do compulsory military service, which is because they have different problems than we do). While the security concerns of certain countries have motivated compelled military service, I wonder if a side-effect is less division/greater intra-country…
It doesn't really matter if the US would benefit from forced military service because that's not the kind of values the country was founded on. Drafts may sometimes be necessary in wartime, but during peace it's an awful idea to force military training on everyone.
On the one hand, one of the values our country was founded on was maintaining the right to own slaves. On the other hand, the values that our country was founded on that I still care about, like free speech and privacy, have been eroded far more severely than a draft would erode them.
I'm definitely ethically opposed to a draft, but it's a bit naive to think that the US has ethical values or even ever has.