
71% of Americans between 17 and 24 can’t meet the minimum criteria for service - Animats
http://taskandpurpose.com/vast-majority-americans-20s-unfit-military-service/
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pentae
I was hoping that the article would touch on what the physical requirements
are, and was disappointed. Here's some interesting resources

[http://work.chron.com/armys-minimum-physical-requirements-
jo...](http://work.chron.com/armys-minimum-physical-requirements-
join-13518.html)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Physical_Fi...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Physical_Fitness_Test)

The criteria are:

\- BMI

\- Eyesight

\- Physical fitness on push ups, sit ups and length of time to run 2 miles.

Notably, the differing physical requirement minimums for men vs women are
quite significant.

~~~
moomin
Ironically, the _maximums_ for women pose a serious problem for women who want
to go for the toughest roles. You need to seriously bulk up to get in.

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moomin
If you take a look, the problems they’re describing are direct counterparts of
problems society has: The prison/industrial complex and the war on drugs is
disqualifying people on the character test, the basic fitness requirement is
undoubtedly affected by the food deserts in major cities and so on.

This is pretty serious: an armed force that doesn’t resemble the general
population is a recipe for conflict and tyrrany.

~~~
cm2187
The fairness of prison sentences for drug abuse or dealing is a different
debate, but I am not convinced drug users and drug dealers should make it to
the army. It's not the war on drugs that creates drug users.

~~~
bambax
> _I am not convinced drug users and drug dealers should make it to the army_

Throughout history, the strongest soldiers of the strongest armies have always
been on a kind of permanent high. It's uncertain anyone can withstand the
hardships of military life, and of wartime, for any serious length of time,
without drugs.

~~~
cm2187
That was at a time when the army was expected to walk up to the enemy and
shoot them at short distance. The approach demonstrated its limits at WW1. I
am no military expert but I do not believe this is compatible with modern
warfare. Not to say that there wasn't drug abuse in later conflicts, but that
these were probably not helping.

~~~
detaro
Methamphetamine was used for pilots on long missions at least from WW2 to
Desert Storm.

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jedberg
Someone on reddit pointed out something the other day that made a lot of
sense.

The GOP is afraid of subsidized health care and subsidized/free college,
because it would remove the two biggest recruiting tools the army has -- free
lifetime healthcare and money for college.

Without those carrots, few would sign up for the military.

~~~
dvfjsdhgfv
While this makes a lot of sense, I really hope it's not true.

~~~
WalterBright
I don't know any Republicans who felt this way or even brought up the topic.

~~~
jedberg
Congressional Republicans. Particularly the ones on the Armed Forces
committee, who are acutely aware of the recruiting problem.

~~~
WalterBright
> Someone on reddit pointed out something the other day that made a lot of
> sense.

I'm afraid I'll need a better citation than that.

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0xbear
Stop fighting bullshit wars halfway around the world and you’ll have plenty of
capable volunteers. No one wants to get their extremities blown off just
because some military industrial complex CEO needs another beach house.

~~~
sk0g
Are you implying little Johnny isn't a real hero? He lived in a military camp
in Baghdad for 4 months! He even had a gun pointed at him at one stage!

I really don't get America's glorification of combat "veterans." In the old
times, sure, but these are just people doing their jobs at the end of the day,
and jobs that frequently involve killing people. I'm sure most people who sign
up don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, or for the sake of
"peacekeeping."

~~~
0xbear
To get the glorification you need to consider that those men and women are
willingly exposing themselves to mortal danger. This kind of thing is hard to
understand for someone who has spent all their life in an all white upper
middle class neighborhood with not a worry in the world.

The US foreign policy might be haphazard and misguided, but don’t you dare
shit on the very real sacrifice these kids are making.

~~~
yownie
and yet if the policy is so haphazard and misguided wouldn't it be better to
steer them away from a completely a wasted sacrifice?

Doubly so because their cost is measured in lives.

~~~
praneshp
> wouldn't it be better to steer them away from a completely a wasted
> sacrifice

Pretty sure your OP is not opposed to that, but the "Little Johnny" language
bullshit that his parent wrote.

~~~
libertyEQ
I took it as a reference to this:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Got_His_Gun)

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cm2187
Perhaps the US should explore the concept of a foreign legion. A 5 years
service would become a fast path for foreigners to gain US citizenship.

~~~
dagw
The US had program a bit like that for while (MAVNI), but it was very limited
in who it would accept and was recently shut down.

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thebooktocome
Luckily, the services only enlist less than 2%.

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TheCoelacanth
Isn't this largely because standards are relatively high right now because the
military has more people enlisting than it needs? If they needed more people
they would just lower the standards a bit like they were a few years ago and
they would have plenty of people. They would have to do a bit more work during
training to get them in shape and they would have to overlook some minor
issues that they aren't willing to now, but they wouldn't actually have
trouble getting enough people.

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Yizahi
Oh don't worry, if army ever gets a shortage of people they will just lower
standards. They can do it pretty much indefinitely.

~~~
cm2187
You can read the article as “it is a problem for the army to recruit”, but
also as “we in the US have a health & crime problem”.

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petre
Just send more robots into warfare. I keep reading about robots displacing
civillian workers, but why not anything like this about the military? Why so
little concern for these kids getting blown up by IEDs or otherwise killed
while fighting for peace in some remote country who's culture they don't
understand?

~~~
bambax
If you're fighting against robots the only answer you have left is terrorism,
as a way to make people who drive the robots, care about the fight.

More drones, more robots, more terrorism.

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mnm1
This seems like the only upside to obesity, the drug war, and lack of
education that plague our country.

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mankash666
With a lop sided supply-demand situation, Trump ended a program (MAVNI) that
allowed immigrants to obtain citizenship if they served the armed forces for
six years. Many previous such enlistees have given their lives (for the US) in
war. Ironic

~~~
avar
That program was ended in December 2016 while Obama was president:
[https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm-1612-02.pdf](https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/bcm-1612-02.pdf)

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RickJWagner
Maybe better publicity for the college assistance available to veterans.

Some of those-- drug use and fitness problems-- seem like they can be fixed if
people understand the incentives.

