"""
"""
US ARMY [...] one in three potential recruits are disqualified from service because they’re overweight, one in four cannot meet minimal educational standards (a high school diploma or GED equivalent), and one in 10 have a criminal history. In plain terms, about 71 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds (the military’s target pool of potential recruits) are disqualified [...] of the pool of remaining potential recruits, only one in eight actually want to join the military, and of that number, fully 30 percent of those who have the requisite high school diploma or GED equivalent fail to pass the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT), which is used to determine math and reading skills. Tutoring companies produce sample tests and there’s an “AFQT for Dummies” [...] the purpose of the AFQT isn’t to identify the most qualified, but to winnow out the illiterate, the 30 percent who can’t read, write, or count, despite their high school diplomas.
[...]
There are 30 some million 17 to 24 year-olds out there, but by the time you get all the way down to those that are qualified, [...] if only one in eight of 10 million in this age group actually want to join the military, that leaves a pool of 1,250,000 potential recruits. If 30 percent of those can’t pass the AFQT, that number becomes 750,000.
"""
These are not mutually exclusive categories. For example, I would postulate that over 70% of those 10% with a criminal history would be part of the one in four that cannot meet minimal educational standards.

That 34M 18-24 year-olds is both males and females. I would definitely think you would need to split this and adjust your recruiting goals accordingly as females are not going to have the same interest (ON AVERAGE) in the armed forces as males.

What level of being “overweight” officially disqualifies a person from joining? Isn’t one of the main points of Basic to get the recruit in shape?
What level of “criminal history” officially disqualifies a person from joining? Cause if tagging a building as a 14 year-old would block you from joining as a 20 year-old, that is a stupid policy.
I thought US high school graduation rates were closer to 85%, not the 75% mentioned in this article?

Why not recruit those between 25 and 35?
"""
the military could try to recruit more 25-35 year olds, but by the time those who would be desirable recruits hit their mid-20s their life is pretty much on a track that won’t include the military.
"""
Seems obvious to me that the author simply added up those figures in the service of making a political point in the most alarmist way possible. Thus, 71% instead of something like 55% (66.7% within weight * 75% GED/HS grad * 90% not criminals – 45% eligible).
"""
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-recruitment-problem-the-military-doesnt-want-to-talk-about/

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-recruitment-problem-the-military-doesnt-want-to-talk-about/

Labels: Oleg Zabluda

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