It bothers me that the army is being criticized for “lowering its standards” to meet recruitment goals. I know many fine people who joined the military because they had no other option’s open to them; people with a minimal education or who had made mistakes in the past or who could not afford to go to college; people who looked to the military as away to better themselves. I fit in all of those categories.
In 1976 after attending at least 28 different school’s 4 of those school’s high schools and being told that we were going move again (high school # 5) I marched over to the Junior College that was across the street from the high school I was attending told the continuing ED teacher that I had quit school 6 months earlier and wanted to take my GED. I took all 4 tests in 2 days and passed. Wallah my high school career was over.
In 1977 seeing that staying at home would serve me no real purpose I joined the ARMY. The army would not take me as regular enlisted because of my GED. A man could get in with a GED but not a woman, so I joined the Reserves.
When I took the army entrance test my scores were so high that the Army wanted to send me to nursing school but no I wanted to be a civilian cop so I wanted to be an MP (18 years old; watched too much Beretta and Starsky and Hutch; did not know what I was getting into; did not become a civilian cop)
I did the army reserve weekend warrior thing and while doing that I managed restaurants and retail stores, got a degree in computer programming and then a degree in Nursing (isn’t it ironic don’t ya think) and today while by no means is my life perfect its not bad, and the plane fact of the matter is that if it were not for my decision to join the army and the army’s lower standards of the time my life may have been much different.
While I would not join the Military right now nor do I encourage anyone to, the army “lowering” its standards is in my opinion not necessarily a bad thing. There are a lot of very intelligent folks out there who could use a break. I know of no other service that offer’s the variety of jobs the army does. From, dishwasher to helicopter pilot Jobs you can take home with you.
Some will take the unfair to the poor man attitude; lower the standards and all you have are poor black and white people who have no other options; D’oh! Go from no choice to one choice at least there is a choice!
Any ways don’t cut my Army down. It was good for me when I needed it. I wish Bush wasn’t the dick head he is because I would have been proud for my sons to have served.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_recruiting_7
1 comment:
I recall that back in the 80's there was much made of the new computerized Army, when we were going to need fewer soldiers but they were going to have to be smarter to make more decisions at lower levels in the field and be better equipped to handle the new technology. My suspicion is that a) the tech has gotten some much easier to use that you don't need the "smarter" guys and b) that they've found that there's still no substitute (especially in urban situations/occupation) for boots on the ground.
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