Quote:
Originally Posted by gus2
Where did he get that statistic? I'm just curious as to if we could drill down a bit in the data to see what the main causes are.
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It's a long-established statistic.
First, we have to make sure we understand the statistic: It's 70% of young people
attempting to enlist who are proven ineligible. We have no real statistics for the vast majority of young people who are not interested in enlisting...presumably those people have what they consider better opportunities.
The reasons people who attempt to enlist fail: Criminal histories, poor education, and poor health (primarily obesity).
It should still be alarming that there is a significant proportion of American high school graduates with educations so poor that there is
no military occupation for which they can even be trained. Military occupations run the gamut of civilian occupations, including basic trades. Those are people who can't be trained for any military occupation have little or no chance for success in civilian life, either, because few civilian jobs of substance are willing to give free training.
Criminal history is also an issue. It's probably the strictest matter for the military, while at the same time the civilian world is more willing than ever to smack young people with criminal records (which is an American tendency worthy of another thread).
I've seen a statistic that
25% of even
white males under 30 have criminal arrest records these days, with the percentage doubling for African-American and Latino males. Something is wrong there.
The obesity issue should also be alarming because that's only become a problem in military enlistments in the last couple of decades. Up through the 20th century, the military never worried about "fluffy" recruits because a few weeks of controlled diet and hardy physical activity always sufficed to whittle the fat off any otherwise healthy 18-year-old.
But today's obesity is a different kind of obesity...it's resistant to exercise and diet control. There aren't any studies on exactly why. The "why" isn't a military problem to solve...they just turn overweight applicants away at the door. I suspect it's because kids are becoming obese much earlier in life, so that it's become a chronic issue in a number of internal ways that can't be turned around in 6 to 8 weeks.
These are all endemic social problems that should be worrisome whether or not these young people are applying for the military. These are the 65% of kids who will never get college degrees.
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