[Lokibob]

No, the troop has to wear 40 lbs of body armor and hump 60 lbs of equipment for 8 hours in the Iraq desert.

For years the Soviet Army had fat officers and lean troops, while the U.S. Army had lean officers and fat troops. Something had to be done, and in the 80's it started for real.

A high school diploma is required because the military saw that if a kid is a quitter in school, he will be a quitter in Basic.

My son couldn't get into the military for 6 weeks, because he was under treatment to have some warts removed from his hands. I don't believe for a second that the military took a bipolar individual.

[GovernmentShrinker]

A high school diploma is required because the military saw that if a kid is a quitter in school, he will be a quitter in Basic.

Given that a lot of kids who try to enlist are coming out of inner city school systems, I don't think that's a safe assumption. Going to school in many inner city high schools is physically dangerous, and means spending the day surrounding by chaos, while having little opportunity to actually learn anything. Given that these schools routinely graduate kids who are completely illiterate, I wouldn't hold it against any kid who decides that graduation isn't a goal worth pursuing.

[Jim Pelosi]

You're preaching to the choir. I'm in a recon platoon so I know full well the hardships of being a soldier. I also know that health care costs are a big issue in the military. People are chaptered out all the time for fixable injuries that happen in the line of duty for the simple fact that the DOD does not want to pay to rehab the soldier. They pass it off to the VA and state disability agencies.