Posted on 08/19/2005 7:07:58 AM PDT by ZGuy
Kudos to you who join up. I hope that your tours were as good as mine all were. Beuno Suerte.
Low-hanging fruit, huh?
No lie there. I often wondered how my Marine Corps would perform with the new generation at the helm. And you know what? They kicked ass and took names, just like they've done since 1775.
The kids of today are awesome and I think that the ONE good thing to come out of the Klintoon debacle was the fact that kids saw the excesses of a slob and his enablers and revolted against it.
Also, I've often wondered if abortion, and the liberals propensity for getting them, has led to a drop in THEIR demographics, while ours climbs.
This has way more to do with it than many are willing to admit.
I work with alot of Veterans, and many of them are BRILLIANT. Sure, there are plenty of average to low average guys, but there are far more smart, bright, and intelligent types in the Military than I ever thought before I met these people. (Figures, back before this, I was a liberal idiot with all those stupid predjudices).
The libs are pushing military service as a way to make the military "more like them". That's sort of like lying down under a steam roller in order to promote socialism....
This sounds like that Goldie Hawn movie where every other word is yuck, or gross or do I have to do it right now????
It shouldn't surprise you. This is the Echo Boom generation, the kids of the self-centered Baby Boomers who want to take their lives in a different and more meaningful direction than simple self-gratification. This is a pro-life generation because they are the ones given life rather than being aborted. It is a pro-marriage generation because so many of their parents needlessly divorced. While their parents' generation fled to Canada and stayed in college for 8 years to avoid service, these kids won't.
What I really meant to say was that if these are not just isolated cases then my faith in the nation is restored.
I have no doubt that the Corp can find people, that really does not surprise me. I am surprised to see Ivy Leaguers of the current day go into to any of the services at all.
That is really not a comment on them - rather it is a comment on the environment which has nurtured.
You can bet that kids like these have had multiple "counselors" and "role models" try very hard to talk them out of this.
BTW, I see where Pataki's kid (his youngest?) took a commission in the Corp this summer. That surprised me. His parents actually look proud about it. Imagine that.
Ever since Americas all-adult, all-volunteer army went into Iraq, the anti-war crowd have made a sustained effort to characterise them as children. If a 13-year-old wants to have an abortion, thats her decision and her parents shouldnt get a look-in. If a 21-year-old wants to drop to the Oval Office shagpile and chow down on Bill Clinton, shes a grown woman and free to do what she wants. But, if a 22- or 25- or 37-year old is serving his country overseas, hes a wee child who isnt really old enough to know what hes doing.
I get many emails from soldiers in Iraq, and they sound a lot more grown-up than most Ivy League professors and certainly than Maureen Dowd, who writes as if shes auditioning for a minor supporting role in Sex and the City. The infantilisation of the military promoted by the Left is deeply insulting to Americas warriors but it suits the anti-war crowds purposes. It enables them to drone ceaselessly that of course they support our troops, because they want to stop these poor confused moppets from being exploited by the Bush war machine.
As a whole, my generation disgusts me (Boomer freepers excepted, natch.)
Well some of them at least. But I hope are right.
Well some of them at least. But I hope are right.
The Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) that everyone must take to get in is normed to the general population, so it provides some indicators of military quality. Scores range from 1-99 and a score of 90 means you have scored better than projected for 90% of the population; a score of 40 better than 40% of the population, etc.
Over the past several years, the Regular Army normally required a score of 31, although it sometimes dipped to 26. In any event, the bottom 25-30% of the population in the US has not been eligible to join. Further, through last year, over half the Army's recruits had scored over 50 on the AFQT very year since the 1980s, so on the average we've been getting people of above average intelligence for quite some time.
That was great. Thanks.
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