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Heritage Report Refutes Kerry's Claim
Newsmax ^ | 11-1-06 | Newsmax Staff

Posted on 11/01/2006 9:45:26 AM PST by truthandlife

John Kerry’s suggestion that U.S. troops in Iraq are uneducated and not "smart” is directly refuted by a new study from the respected Heritage Foundation.

The report "Who Are the Recruits?” by Tim Kane, Ph.D., issued on October 26, states: "A pillar of conventional wisdom about the U.S. military is that the quality of volunteers has been degraded after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq . . .

"Some insist that minorities and the underprivileged are overrepresented in the military. Others accuse the U.S. Army of accepting unqualified enlistees in a futile attempt to meet its recruiting goals in the midst of an unpopular war.”

The conclusion of the in-depth study by Dr. Kane, Director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation: "The current findings show that the demographic characteristics of volunteers have continued to show signs of higher, not lower, quality.”

# The findings include: The high school graduation rate of 2005 military recruits, 96.72, is higher than the rate for the general population, 79.8 percent.

# The mean reading level of 2004 recruits is a full grade level higher than that of the comparable youth population.

# The percent of recruits who scored in the top percentile of the Armed Forces Qualifying Test, the standardized test administered to determine eligibility for service, rose from 5.63 percent in 2003 to 6.43 percent in 2005.

# In 2004, 92.1 percent of those who became active-duty officers held a baccalaureate degree or higher.

# From 2000 to 2005, between 35 percent and 45 percent of active-duty officers held advanced degrees.

# As for income levels of recruits, the percentage from the poorest U.S. neighborhoods, with one-fifth of the population, declined from 18 percent in 1999 to 13.7 in 2005.

# The median household income of recruits in 2005 was higher than in 1999 and higher than the national median, indicating that more recent recruits "come from even wealthier areas than their peers” who enlisted in 1999, according to the study.

# The percentage of 2005 recruits with household incomes between $52,071 and $200,000, 22.85 percent, is higher than for the U.S. population ages 18 to 24, 20.02 percent.

# African-Americans comprised a smaller percentage of Army recruits in 2005 than their percentage of the overall U.S. population. The same was true for Hispanics.

Dr. Kane concludes: "With regard to income, education, race, and regional background, the all-volunteer force is representative of our nation and meets standards set by Congress and the Department of Defense.

"In contrast to the patronizing slanders of antiwar critics, recruit quality is increasing as the war in Iraq continues.”


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: hanoikerry; kerry; military
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1 posted on 11/01/2006 9:45:27 AM PST by truthandlife
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Comment #2 Removed by Moderator

To: truthandlife
There was a scumbag troll on these threads a month or so back who was claiming to be an Iraq veteran and who was also claiming taht most of his "fellow" soldiers were uneducated, backwards people who were ill-informed and had few other opportunities in life.
3 posted on 11/01/2006 9:47:58 AM PST by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: truthandlife

Kerry will be eating his words everytime he hits the stage again.


4 posted on 11/01/2006 9:48:28 AM PST by bmwcyle (Only stupid people would vote for McCain, Warner, Hagle, Snowe, Graham, or any RINO)
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To: Grampa Dave; bitt; freema

Heritage Report Refutes Kerry's Claim

bttt


5 posted on 11/01/2006 9:50:06 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Baynative

Great pic!


6 posted on 11/01/2006 9:50:48 AM PST by Thombo2
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To: truthandlife

He'll never be able to live that comment down, no matter how much he tries to backpeddle, clarify or apologize. It's out there, and you can't unring a bell.


7 posted on 11/01/2006 9:51:22 AM PST by TX Bluebonnet
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To: Baynative
Bookmarking!
8 posted on 11/01/2006 9:51:26 AM PST by roses of sharon
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To: truthandlife

Democrats never allow truth to get in their way when they want to attack or undermine our military or our government...


9 posted on 11/01/2006 9:52:09 AM PST by TommyDale (Iran President Ahmadinejad is shorter than Tom Daschle!)
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To: ohioWfan; mystery-ak

fyi


10 posted on 11/01/2006 9:53:08 AM PST by GretchenM (What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Please meet my friend, Jesus)
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To: Baynative

I think you should forward that pic to the media. It's so appropriate, I'll bet if they can, fox would use it.


11 posted on 11/01/2006 9:55:02 AM PST by Kimberly GG (Tancredo '08 www.firecoalition.com/www.unitedpatriotsofamerica.com)
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To: george76

Thanks.

The really dumb ones stuck in a quagmire are the left wingers, who hate America and our military.


12 posted on 11/01/2006 9:55:38 AM PST by Grampa Dave (There's a dwindling market for Marxist Homosexual Lunatic wet dreams posing as journalism)
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To: Baynative

F'ing hillarious.

Real or photo-shopped?


13 posted on 11/01/2006 9:55:52 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Lezahal)
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Comment #14 Removed by Moderator

To: Baynative

Upon my panjama analysis, it looks real to me --- the text "warps" with the banner.


15 posted on 11/01/2006 10:02:52 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Lezahal)
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To: MeanWestTexan

Looks real to me.


16 posted on 11/01/2006 10:03:30 AM PST by meowmeow (In Loving Memory of Our Dear Viking Kitty (1987-2006))
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To: MeanWestTexan
Upon my panjama analysis, it looks real to me --- the text "warps" with the banner.

The EXIF data is still intact in the file too, showing it was taken yesterday.

17 posted on 11/01/2006 10:06:00 AM PST by Cementjungle
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To: TX Bluebonnet

You mean Kerry's remark will be seared in his brain forever??


18 posted on 11/01/2006 10:06:53 AM PST by Sacajaweau (God Bless Our Troops!!)
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To: truthandlife

Refutes Kerry's lies and insults.

Fox has been reporting on the educational superiority of our Military at regular intervals.


19 posted on 11/01/2006 10:09:24 AM PST by windchime (I consider the left one of the fronts on the WOT.)
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To: TX Bluebonnet

This is simply the entire philosophy of the DNC , the Moorites et al, Daily Kos. They loathe the military ala Bubba. They use it for Helpers. That is not what the military is for. As Rush says, it is to kill people and break things. Hopefully, all those Islamofascist 'things'.


20 posted on 11/01/2006 10:10:21 AM PST by phillyfanatic
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