The study's authors made recommendations for the Army, which presently does not test its recruits for this disease (unlike the other services), for public health pros, and for society in general.
I don't think the Army was singled out for opprobrium. If you want to do a study with a sample of 20,000 randomly selected girls, that requires you to collect and test medical samples, it seems like the Army is one of the best places to go. (Your sample will not match the general population because the Army takes only a narrow subset of society in. But you will be able to draw some useful conclusions).
After all, it's not like it's the Army sending infected people out into society, it's the other way round!
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Almost one in 10 female U.S. Army recruits have tested positive for chlamydia, the nation's most common sexually transmitted disease.
The numbers seem to reflect the general population:
"As many as 1 in 10 adolescent girls tested for chlamydia is infected.
Based on reports to CDC provided by states that collect age-specific data, teenage girls have the highest rates of chlamydial infection. In these states, 15- to 19-year-old girls represent 46% of infections and 20- to 24-year-old women represent another 33%. These high percentages are consistent with high rates of other STDs among teenagers.
Among women entering the Job Corps in 1997, chlamydia rates ranged from 4 - 14% by state (20,000 entrants are screened annually). Chlamydial infection is widespread geographically and highly prevalent among these economically disadvantaged young women between 16 and 24 years old."