"American Kids, Too Weak for War, Cost Taxpayers $1.7 Billion A Year "

2015-07-22T13:18:27-04:00

(Note: Take a look at the RP infographic on this topic - https://www.rallypoint.com/command-post/why-are-75-of-young-americans-unable-to-serve-in-the-military)

From: PhaseZero Gawker
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Some bracing facts for Monday: Only one-third of America’s youth meet the minimum qualifications to even join the military and once the recruits are enlisted, another one-third of them wash out before they complete their term of enlistment.

That’s just in terms of physical fitness, psychological stability, and mental aptitude. That means that every year, the military has to enlist 248,000 recruits to produce 169,000 successful airmen, soldiers, sailors, and marines.

Since attrition costs the military $1.7 billion a year in lost investment, there are all sorts of programs to improve psychological assessment of those who do qualify to enlist. The hot program these days is TAPAS — the Tailored Adapted Personality Assessment System. Through better psychological profiling, the military hopes to pick off even more of the unsuitable candidates in the beginning. Then through better and more realistic training — what’s called “integrated, persistent Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) training environments” and immersion training a la the Star Trek Holodeck, they hope to reduce the unit dropout rate as well.

There’s no crisis in the availablility of young people. Since between 4.1 and 4.5 million kids turn 18 every year and the armed forces only need 250,000 to make their numbers, they have a pretty big pool of people to reject. The trick is picking the right people who will survive basic training and then the military life thereafter.

The Army suffers the largest percentage of attrition (and also demands the most enlistees to replenish the force). But even that number is misleadingly low compared to other branches, as close to 40 percent of Army personnel never deploy to a combat zone. The Marine Corps, though it has a higher deployment rate and the most rigorous overall initial training of the services, suffers the lowest attrition rate. This is a tribute to the espirit and care of the smaller service in both selection and care for its people. Smaller is better when it comes to retention, but that matters less when those darn whippersnappers can’t even do a few pushups.

http://phasezero.gawker.com/american-kids-too-weak-for-war-cost-taxpayers-1-7-bi [login to see]

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Jul 22 at 2015 1:19 PM

2015-07-22T13:19:42-04:00

Pitiful.

Response by SGT David T. made Jul 22 at 2015 1:35 PM

2015-07-22T13:35:37-04:00

I don't even want to guess at how much money the Army had spent on me by the time I walked out the door at 9 years. The one thing that they fail to really look at is the impact of leadership on retention. I will flat out tell you that the main reason I left the Army was based on the fact that I did not trust or respect the majority of my leaders. Most were self serving only looking for the next promotion and cared nothing for their troops. The worst part was, they didn't even attempt to mask it. I think this more than any other factor accounts for attrition. At the time I ETSed, probably about half of my unit was doing the same thing. All that knowledge and experience walking out the door because some so called leader decided to put their career before their troops. I am not saying this fits all or most leaders across the services but this is my perspective based on that unit at that time.

Response by SSG John Jensen made Jul 22 at 2015 2:01 PM

2015-07-22T14:01:16-04:00

the original school lunch program was funded by the war dept after WWII because so many draftees were medically unsuitable for the service because of malnutrition as youngsters in the great depression.

Response by SSG V. Michelle Woods made Jul 22 at 2015 2:10 PM

2015-07-22T14:10:48-04:00

We have so many people pointing fingers and gasping at the state of our youth and yet they don't seem to ask themselves any of the following questions,
Is my kid overweight? Am I contributing to that?
Does my kid ever play outside and if so, how do they react when they skin their knee?
Does my kid ever say please or thank you to me or the cashier at the McDonalds when they tell them what they want?

America's youth are YOUR children. We may not have the power to raise every kid to be the perfect adult but we can raise our own to not be weak, ungrateful idiots.

Response by SFC Maury Gonzalez made Jul 22 at 2015 2:13 PM

2015-07-22T14:13:56-04:00

Those studies came out a couple of years ago, most 18 to 24 yrs old were too fat, too dumb and too criminal to join the military

Response by SSG Brian Kresge made Jul 22 at 2015 7:45 PM

2015-07-22T19:45:51-04:00

The Talmud says, "call them not your children, but your builders."

21 years ago, I was a kid in great shape, mentally and physically, when I became an infantryman. Today, I'm sitting at Fort Lee, watching ordinance, transportation, and quartermaster go through their AIT as I reclass to 88N myself. Marines, Navy, and Army are all here, their earnest young faces looking at the badge bling on guys like us, and I see myself in them.

Whatever is going on the back end, these kids, most of whom are young enough to be *my* kids, are as patriotic and capable as I felt 21 years ago.

The right kids are out there, because I'm seeing a lot of them here. It's hard for recruiters - quality kids may just not see the military as a viable career option right now, perhaps even a little bit scared because of the OPTEMPO of the last decade. Whatever. I can't lose hope, and I won't lose hope.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 22 at 2015 8:22 PM

2015-07-22T20:22:23-04:00

These are all societal caused issues. In other words, society says it is bad to discipline your child you should talk to them. What happens, children push boundaries and subconsciously they see that no real repercussions happen due to lack of respect and obedience so they continue the behavior and parents say, "I just don't understand why Johnny is this or that. Society says everyone deserves to be rewarded and then from K-12 kids get participation awards and when that does not carry into the real world they become sullen and pout and then refuse to put in real effort because they feel they should get awards for cleaning the latrine. This list goes on and on. Long story short, the issue is the belief that everyone should be allowed to do whatever they want and suffer no consequences.

As a society we need to be sure to make it okay to fail. By that I mean instead of giving everyone trophies for showing up to a game we should as parents and a society say to children from the start. You are not good at baseball or football find something else. I am not suggesting we not let kids play just stop rewarding them for striking out or fumbling. This is just one example. We also need to stop feeding kids the BS that in order to be successful you need to go to college. Not everyone is able to do that, nor should everyone do that. Billions of dollars each year are wasted on colleges. There are millions of jobs out there that require no college and can lead to a great career and good pay.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jul 22 at 2015 9:13 PM

2015-07-22T21:13:37-04:00

What upsets me is the billions of dollars to educate them which the eschew.

Response by PO1 Sojourner "Chancy" Phillips made Jul 22 at 2015 10:02 PM

2015-07-22T22:02:23-04:00

Well, dodge ball was outlawed, playgrounds were cushioned, and if PE makes your kid sad then it is optional and everyone gets a medal or prize for showing up. So are we really surprised? Or are we just realizing that we are turning kids into pansies with the the helicopter I got to be their friend routine?

Response by Capt Richard I P. made Jul 22 at 2015 10:03 PM

2015-07-22T22:03:30-04:00

If the most important image is the RP info graphic, at least from the RP editorials perspective, shouldn't it lead? And more importantly what is the file photo of that female Marine running alongside that headline supposed to imply or add to the story?

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 22 at 2015 10:24 PM

2015-07-22T22:24:56-04:00

The Marine Corps has the lowest attrition because they captivate recruits by providing a focused and challenging training experience. The Army initial training experience is so watered down it's not even challenging. Then add the distraction of Basic being coed. Any Drill Sergeant will tell you that Basic Training outside of the Infantry now is just like high school, and Soldiers fail the Soldierization process because they treat it like high school. We as a branch have a scary future ahead of us. It's sad when I have privates of both genders come to me at the end of every cycle and say they expected basic training to be way different and far more difficult.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jul 23 at 2015 4:33 AM

2015-07-23T04:33:13-04:00

Sad to Hear but here in Kansas depending on which Statistics you believe 1/3 to 2/3 of the Kids are too Fat to Serve. The Generals made an impassioned plea for our Local Republican Controlled Government not to gut the new nutrition standards which would further compound the problem.

Response by PO3 David Davis made Jul 23 at 2015 3:28 PM

2015-07-23T15:28:18-04:00

If we have a problem with our touth. We all need 5o look in the mirror. I falls on our shoulders.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 26 at 2015 11:45 AM

2015-07-26T11:45:41-04:00

Part of the problem is parents who don't act like parents or don't really want to be parents; cutting PT out of schools; giving participation awards to kids who don't even try or play then they think they are entitled to something for nothing! That helps no one I don't let my son win I teach him how to win and how to overcome defeat and try again!