It depends. When I was an Army Recruiter, at the time (late 90s), you had to have a high school diploma (not a GED) OR, 15 college credit hours to enlist. But that was but one of the requirements. You had to score above a certain level on the ASVAB. 75% (percentile) was considered "Alphas" meaning they were quite adept to just about anything. I don't recall all the levels the Army used to refer to them, but every recruiting area had certain levels they had to require. I *believe* there was recent information they may be lowering that. But make no mistake, the Army does not take every "dumb, unskilled, unqualified, dope smoking" applicant that comes along. You are given a urine test at the MEPS. If you fail, you cannot try to join ANY military service again for six months. On the whole though, the general rule has been you must have a high school diploma as one of many basic requirements to enlist. Then, it's broken down by your asvab score. The Air Force was highly selective back then, and I'm sure still today. They are a much smaller force, maintain existing enlistees very well and overall have a much smaller yearly mission with a good number of people on "waiting lists" to join. Naturally, they take the best of the best in that scenario. Then you have officers. Officers must have at least 60 college credit hours (two years of college). Uneducated people that don't really care about the military or our soldiers anyway, might suggest they are all dumb high school dropouts. But then that's what they want to believe anyway
I believe we are and I believe we will. What matters is what people will look back on 50 years from now.
gworld, do you ever get tired of stuffing your foot down your throat? The last time you ASSumed something about me I buried you with an answer you seemed to have never accepted. Remember when you tried to pretend I had rarely travelled and so didnt know what the opinion was like outside of the USA? I believe your question came something like this... "zman, care to tell us when the last time that you left the country was?" I then replied that I have circled the globe many times, lived in New Zealand, and run many different student travel sites. So lets do this again shall we. I have not been in the military. Here is why. Two weeks before I turned 18 I was packed into a car with 4 other guys and taken from Reno Nevada to Sacremento for the physical and all that jazz. On the second day, it was discovered that I have a "physical issue". When I was young I almost lost several fingers so I have several that to this day do not bend. Therefore, I was turned down and ended up flying to London on my 18th birthday to drink legally and drink it all away. Would I be there if I could? You can bet your ass I would. It isnt easy having two younger siblings do a tour when you wanted it the most. So gworld, have any other silly questions?
No, only you would make it up as "so much abuse" because it fits your agenda of degrading our troops. What wouldn't you do, to sell your country out?
If someone was to harm your family, wouldn't you be ready to do anything to get justice? Look at it on a broader scale. War is an ugly business. Torture is not something to be proud of. But priority should be to get the job done and there are too many who don't understand the logic of reasoning. I don't like the war, but I do believe it was necessary for us to fight it. 40 years of diplomacy with Islamic nations have gotten us nowhere but be laughed at and attacked.
Speaking of, I recall you saying your were in college in the early 70s. Did you move to Canada to avoid the draft back then?
You're right. 20,000+ dead and thousands more innocent people thrown into prisons isn't "so much"... it's just a little bit
Exactly. I would happily sacrifice my life for my daughter having a better one. A lot of the older Iraquis are so scared and so confused, they don't know what to believe and think anymore. What matters is that the young ones will be able to make up their own minds rather than someone else making it up for them. But I forgot: we are just a bunch of money hungry, violent and ignorant assholes who don't know shit, right?
What am I in a thread with a bunch of old farts? Zman is the only one I know that's younger than me, how old is everyone if I might ask. Just curious, could help in some ways explain different view points on different subjects. I myself am 28
I dunno, I am a fairly innocent person and reading YoYo, CrazyRob, and gworld should qualify as torture as easily as any of the silliness that went on at Abu-Ghraib.
The fucking interrogator who participates in the stuff just that 95% of the people they go through are INNOCENT and guilty of nothing. Do you think somehow we know excatly what 5% of the locked up people to torture?
So when the numbers don't justify the torture, you throw in casualties as well. Oh, and lets not forget to give zarqawi's credit away to our soldiers like you usually do. And you pretend to care