ebrown_p wrote:CoastalRat wrote:None. They are all Americans wishing to serve their country in military service. Sorry if I tend to look at people and see their potential while you seem to want to classify people by their status/IQ/race or whatever you mean by "bottom of the barrel."
People who are in political public life need to gloss over the obvious reality like this. People here (who aren't in public life) can tell the truth. We know better than this Coastal.
Military service is largely seen as a way out of poverty for many young kids who join. These are kids who join the service because they don't have many other opportunities.
Poverty is largely seen as a way to reach recruitment goals for many military recruiters. Kids who haven't succeeded in high school and don't have good employment prospects are seen as targets because recruiters know they don't hve many other opportunities.
Don't play the head-in-the-sand patriotism card Coastal. The majority of the kids signing up aren't the kids of Wealthy Americans (or Congress members). Or are you saying kids from lower class neighborhoods are more patriotic than your kids?
What a crock. The post was in answer to someone saying "they're from the bottom of the barrel". you apparently agree with that sentiment. Is Webbs son from the bottom of that barrel as well?
The Army announced yesterday that it missed its recruiting goal for the fourth consecutive month, a deepening manpower crisis that officials said would require a dramatic summer push for recruits if the service is to avoid missing its annual enlistment target for the first time since 1999.
The Pentagon is also considering asking Congress to double the enlistment bonus it can offer to the most-prized recruits -- from $20,000 to $40,000 -- and to raise the age limit for Army active-duty service from 35 to 40, he said.
Army officials stress that they are not lowering standards in the push for recruits. But they acknowledge they are slightly less selective in some areas -- for example, by taking more enlistees who lack high school diplomas.
The Army also moved this month to take a harder look at keeping first-term soldiers in the force who might otherwise have been kicked out for problems such as drug abuse, poor conduct, or for failure to meet fitness or body-fat standards.
