US Military to turn away 2/3 of America's youth as recruits

**AirFlacco** · 07-04-2014, 04:26 PM

For things like obesity, high blood pressure, prescription drugs, hyper activity, records, lack of hi school diploma and being just plain derelics but 2/3 of the youth are like that? And get this, even tattoos. Now most military guys get tattoos. Guys have USMC put on the arm or the 101st Airborne or Big Red 1 and stuff like that but they don't like tattoos of fishes as in the article. A gal was told to come back when after removing it. Two offices said that.

Just about everyone has tattoos and a lot of them. I asked guy in the gym how much he paid for all his and said he paid $10,000 for the ones all over his back, stomach, arms and legs. I was having trouble deciding if I should buy a $3,000 bed but when he said that I got the bed.

The Army drafted me in Vietnam and I was a big heavy dude over 200 lbs but
within their limit. 210 was the most allowed for me.

YO SOLO - Someone on the board where I found this said his nephews were having trouble getting into the Navy. Said they're being very picky right now.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/recru...09945?mod=e2tw

**Dade** · 07-04-2014, 05:07 PM

No surprising. The wars are basically over, and the military doesn't need as many bodies anymore. So the standards are being raised to pre 2001 standards. It's not that 2/3 of the youth are like....it's 2/3 of people who try to enlist.

The military has been moving away from tattoos for years now. Back when I was still active duty the Air Force went from only 25% of the tat could show in uniform, too 0% of the tat could be seen in uniform.

Even though the Air Force recently raised the max. age to enlist to 39.

**AirFlacco** · 07-04-2014, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by Dade

No surprising. The wars are basically over, and the military doesn't need as many bodies anymore. So the standards are being raised to pre 2001 standards. It's not that 2/3 of the youth are like....it's 2/3 of people who try to enlist.

The military has been moving away from tattoos for years now. Back when I was still active duty the Air Force went from only 25% of the tat could show in uniform, too 0% of the tat could be seen in uniform.

Even though the Air Force recently raised the max. age to enlist to 39.

Thanks, Dade. Yea, it's 2/3 of those that enlist but that's still a lot.
I didn't know that about tatts.

**Coastergenius** · 07-04-2014, 05:48 PM

Originally Posted by AirFlacco

For things like obesity, high blood pressure, prescription drugs, hyper activity, records, lack of hi school diploma and being just plain derelics but 2/3 of the youth are like that? And get this, even tattoos. Now most military guys get tattoos. Guys have USMC put on the arm or the 101st Airborne or Big Red 1 and stuff like that but they don't like tattoos of fishes as in the article. A gal was told to come back when after removing it. Two offices said that.

Just about everyone has tattoos and a lot of them. I asked guy in the gym how much he paid for all his and said he paid $10,000 for the ones all over his back, stomach, arms and legs. I was having trouble deciding if I should buy a $3,000 bed but when he said that I got the bed.

The Army drafted me in Vietnam and I was a big heavy dude over 200 lbs but
within their limit. 210 was the most allowed for me.

YO SOLO - Someone on the board where I found this said his nephews were having trouble getting into the Navy. Said they're being very picky right now.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/recru...09945?mod=e2tw

What's so bad about being selective? It's not meant to be a full employment act for the kids who don't go to college. We can't sign people up if there's spots available.

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**AirFlacco** · 07-04-2014, 06:46 PM

It's the amount that's so bad - they're rejecting over 2/3 of today's youth OR THOSE THAT TRY TO ENLIST, but again, a lot of it is for obesity, hi blood pessure and drugs and even lack of diplomas. They took a lot of derelects like me in Vietnam and fought the war with them but had big scandals like the Mi Lie-sp massacre. We didn't lose militarily but politically at home. Americans couldn't stomach the losses but after that the Pentagon want a professional army with more professional dudes like Dade, not a bunch of yo yo's and they kicked Noriega out of Panama, and then the rescue at Grenada and then Desert Storm with big quick victories with a professional military.

Today's Army is much better trained than we were. YOu saw that in Afghanistan when they destroyed the Taliban in 6 months which the Russians couldn't do in 10 yrs and ran Binny of of Afghanistan. Then they killed everyone in his organization including him.

After the Vietnam War and draft was over they had trouble recruiting. I know a guy who got a deal from the Navy who only had to go in for 2 years and when he came out they paid all his college and seminary tuition. He's been a pastor of a large church in Boston for years but the Navy paid for it.

Then the movie Top Gun came out and it did wonders for recruitment. Everyone wanted to be a pilot but by the time Clinton was president the pilots were dropping out because their salaries were so low and they couldn't afford to feed their families as he slashed the military after Reagan built it up.

**wickedsolo** · 07-04-2014, 10:29 PM

You also have to consider that there have been a major influx of people enlisting and applying for OCS. There just aren't enough jobs and college is terribly expensive.

In addition, like Dade said, the wars are basically over and the military has been downsizing for a while now.

I can't speak for the other branches, but the Navy won't let folks in who have tats on their neck, face, and hands. However, once you're in, most aren't really caring too much about tats that you get.

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**AirFlacco** · 07-05-2014, 01:18 AM

LOL - Just think of all those thousands of guys that ran off to Canada during Nam. Now getting a tatt on the figure would keep them out. ILMAO.

I was also surprised when I was inducted at Ft Holabird of all the guys that struggled with a simple aptitude test. I know some have trouble testing but that was a simple common sense test but who I am to talk. I ended up in supplies in Ordnance after being trained to kill commies but it was at the end of the war and my unit came back from Nam. I was at Ft Riley, Kansas waiting to go over. The commanding general gave his farewell speech and said we worked ourselves out of a job. The Big Red 1 kept the highway open and secure for over a decade from Saigon to the DMZ. Then Nixon turned it over to the South and the North ran over them like they were nothing. My unit took some of the heaviest casualties of the war but I never made it over.

My dad didn't have a diploma when he went in during WW2 and neither did his brother who fought on Guam, but the army got him is GED when they wanted him to be an officer and sent him to OCS.

When he retired as a white hat down the point, they said he had the highest position in Beth Steel with his limited edcuation. All his colleagues had Engineering degrees and some had a couple but he credited the army for getting him his GED. I said why did you ever leave the army if you loved it so much and he said to get married and have you-lol.

Most people back in the 30s didn't go to hi school. They were too busy working so they could eat even at a very young age like my dad.