Poor and Uneducated, Like We Thought

[unhappycamper]

Poor and Uneducated, Like We Thought
by Ted Rall | Jul 25 2007 - 9:11am


SAN DIEGO--"The typical recruit in the all-volunteer force is wealthier, more educated and more rural than the average 18- to 24-year-old citizen is," claimed the authors of an oft-cited 2005 "comprehensive study" of the U.S. military commissioned by the Heritage Foundation.

Two years later, right-wingers trot out the Heritage troop survey as evidence that America is sending its best and brightest, rather than its down and out, to win Afghan and Iraqi hearts and minds. The GOP blog Newsbusters used it to rebut Rosie O'Donnell's statement that most recruits enlist in the army to get an education: "Of course, facts don't matter to Rosie O'Donnell." But are these "facts" true?

The key word here is "volunteers," which here means "new recruits." A new CBO study released this July states: "Because black personnel have been a larger share of recruits in the past and because they have relatively high retention rates, however, they account for a larger share of the active enlisted force as a whole: 19 percent, compared with 14 percent of the civilian population of 17- to 49- year-olds. Black service members make up a smaller percentage of the active officer corps: 9 percent."

~snip~

"Recruiters are knowingly allowing neo-Nazis and white supremacists to join the armed forces, and commanders don't remove them from the military even after we positively identify them as extremists or gang members," Scott Barfield, a Defense Department investigator told the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Citing the "toughest recruiting climate ever faced by the all-volunteer army," Major General Michael Rochelle, head of army recruitment promises: "If you have excessively prominent and vulgar tattoos they will not take you right now, but that is about to change."

"824 felons were allowed to sign up in 2004 as opposed to 1,605 in 2006 under the moral waivers scheme," reports the UK Guardian. "Almost 59,000 drug abusers entered the military in the same period."

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[BOSSHOG]

1. "Trot out the heritage survey"

the heritage foundation with all their fellows exists only to forward the notion that there is something valuable about conservative thought. Conservative thought is garbage which has to be marketed. They have to lie to get their point across. They'd be better off masturbating. I joined the Navy in the early 70's and the biggest selling point(s) was the GI Bill, Beer and Pussy (more easily available away from home.) The last thing on my 18 year old mind was healthcare and a pension.

59,000 drug abusers signed up??? The DOD spends a fortune getting rid of drug abusers.

And the band plays on.