Pentagon encouraging defying Mom, dropping out, to increase enlistment

[blondeatlast]

I knew that that damn Army ad, the "I'm a man, Mom, disturbed me, know I know why.

What we do know, however, is that JAMRS is currently focusing on the following areas of interest in an attempt to bolster the all-volunteer military:

*Hispanic Barriers to Enlistment: a project to "identify the factors contributing to under-representation of Hispanic youth among military accessions" and "inform future strategies for increasing Hispanic representation among the branches of the Military."

*College Drop Outs/Stop Outs Study: a project "aimed to gain a better understanding of what drives college students to? ?drop out' and determine how the Services can capitalize on this group of individuals (ages 18-24)."

*Mothers' Attitude Study: "This study gauges the target audience's (270 mothers of 10th- and 11th-grade youth) attitudes toward the Military and enlistment."

During the Vietnam War, Hispanics took disproportionate numbers of casualties and similar disparities have been reported in Iraq. JAMRS, apparently, is looking to make certain that this military tradition is maintained. Additionally, eyebrows ought to be raised over a Pentagon that is looking at ways to influence the mothers of teens to send their sons and daughters off to war and at a military eager to study what it takes to get kids to "drop out" of school and how the military might then scoop them up. Perhaps the most intriguing line of research, however, is the "Moral Waiver Study" whose seemingly benign goal is "to better define relationships between pre-Service behaviors and subsequent Service success." What the JAMRS informational page doesn't make clear, but what might be better explained in the password-protected section of the site, is that a "moral character waiver" is the means by which potential recruits with criminal records are allowed to enlist in the U.S. military.

Commentary by Nick Turso
Mother Jones
7/13/05
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/07/army_of_no_one.html

Interesting--I've been a library book-buyer for several years, among my areas is test-prep books. We've always had an incredible loss in the Armed Services Vocational Battery (ASVAB; mentioned in the full article) test prep guides; they were checked out, but never returned.

I noticed last year that not only were losses WAY down; they weren't even getting checked out. Same for this year.

Just an interesting sidelight...

[blondeatlast]

1. This one should be seen, so a slef-indulgent

:kick: is in order.

[soup]

2. Good read. Thanks for the link.

The reference to the 'Mother's Attitude Study' made me chuckle.

They want a mother's attitude? Bring it on. I'll give them a Mother of an attitude if they think they're getting my sons.

Opt Out.

[blondeatlast]

3. This mom's attitude is, go after my only child, and I'll let nature

have my motherly instincts.

It WON'T be pretty.