How low can you go???

[ls317]

September 20, 2005

GEDs no longer required

By Joseph R. Chenelly
Times staff writer

Army recruiters now have a wider pool to find future soldiers in. The Army is reaching out to a slice of America’s youth long ineligible to serve: non-high school graduates who don’t have a General Equivalency Diploma

Recruiters can now go after that demographic through the “Army Educations Plus” option, the Army announced Tuesday.

If an individual has been out of high school for at least six months, can pass a physical exam and the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, he or she may be eligible for help getting a GED.

The program allows recruiters to enlist a high school dropout, according to S. Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. But the enlistee must have the GED before shipping off to basic training. The Army will pay for individuals to attend a course to prepare for the GED test and will cover the cost of taking the GED exam.

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-1115623.php

[Oreo]

1. Isn't that convenient?

I bet there are a lot of high school dropouts without homes in the Gulf area.

[Jack from Charlotte]

9. The test I took at my draft physical back in about '72......

was all pictures. That is, you did not have to be able to read a word in order to get drafted. The test consisted of a pictutre of a hammer and underneath a picture of a screw, a nail and a pencil. You were supposed to draw a line between the two matching items. (Hammer to nail)

I was 22 years old and the only guy in the room that passed that test. (I think everyone else was faking)

[marmar]

2. Sounds like desperation...

The military is in its "last throes."

[ls317]

8. Bottom Line

Its about finding a warm body that can walk and talk and that can be taught to operate weapon systems..And be sent to what ever conflict that the goverment chooses to involved themselves in.
As a 17 year veteran of military 11 years active duty and 6 years reserve duty.I personally find this act a serious sign of desperation.The armed forces are a chance to provide chances for a person to better his or her self with education and life skills.
Folks who are between the ages of 16-25 you should really be afraid,IMAO I sense a draft coming real soon.

[bigbrother05]

3. nO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

[tk2kewl]

4. If they get "left behind" just send then to "the front"

:grr:

[Seansky]

5. Convinced that this admin is capable of going as low as the center of the

earth and might even discover a whole new underground world.

[Tower]

6. Just wait 'till they get to recruit the unwilling.

If they don't fundamentally change their position in the middle east soon, there's going to be a Draft. They *should* be pulling forces out and decreasing the number of required troops. But with this groups penchant for upside-down thinking, I expect they'll respond to their staff shortage by invading a new country.

[doublethink]

7. ...........

[spuddonna]

10. Ok, that's scary...

No GED... Well, then why not let them choose to join when they're 16? Why not 10? Why not take all those kids in orphanages and start training them now!? :mad:

Side Story: I have a little boy that plays Halo. He even went out and bought the three novels on the backstory of Halo.

In the books, Master Chief (the good guy Marine in the future) was taken from his family when he was 6 years old to go join a group of super soldiers that the govt puts together. It's modeled after the Spartans in Greece who trained from an early age to be 'perfect' soldiers.

My son is a WWII nut, and he's informed on politics. He often wonders if they will restart the draft, and we've talked about how it would be really hard for them to do that again after Vietnam. He also wonders, especially since he says "The Republicans make so much money off of war", whether they will ever institute a Spartan program here in the US.

I told him, parents would never let that happen... I'm right, right? :(

[txaslftist]

11. Join the Army! Get an education. Well, okay... a GED anyway.