The true problem facing the US military

originally posted by: Xtrozero

As I said that is a very small percentage of the military and mainly the Army where you need that steady flow of 18 yearolds who come in do 4 years and leave. For those four years they they grow a level of maturity that takes them farther in life than just sitting around playing video games working come crap job. Even your so called grunt can take their combat skills and go into a massive amount of careers with that skillset. If they use their free college then all the better.

I aquiesed and agreed with your observations.

The interesting part is to even get in the military you need to pass the Armed Forces Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) type tests and can meet the physical requirements. This cuts a good deal of the population out of it all as there are a lot of really dumb and unhealthy/unfit people out there. The Army does has some really low level positions that they expect people to come in and leave after 2 to 4 years, I was Air Force, but once again we are talking a huge range from some manual labor type jobs to extremely high level jobs. Its kind of up to the person, right? Once you are in 10 years or so you start to assume manager level positions and that will take you father in life too, so it isn't all just about the job skill.

The folks on the low end of the totem pole (low ASVAB) are the ones I most frequently encounter.

They went in, weren't qualified or able to learn the material for higher level positons, got placed in what they were good at (mostly forward facing combat roles) and got out after dealing with Vietnam. A lot of the Vets I have worked with over the years died from self inflicted gunshots. How they aquired a weapon while being homeless and on the streets is something I can't explain, but it's a long story and I won't trouble you with it.

I really think we are dealing with a major miscommunication here, or you just want to nitpick and argue for some reason, I'm not exactly sure why you're making such an aggressive issue over this.

I can't tell you of the higher roles because I never served personally. I went out for the National Guard but my ASVAB was abysmal (cause I'm obviously an idiot) and I was dealing with some challenges they were willing to overlook and sign me in anyway, but I was worried about firearms training and the state of my mental health at the time and didn't want to waste their time by probably being a Section 8 casualty before Boot was even over so I declined signing at the last minute.

What little I know of duties and operations comes from my Father and Stepfather positions, and even then I know very little about the specifications and details about their service. My Father's role was of a classfied nature outside of SATCOM and my Stepdad doesn't talk about his service for personal reasons and prefers to focus on his time Coaching and in the Educational Administrative fields.

Like I said before, I'm kind of the idiot in the family, and nowhere near the level of the Seals and Rangers my Father tells me I am related to even though I've never met them.

So not trying to be rude or anything, you obviously have the High Ground in this misunderstanding, but please realize you're dealing with a dumbass who only works in low level social work making sure the local homeless vets are aware of local programs for assistence and offers to get them something to eat or water on a hot day while they panhandle to make ends meet and the waitlist for housing opens up. A lot of these guys just need someone to listen to their stories.

I am not that bright and I don't feel like getting into a back and forth on a subject I have limited first hand experience in other than the aforementioned contributions to my Country and Community. Thanks and I hope you understand my good intentions, even if they were poorly communicated.

I would have been part of the 2% you speak of.