Army expands prep course for enlistment

[justdoit19]

Interesting! Just also saw this as a national news story, stating there is a ‘recruitment crisis’ for Army. That on 23pct are qualified due to academics and PT (overweight). This is an expanding program.

Before Basic: Amid recruiting crunch, Army expands Future Soldier Prep Course - Breaking Defense

The service maintains that recruiting shortfalls have not yet hindered readiness but it is in a race to increase recruiting incentives and expand this pre-basic training pilot project before numbers dip lower.

breakingdefense.com

 

[justme]

All i can say is that a close family member enlisted last year, and about the only thing within regs was having 4 limbs and a pulse.
Every feared dq, meps told him it was close enough. No way he gets in without some level of desperation.

 

[nature boy]

Quality!

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

For those concerned about quality or unfit people being given the OK to enlist they might consider enlisting themselves if they did not get into a SA. I can hear the screams of No No No from the parents now.

A few actually might enlist but most would not ever consider it. When quality won’t serve you get remedial courses to help with the quality.

if you wanted to cut down drastically on SA applications make serving as an enlisted for those that do not get in or quit within the first two years.

over night SA applications would drop

 

[justme]

To be clear, the one i referenced should be a great soldier, and everyone is humbled and proud of his effort. I did not mean to sound like I'm mocking the kid.

I see it more like overcoming Steve Roger's medical rap sheet than being lower quality.

 

[Anonymous121]

Unfortunately recruiting woes are a direct reflection of our society. A vast majority of kids these days are physically lazy, overweight, have lower quality education, are socially awkward, dumbed down, and are device addicted. I also can't tell you how many AIT students I see walking around with crutches. Some Drill Sergeants I spoke with at Fort Sill also commented this is more common because of low bone density in our recruits. They grow up playing video games and lack physical activity and the sudden shock of the rigors of BCT are too much for their bones to bear.

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

Unfortunately recruiting woes are a direct reflection of our society. A vast majority of kids these days are physically lazy, overweight, have lower quality education, are socially awkward, dumbed down, and are device addicted. I also can't tell you how many AIT students I see walking around with crutches. Some Drill Sergeants I spoke with at Fort Sill also commented this is more common because of low bone density in our recruits. They grow up playing video games and lack physical activity and the sudden shock of the rigors of BCT are too much for their bones to bear.

And yet everyone I know that has kids seems to be busy all the time taking them from one sports practice to another, one game to another, one special work out to another, and weeks of the year spent traveling to or at tournaments.

And most of those are spending a not all that small a fortune doing so.

It seems to be more grey or mixed than black and white.

A large % of kids today are doing way more sports than we did in the 1960s and some % are doing none at all.

There are plenty of in shape kids that could serve but have no interest in seeing a recruiter.

 

[MarTac]

I know that many candidates ‘ new cadets fret over BEAST and the “March Back” but I remember reading about Thayer’s time at USMA and how he would March new cadets to Boston and Back in the summer. Of course, in those days you either walked or rode everywhere and there wasn’t much food unless you were physically active enough to catch or kill it. As said above, the conditions reflected by our sons and daughters are an indication of the electronic world we live in. Everyone is shuttled to sports practices in air conditioned vehicles and practices are cancelled when too hot or wet. Unfortunately other societies, less fortunate, are still living in much harsher conditions daily. Our soldiers have learned, in conflicts from Viet Nam to Afghanistan what a society of hardened adversaries, used to living on much less than us, can do. War is not for the timid and pampered (just my opinion.)

I am a Marine and was a Mustang (enlisted to O) and I do think the military does a good job of preparing the raw material they get for war. We have complex systems in today’s military and we need smart enlisted to operate and repair systems but they also have to be physically fit and strong. I do think most young people today (mine included) have pretty easy lives and, we as parents, keep trying to make it easier. I don’t know how we turn back the clock but the blessing of technology is also a curse and we are seeing the results in (not all, but) many of the young people trying to enlist in the military today. (thanks for enduring my rant!)

 

[Overwhelmed]

This past summer I spoke with the local Army recruiter at our county fair. He said 11 of his 12 recruits were rejected for one reason or another.

 

[justme]

This past summer I spoke with the local Army recruiter at our county fair. He said 11 of his 12 recruits were rejected for one reason or another.

I realize they shifted a lot of the rejections from Reception/BCT to MEPS with their rollout of Genesis. But, I can't imagine it didn't lower entrants overall, on top of waning interest.

 

[UHBlackhawk]

Generations have always felt follow on generations were soft. I’m sure Adam told Cain and Able how tough things were in the Garden of Eden. The apple tree was up hill both ways, through the snow, and he didn’t have shoes or cloths.
My father told me he was lucky to be in the field artillery during WWII versus the infantry- you had to be able to read and write to be in the artillery, while those who were illiterate were normally shoved into infantry. With one year of college he was encouraged to attend OCS, but declined.
A military has to adapt to the citizens they have, not the citizens they wish they had. This may mean putting more time (and money), into training recruits.

 

[cb7893]

It's not only the Military:

Some California colleges find it hard to shift away from remedial courses

Despite a 2017 law meant to minimize lower-level math and English classes, some community colleges are resisting the change

hechingerreport.org

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

Generations have always felt follow on generations were soft. I’m sure Adam told Cain and Able how tough things were in the Garden of Eden. The apple tree was up hill both ways, through the snow, and he didn’t have shoes or cloths.
My father told me he was lucky to be in the field artillery during WWII versus the infantry- you had to be able to read and write to be in the artillery, while those who were illiterate were normally shoved into infantry. With one year of college he was encouraged to attend OCS, but declined.
A military has to adapt to the citizens they have, not the citizens they wish they had. This may mean putting more time (and money), into training recruits.

And my dad showed up at the USMC recruiter in Feb 1942 only to told his depression era teeth and other health issues would DQ him. Not fit to serve even during a world war.

A few months later the Navy took him.

The things a draft or the requirement to serve in the 1950s and 60s did——-it lifted us all.

Better teeth, better eating, better fitness, and the wonderful GI bill. And it forced people who normally in life would have nothing to do with each other, might actually fear or dislike each other, to get to know each other and learn to work together and depend on each other.

Besides what the Army is doing here in trying to elevate the enlisted recruits physically and academically sounds a lot like USMAPS or NAPS

And many of our best tip,of the spear combat leaders are products of the remedial help gotten at those prep schools.