DoD: 75% of Americans aged 17 - 24 are unfit for service

What makes you think I don't like my life of obsessions?

Be thankful there are madmen out there who understand freedom enough to do what is necessary so you may say whatever you wish . . . . and are willing to tolerate opinions of them that are less than flattering.

 

Well, if you should all chose to shoot one another, I imagine the rest of us would survive very happily.

 

Well, since I don't see that happening, I'd reccommend you stay in Wales or where ever it is you're at.

 

Why, can't your pop-gusn shoot so far kid?

 

You both should KIO. Now. This thread is disgustingly off-topic. Iolo, your opinion of us is noted and I think you should know that most of us do not give an airborne (*)(*)(*)(*). If your contempt for us is deep enough to force you to drive threads like this off-topic, you should examine and treat your own obsession. Shut your man-pleaser and discuss the topic at hand or start your own thread where you can breed your acrimony without costing anyone else a decent conversation.

Anyways, that statistic is pitiful. Not because I think more people should be able to qualify for service, but the deeper issue of the unhealthy lifestyles plaguing this country. Eventually we all are going to have to pay for it. I have seen some tubbies around bases and I also know PT shorts come in XXL because that is all the BX ever has. People must be in pretty bad shape if only 25% can meet the standards. Mind you, I am not talking about people with asthma, blindness, Parkinson's, or anything else they cannot help. I am talking about the ***** that screw their lives and bodies up because of poor decision making.

 

I approve of the vulgar expressions in this post.......and its points.

 

Well, that is full of imitation-cowboy aggression, but it makes no sense, so perhaps the original notion is correct after all. Perhaps the American problem is drugged idiocy: that certainly reads like it.

 

What the hell? Drugged idiocy is responsible for 75% of Americans being deemed unfit for current active duty standards? Drug use is pretty much identical throughout Europe.......that can't be an "American problem."

 

Parkinsons?

I was not aware that this was an affliction prevalent in the 17 - 24 y/o demographics.

 

I think that was his attempt at a personal attack because he did not like what he read.

Shut up.

 

Air Off on Two

 

Why you little...

I knew a kid that was diagnosed with Parkinson's and he was twenty-three. I always had to draw the graphs when we were lab partners. So it is possible and is an acceptable example of medical conditions people have no control over. Shove it, herbivore.

 

You zipper suited sun gods are all alike.

 

Awesome? We know.

 

BLUF

Parkinsons is a horrible example why someone between 17 - 24 would be deemed
unfit for service, irrespective of your anecdotal example.

 

Alright, alright, I'll take quit baiting the guy. Too much fun watching this sort of folk get spun up, but definately not appropriate here.

First off, remember, that statistic is a fairly recent one--after they tightened the restrictions from service. As the economic conditions improve, the restrictions will loosen. So while I believe the percentage is fair too high, the "75% unfit for service" is artificially so.

Secondly, you're also fighting something humanity has not had to deal with in the past--too much leasure time and too much food availability. A million years of just human evolution (or 4500+, depending on your take on creationism) has been driving us to be ever more effcient with our use of food and creating more and more tools to make life easier. It's caught up with us in the last fifty years or so.

While military physical fitness has always been higher than that of the civilian populations, civilian populations have never had to contend with not having to work fields for sixteen hours a day just o scratch out enough food to survive. This is not to excuse gluttony or sloth, but it is something humanity either very rarely or never had to deal with on such a large scale.

On top of all that, there are the societal restrictions placed on the recruitment pool we could easily wave should manpower become the issue it was in the past. Frankly, you don't need a high school education to drive a truck, dig a ditch or stack boxes. (You do, however, need leadership for those performing the tasks, but that is a seperate issue.) And how many Marines or Army kids were given the choice to sign up or go to jail prior to the end of the draft in the 70s? We've legislated these restrictions in. (And as a caveat, yes, I am well aware as to why it was done, but it effects the statistic, so it's part of the reasoniing as to why it looks so bad.)

So 75% is a horrid statistic, true enough. But it doesn't paint the whole picture, either.

As for the XXL shorts, I have a 32" waist, and when the first PT gear came out, I wore XXL because someone decided that was what XXL equated to. I still have that stuff, though I only wear it for my PT tests and the occasioanal pass through the 'Deid. And, before you ask, as far as I'm concerned, anything more than a 75 on your PT test and I think you're wasting government resources by goofing off in the gym.

 

And you call me out for stirring up pots. Some people!

 

Because they are criminal scum-bag druggies. And I sure as heck do not want to serve with one of them myself.

 

And lord knows, we have never seen fat Guardsmen hanging out at the BRA.

 

I'll have you know I'm a reservist and we can get just as fat as any guardsmen!

 

LOL

For those that do not know, the BRA at "The Deid" is the base rec area. This is where we spend our nights at 120 degrees, listening to DJs that play music way to loud (or if we are lucky, the annual visits by Kid Rock and others).

 

A true garden spot . . . for those who like their gardens four inches from the sun.

 

Are there people in that picture? If so, where the hell are their reflective belts?

 

I believe the official designation for the Bra is "Coalition Plaza."

Let's stay professional shall we.

I kid.

 

Dusk to Dawn = reflective belt policy