>The best way to fix the U.S. armed forces’ recruiting challenges may involve dipping further into the nation’s high schools.
>As the Army, Navy and other services contend with a thriving economy and a directive to expand their ranks, there is a growing debate over whether the military should consider lowering the minimum enlistment age from 17 to 16. More than a dozen countries, including the United Kingdom, already have adopted the policy.
>Critics say the idea is deeply flawed and presents a host of societal problems, but supporters argue that the Pentagon needs to think outside the box if it wants to continually overcome one of the toughest recruiting environments in decades.
>Neither the military nor lawmakers have given any indication that they are entertaining the idea, but some analysts say that opening the ranks to younger Americans could provide unique benefits and may be the kind of fundamental overhaul the recruiting system needs for the 21st century.
>“For one, many of the factors that disqualify older youths from joining — like criminal records — are not as present in younger teens,” said Shane McCarthy, chief marketing officer of Sandboxx, a leading technology platform that connects military members stationed abroad with families and friends at home. Mr. McCarthy also has advised military commands on how to better target recruits.
>“Currently, of the 75% of 17- to 24-year-olds who are ineligible to serve, for example, 10% are ineligible due to criminal records,” he wrote in a recent piece for the Military Times. “And, according to the Department of Justice, there are twice as many arrests of 18- to 20-year-olds as there are arrests of 15- to 17-year-olds.”
I would have joined the army when I was 16 but they made me wait until I was 17.
I was a child soldier.
Kevin Rodriguez
raiden, take solidus down
Xavier Thompson
Does service guarantee citizenship?
Nicholas Price
why not 14 year olds, no, 10 year olds! What difference does it make when every north american is a debt slave from birth
Nathan Watson
17 year olds are not prohibited from enlisting right now. I enlisted at 17. Makes me think this article just might be, dare I say... bullshit.
Jacob Perry
Yes service includes a Costco membership. This shit makes me giggle. >We are replacing you >Why won't anyone worth two squirts of piss sign up. Who wants to die for the gay disco? Retard they want to lower the age to 16.
Austin Bailey
Race based ideology is too dangerous. Look how Germans fought on to the end because of the stupid ideology.
>Neither the military nor lawmakers have given any indication that they are entertaining the idea,
So this basically NOTHING...scratch that...this is LITERALLY nothing.
This is just an idea a think tank that likely knows nothing about military service came up with. The US military has exceedingly high standards, this is a very large reason recruitment is difficult. let me give a quick snippet of the standards: MUST HAVE: >HS diploma or GED >able to pass 3 event PT test (push ups, sit ups, 2mile run) >No criminal record >attain at least a 32 on the ASVAB test Now none of these criteria are hard to meet, but it seems meeting all of them eliminates 90%of the US population. Banker boy that wishes he had a "cool" job? He got a DUI a few years ago, DISQUALIFIED. ANTIFA rifleman? Cant do 42 push ups. DISQUALIFIED (also being part of an org that wants to violently overthrow the US GOV DQs you as well).
Nathaniel Davis
All of a sudden they have recruiting challenges? Sounds to me like they want to kill off the incel wankster millennials
Ian Cox
Not really dude military is filled with fucking idiots and you're not special for being it sorry for hurting your feelings dude
Kevin Morris
Welcome to Costco I love you
Gavin Campbell
> Take in skinny, 16-year-old basement-dweller barely into puberty > His skeletal structure is critically damaged during basic training > Lawsuits up the ass
Yeah, great idea
Angel Anderson
maybe they shouldn't dq people for having mild skin conditions then. fucking mega retards
The problem is the number of kids labeled with asthma, ADHD or depression.
Used to be you went to the doc at 10 or whatever got the treatment and then moved on. There was no label and no electronic medical record. When you went to indoc the now 18 yo didn’t remember the “asthma” treatment at 10 and there was no good record of it.
Now the kid that goes to a therapist at 12 because their social studies teacher was abusive us a mental illness label and is disqualified.
Gavin Baker
If anything they should make service mandatory and start it at 16.high school should be replaced with a milliary high school
Luis King
>nation is collapsing due to subhumans breeding uncontrollably
>school shooters with tactical knowledge I cant see how that would go wrong
Ryder Cox
The military has become a sjw shit show.
Ryder Myers
How so? We have high school kids go to IDF youth brigades and learn milliary drills and shooting m16s and we've never had a school shooting. If you have school shooters you need to uncuck your country's culture
Jonathan Martinez
>you need to uncuck your country's culture
we're trying but you just keep existing
Carson Hughes
>oy vey Gen Zyklon doesn't care about the Holocaust, we better make them mentally ill/suicidal before they can legally purchase firearms
Kayden Edwards
What do we have to do with it ?
Easton Reyes
You gotta love this time line dont you?
>want to wage war for israel >oops, it looks like because you permitted jews, to jew too much now your population is fat, dumb and degenerate
the eternal problem of the zogbot merrycans
Owen Bailey
Your country is turning into a pure shit hole. We can't count on America for our defense anymore. The amount of negros you bring to this country from the military base is sickening.
Joshua Jenkins
>draft age lowers to 18 >voting age lowers to 18
I don't want 16 year olds voting
James Johnson
Average iq of military recruits is around the sweet spot for one to become a criminal, about 85.
Just hire people with records, nothing to live for, reduces crime at home, no idea how to look after oneself, easy to control.
Dominic Gomez
>What do we have to do with it ? >flag Jew, do you not realize your kind has subverted every nation and now the goyim are waking up? Remember the last time that happened? Jews went full Kike in post war Germany and it caused a previously friendly country to round you parasites up for deportation. It is happening again and you rats are trying to crack down on your media platforms and flood our countries with non white 3rd worlders. All while screeching about anti Semitism. You are either going to another Reich or bring about the second coming of Christ. Either way you get destroyed, why couldn’t you just leave It alone?
>brainwash a generation into caring about nothing but videogames and tv >destroy the family unit and belief in a higher power/meaning in life >poison "food" and water with estrogen and plastics WTF WHY DOESN'T ANYONE WANT TO PLAY ARMY HERO ANYMORE?!?!
Nicholas Taylor
A better product would come of re-enlisting veterans with attractive bonuses. Kids are already fucking retarded these days, really it’s just a waste of money to try to build quality with poor materials.
Thomas Lopez
>16 >barely hit puberty user wtf are you Benjamin Button?
I was really into joining but they disqualified me over some medical bullshit that didn't affect me physically, considering other armies to join now fuck the US military
There's definitely a huge uptick in unsuitable men, not only because more men have diagnoses now, but also because the bar for health has been raised.
If you suffer from referred/phantom pain, you're out. If you don't have a good set of healthy teeth, you're out. If you have to wear braces that need to be serviced at any point going forward, you're out. If your thyroid is not functioning optimally - a very common problem - you're out. If you have diabetes, you're out. If your shoulders are too hunched either forward or back, you're out. If your elbow doesn't flex enough, you're out. If you have an extra finger, you're out. If your wrist, forearm, elbow, arm or shoulder has ever been injured and you're not just as strong as before, you're out.
The draft dodgers and malingerers of World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War would have loved a military like this, where every childhood injury and common minor health issue means a rejection. Instead, if an 18-year-old showed up for inspection in those days and he was thin as a twig and had several childhood injuries and minor ailments, the recruiter would say "some good food, fresh air and exercise will fix you right up" and send him off to the Pacific with a helmet and a carbine.
Colton Parker
For reference, look at these men. How many of them would be allowed to serve today? Yet they fought under possibly the most terrifying, dangerous combat conditions known in human history.
