cavanami Posted September 8, 2014 Report Share Posted September 8, 2014 A little bit ago, one of the family's cousins tried to get in to the US Navy, denied...the Army, denied...finally got in to the Marines. With unemployment so high in the USA, joining the military is a good way to go these days and now the military can be picky on who they take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 8, 2014 Report Share Posted September 8, 2014 When the demand for troops is high, the standards are lowered. When the demand is lower, the standards go up. Nowadays, military pay is far better than in the days of conscription. It has to be to attract people, plus the military itself is much more high tech than in former times. Even the way we fought in Vietnam looks ancient in comparison. We have more in Common with the WWII and Korean War vets than we do with the current generation. The days of strong body-weak mind are just about over. http://www.militaryf..._pay_scale.asp For comparison, as a brand new buck private E-1 recruit in 1968, I got $102.30. Today's recruit starts out at $1,531.50. And remember that that will probably be pocket money, since your food, housing and clothing are for free. To compare it my final rank, as an E-5, I had a base pay of $222.60. Right now, an E-5 under 2 years gets $2,181. Our hostile fire pay in RVN was $65; today's GI gets $225. Also, as I understand it, if you have a university degree, the Army will make you an E-5 as soon as you finish your training. My platoon in AIT was almost all OCS qualified, the majority with a BA or BS in something. We finished AIT as an E-2, if we were lucky. That meant a whopping increase of $9.10 a month! But from what I saw as a civilian Army instructor in the early 1990s, a lot o folks are enlisting who already have families. The Army has to provide separate housing for married soliders, or even unmarried soldiers with children. I met one PFC who rated a house because she had 3 children. She had never been married, but the Army took her with all those dependents, even though she had no special skills to justify it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted September 8, 2014 Report Share Posted September 8, 2014 ...buck private E-1 recruit in 1968, I got $102.30... That was a month's pay!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted September 9, 2014 Report Share Posted September 9, 2014 A little bit ago, one of the family's cousins tried to get in to the US Navy, denied...the Army, denied...finally got in to the Marines. I find this a tad difficult to believe. If this was a recent event. If during the two wars - then yes, the standards may have been different. I'd like to hear the reasons for such denial and reasons for acceptance. All branches do extensive background checks. All branches do extensive drug testing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted September 9, 2014 Report Share Posted September 9, 2014 Who Serves in the U.S. Military? The Demographics of Enlisted Troops and Officers By Shanea Watkins, Ph.D. and James Sherk Interactive U.S. map of troop representation levels Who serves in the active-duty ranks of the U.S. all-volunteer military? Conventional wisdom holds that military service disproportionately attracts minorities and men and women from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many believe that troops enlist because they have few options, not because they want to serve their country. Others believe that the war in Iraq has forced the military to lower its recruiting standards. Based on an understanding of the limitations of any objective definition of quality, this report compares military volunteers to the civilian population on four demographic characteristics: household income, education level, racial and ethnic background, and regional origin. This report finds that: U.S. military service disproportionately attracts enlisted personnel and officerswho do not come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Previous Heritage Foundation research demonstrated that the quality of enlisted troops has increased since the start of the Iraq war. This report demonstrates that the same is true of the officer corps. Members of the all-volunteer military are significantly more likely to come from high-income neighborhoods than from low-income neighborhoods. Only 11 percent of enlisted recruits in 2007 came from the poorest one-fifth (quintile) of neighborhoods, while 25 percent came from the wealthiest quintile. These trends are even more pronounced in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, in which 40 percent of enrollees come from the wealthiest neighborhoods-a number that has increased substantially over the past four years. LINK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 I find this a tad difficult to believe. If this was a recent event. If during the two wars - then yes, the standards may have been different. I'd like to hear the reasons for such denial and reasons for acceptance. All branches do extensive background checks. All branches do extensive drug testing. True story. This was about 2 ~ 4 years ago. They weren't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it was what it was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneSoup Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Well, it appears that white people ("white devils"?) are no longer welcome to even live in parts of Obama's America: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/bk-women-force-tenants-gunpoint-squat-apartment-cops-article-1.1931834 Two Brooklyn women tired of 'white people moving into the area' force tenants out at gunpoint, then squat in apartment: police Precious Parker, 30, and Sabrina James, 23, were arrested Saturday after they allegedly kicked two men and a woman out of an Ocean Ave. apartment on Thursday. Authorities say the crime was partly motivated by race and class resentment. I sure am glad that Obama (and Eric Holder) came along to help build racial harmony, and "heal the wounds" of strained race relations in America. Cheers! SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneSoup Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 At this website, you can look up US Military pay tables going back to 1949: http://www.dfas.mil/militarymembers/payentitlements/militarypaytables.html I see that as newly-commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1978, my monthly base pay was $844.20. I was on jump status with the 82nd Abn Div, so the additional $110 per month jump pay added another 12.4% - which was much appreciated. Military pay used to be pretty awful. Now - given the bad economy in the USA, military pay is looking reasonably attractive, as long as you are not dodging bullets, RPG's, and IED's. Cheers! SS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 Hi, The guy is a prat. Since he was re-enlisting, he must have sworn to it before. This time he decided to grandstand. How many other atheists and agnostics have said the words? He'd better hope he never is sworn in in a court room, where the oath usually ends "so help me God". A judge might fine him for contempt of court. I had to do a lot of thins I didn't like in the military, but I knew enough to go through the motions. He doesn't. The military is cutting back on people anyway. Bye bye, Mr Airman. While we agree on a lot of issues, here I totally disagree with you. This is the same as making a Christian make an oath ending in 'so help me Allah'. How do you think that would go over with Christians? Religion has no place in government or courtrooms. Nor for that matter in schools, sport centers, theaters, etc. Besides, how does swearing to an imaginary being make the oath any more binding? Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted September 10, 2014 Report Share Posted September 10, 2014 For my draft day: E-1 -4mos $87.90...per month...after 4 months E-1 96.90... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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