Quoted: Well, they did lower their standards.
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they raised the upper age of enlistment, they didn't "lower their standards"...
here's some facts regarding recruits:
1. recruits aren't stupid. in fact, they are far better educated than the general youth pop. 90+% have hs degrees compared to 75% civs. as far as regular .mil, more have college degrees or are working towards those degrees than civvie world.
2. average recruits score higher on the asvab than those who choose not to go into the .mil (67% score above the 60th percentile with 50th percentile being the national average).
3. recruits aren't poor and underprivileged. the majority come from the middle class and recent studies (since 9/11) show a dip in lower socioeconomic groups and a slight rise in upper-class groups.
4. recruits don't come from the inner cities. in fact, they are the most underrepresented group. suburban and rural recruits are both OVERrepresented.
5. 41% of all recruits come from the south (36% youth pop), 24% come from the north central us (23% youth pop), 21% come from the west (24% youth pop), 14% from the northeast (18% youth pop).
tell ya something else, the rand corp did a study some 20-30 yrs ago that showed .mil types are more honest than ave civs, too (cops being the most honest).