Friday, October 19, 2007

Here we go again

If you've been reading some of my earlier posts here, you know I'm not a big fan of all the Army's so-called "recruiting strategies". Plain and simple, it's my view that the Army has lowered entrance standards over what they ought to be simply to meet quotas, and the fact that those in charge keep trying to spin it some other way, really irks me. Now I read online at Stars and Stripes where "Army researchers are looking for ways to measure young troops’ enthusiasm and 'heart' to find ways to include more borderline recruits". The article went on, "…the test can help spot recruits whose body mass index labels them unfit to serve, but whose drive and strength show them to be worthy of an opportunity". So, what the Army seems to be saying is that when a potential recruit can't meet physical or other standards (already lowered from earlier times) then that's OK, let's just take a look to see how "enthusiastic" they are. If the Army judges them as being enthusiastic enough, then why not let them join; who knows, maybe they might eventually make it. That means more pressure being placed on Drill Sergeants who will not only have to deal with making qualified personnel into warriors, they will now have to figure ways to develop "enthusiastic but sub-standard personnel" at the same time. Dumb proposal.