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Uncle Sam doesn't want you. At least 80 percent of you.
These days, the U.S. military is only taking 20 percent of the applicantswho walk into their local recruiter's office intent on enlisting in thearmed services.
Army Sgt. 1st Class Terrence Hoard told the Kansas City Star that hisrecruitment office once needed to sign up 16 to 20 soldiers per month tomeet recruitment goals. Today, he can get by with 10 to 12.
"We're turning down twice as many as before," he told the paper, whichreported that four of every five adults who seek to join the military in2014 do not make the cut.
The U.S. Army hopes to hit 57,000 recruits for active duty this year. It'son pace to do just that, even while applying a stricter set of standards asit pertains to physical fitness, appearance (i.e., tattoos), intelligencetest results and an applicant's criminal history.
The Navy is no different.
"It's not that we have a zero defect mentality, because we don't," NathanChristensen, a Navy officer in public affairs for the Defense Department,told the Kansas City Star. "But it is true that the quality of militaryrecruits right now is the highest it's been in 40 years."
The tough environment for potential recruits is due in large part to troop
reductions in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Pentagon's plans to cut
the size of the active duty Army.
The Kansas City Star reported that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel aims to
lower active duty soldiers from 520,000 to 490,000 by autumn 2015.
By Epictetus
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