How pathetic are American youth?

Politics
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One of the things that I really found startling from this other discussion (Fewer and fewer Americans want anything to do with serving in the military) was these following statistics:

The pool of those eligible to join the military continues to shrink, with more young men and women than ever disqualified for obesity, drug use or criminal records. Last month, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville testified before Congress that only 23% of Americans ages 17-24 are qualified to serve without a waiver to join, down from 29% in recent years.

So nearly 80% of American youth are either obese, drug addicts, have criminal records, or poor academics (one of the other issues mentioned in other links). Eighty ■■■■■■■ percent??? It’s unbelievable! I would love to know the actual breakdown for each of the categories?

I was curious on others thoughts about this?

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Luckily for us, youths in other countries are just as pathetic.

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Strong men make for good times, good times contribute to making men soft, soft men make for bad times.

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I suppose I could have also titled this thread - How pathetic are American parents? :man_shrugging:

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Obesity is a real factor and its worrying.

As for drug use I would like to know exactly what type of drugs? I suspect they are talking about pot but I could be wrong.

Same with criminal records, here in America the system loves to prosecute the most minor of offences.

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Tough to blame the youth when the people raising them are complete morons who can’t even take responsibility for their own lives, let alone serve as good role models for children.

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You are.

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Yep…when things are at their worst, “we” are at our best. When things are at their best, “we” are at our worst and since the end of WWII, relatively…things have been at their best…especially since the last man came home from Viet Nam in 1975. Now consider, that’s coming up fast on 5 decades ago and two generations.

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First thing I thought of when I read the thread title.

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An increasingly growing percent are single parent households:

Facts On Unmarried Parents in the U.S. | Pew Research Center.

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Bad times make for strong men. ‘Round and round’ we go. :wink:

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The more criminals they bar from service, the more the Military will decay.

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And so the cycle continues…

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Maybe the pro military party has spent six years bashing the whole concept of signing up for the military and going overseas. Maybe their leader called them morons for getting wounded or dying in wars from Vietnam to Iraq.

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And the judge said jail or the army boy, your choice.

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“I tell everyone the US government is evil, a piece of dog ■■■■ that probably isn’t worth remaining part of, and I have for twenty years and now I don’t understand why the kids think dying for that government is a stupid ■■■■■■■ idea.”

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Ironically, it’s against Military regulations to be coerced into service, whether or not it’s by a judge. That deal bars you from service. You can take the deal (once upon a time at least), but you can’t tell your recruiter. You essentially have to lie, which is also a violation. :person_shrugging:

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It was common in the seventies. I have several friends went in that way.

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It was common all the way up until around 9/11.

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Ah. I didn’t know quite when it ended, just that it did.