Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks
Sounds like the plot of the comedy "Renaissance Man"
Quote:
"It's academic immersion," explained Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, chief of staff at Fort Jackson, home of the Army's largest basic training school. "Our studies show that with only three out of every 10 people of military age being capable of joining the Army, we are going to have to do something different."
That includes turning six World War II-era buildings at the base into a mini-campus of spartan classrooms and barracks. Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.
FFL language lessors - Simon Murray's book
Perhaps, a more balanced view. Re-read it recently in connection with Horne, Galula and Trinquier.
Quote:
Amazon
Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign Legion (Mass Market Paperback)
by Simon Murray (Author)
-excerpt-
.... With me were two Germans, a Spaniard, a Belgian, and two Dutchmen. Everybody was tense. The tape played in English, and I was informed that I was about to sign a five-year contract and that when l had signed there could be no turning back. The voice that came over the loudspeaker was solemn and had all the gloom of a judge pronouncing sentence of death. I wanted to talk to it, I wanted to talk to anybody who was English, but it was a one-way dialogue and it was decision-making time. We listened in silence and nobody said anything, nobody started shouting to get out, nobody cracked or lost their nerve or gave way to rising panic. Then we filed through into an office one at a time and signed the contract. It comprised three enormous tomes of unintelligible French. Attempts to read it were discouraged and would have been pointless, anyway.
http://www.amazon.com/Legionnaire-Ye...ref=pd_sim_b_5
PS: selil. Not to start an argument since education is your department and not mine. The 30% figure has nothing to do with US ranking in world education (a separate discussion), but those that can meet Army standards. Perhaps, that figure has not changed since Mich State started as a land grant college. If so, you probably have the stats on that. Another point in the 30% figure is lack of physical and legal health. The article doesn't break out that stat. So, it is also possible that the same % that failed there would have failed in 1940, 1960. Don't have any stats there, but I suspect you do.
Regards
Mike
Further PS - selil. There is some stuff re: your inquiry in War Crimes thread, but I haven't had time to post it - maybe this weekend. Damn day job.
Army opens prep school for dropouts to fill ranks
THis experiment seems IMHO to be a return to pre-1914 schooling in the UK, not for other ranks, but officers. We then had a plethora of private schools, mainly boarding schools, with Officer Training Corps and a good percentage joined up - for the military or colonial service. I am sure others have written on this theme, from non-military viewpoints.
After the Boer War the British Army had to think hard on the lessons learnt from recruiting a large field army from the industrial masses - who they found were physically weak etc.
Methinks someone has been reading up on the history of recruiting armies.
davidbfpo