Dumbing Down

Bottoms up. LATimes (10.04.05):

"Facing recruiting shortages brought on by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has decided to accept a greater number of recruits who score near the bottom of military aptitude tests, the secretary of the Army said Monday. Coming off a recruiting year in which the Army fell short of its goal of 80,000 active-duty soldiers, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey announced that the Army would allow up to 4% of its recruiting class to be Category IV recruits — those who scored between the 16th and 30th percentile in the battery of aptitude tests that the Defense Department gives to all potential military personnel." Army to Lower Bar for Recruits

"The Army until now allowed no more than 2% of its recruiting class to be from the Category IV level, fearing that letting too many low-achieving recruits into the Army might dilute the quality of the nation's largest military branch." "Before being admitted into the military, a potential recruit takes a group of tests known as the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. The recruits fall into categories based on their performance on the aptitude tests." Based on how well you do on the ASVAB, you are assigned an AFQT (Armed Forces Qualifying Test) Category. There are three Category IV levels. What the article is talking about here is Category IVB. "In FY 2002, 69 percent of recruits scored at or above the 50th percentile on the AFQT (Categories I–IIIA)." Not to stir the inter-service rivalry pot or anything, but "Air Force recruits scored higher than those of the other three Services. Seventy-five percent of Air Force recruits scored in Categories I–IIIA, compared to 70 percent of Army, 67 percent of Marine Corps, and 65 percent of Navy recruits." You can take a practice ASVAB test if you'd like. Tain't as easy as you'd think. By the way, Army Secretary Francis J. Harvey "denied Monday that the Army was in the midst of a recruiting crisis...."