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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
71% Of Eligible Gen-Zers Don't Qualify For Military Due To Obesity, Criminal Records And Other Reasons
2021-05-11

[ZH] Bloomberg is out with a Monday report chronicling the sad state of affairs the US military has found itself in - notably trying to lure eligible recruits from Generation Z with a cartoon series dubbed "The Calling," which will run on YouTube during May and June.

As Bloomberg notes, "The Army—the U.S. military’s largest service—faces a complex set of problems: the eligible recruiting pool into all military services is small; and the newest generation of prospects, Gen Z, has had almost no contact or knowledge of the military, which has largely fought wars abroad since 2001. The Gen Z cohort grew up with technology, the internet, and social media."

The videos feature Emma, the self-proclaimed spoiled kid; David, the Hawaiian kid who at first didn’t let himself dream about becoming a pilot; Rickie, who grew up in a religious Haitian family in Florida; Janeen, a singer performing on cruise ships who joined the Reserves with the help of her Vietnam-veteran father; and Jennifer, born to first-generation Dominican immigrants, who worked long hours to make ends meet. -Bloomberg

It gets worse.

According to the report, almost 71% of those aged 17 to 24 - roughly 24 million out of 34 million people - are ineligible to join the military because of "obesity, lack of high school diploma, or a criminal record," according to Pentagon data.

In order to lure the eligible Gen-Z'ers, the Army will be spending $425 million on marketing, with the goal of recruiting 60,000 to 70,000 active-duty soldiers, along with 40,000-45,000 National Guardsmen, and 13,000 to 17,000 members of the reserve. To do this, prospective recruits will be served content on YouTube via 15-second trailer. If a person watches at least 10 seconds of the ad, they will see a two-to-three minute episode of the recruiting cartoon, followed by an invitation to hop over to the Army's website.

"Gen Z flips through social media like it is an Olympic sport, and in order to get them to stop their thumbs for a few seconds, you’ve got to surprise them," said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, the Army’s chief of enterprise marketing. "The Calling has got a much more different look and feel than anything else than not only the Army has done—but nobody in the military has done something like this."

America's foreign adversaries must be laughing their asses off.

Only 29% of Generation Z eligible for military service because of obesity, lack of high school diploma, or a criminal record: Pentagon pic.twitter.com/BZHV9xnoG0
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 10, 2021
Posted by:Clem

#16  Good. They will be easier to conquer.
Posted by: DarthVader   2021-05-11 20:42  

#15  
Posted by: Skidmark   2021-05-11 16:31  

#14  If you ask me the military needs its particular moral vacuums. As long as they're healthy there's a role for everyone.

The kind who go 'kill kill kill... guts and veins in my teeth' are the rarest and most valuable assets. Maybe they can't crochet or help vaccinate villages, but they are the shaft you use to shaft with.
Posted by: Dron66046   2021-05-11 15:51  

#13  Some might say a certain segment of the Masons in the military is an element of organized crime.
Posted by: Clem   2021-05-11 15:34  

#12  Glenmore, great Alice's Restaurant reference.
Kids today won't get it.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia   2021-05-11 13:59  

#11  He said, "Kid, we only got
One question. Have you ever been arrested?"

hen he said "You to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W ... NOW kid!!"
And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W's
Where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
Committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
Looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
Rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me!"
Posted by: Glenmore   2021-05-11 13:48  

#10  I understand though the priority is making sure DIs do not use naughty language and/or hurt feelings.

Seriously.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2021-05-11 13:19  

#9  What's really sad is when I see youngsters, such as six- or seven-year-olds chubby.

But would a Gen-Z'er really consider the military as a career outside of just "needing a job", "paying for college", or "getting away from a miserable home environment"?

Back in the late 1980's, I remember one teenager who was overweight by plenty but wanted to be a Marine. Well, he was a success story. When he came back home on furlough, he was a lean, mean machine.
Posted by: Clem   2021-05-11 13:04  

#8  who joined the Reserves with the help of her Vietnam-veteran father

Ummm....not doing the maths, or is the ol' dog gettin' some?
Posted by: swksvolFF   2021-05-11 12:12  

#7  So after reading this I went to our cafeteria to eat. As I looked around I was shocked, mainly because I had not been paying attention, at the levels of obesity. I'm over 60 and I consider myself fat. But once I looked around at the 20 to 35 year olds I realized I was the only one in any kind of fitness. There were a couple of small groups of vets that were in shape, but the rest were not just fat, they were 60 plus pounds heavy. We have a couple generations that wont live to 65. I think it safe to assume that investments into obese treatments will be a sound investment.
Posted by: 49 Pan   2021-05-11 11:56  

#6  Obesity is easier to cure than the malnutrition that caused many WW2 inductees to be declared '4F' with bad teeth and the like.
Posted by: magpie   2021-05-11 10:53  

#5  Too much computer, game, and couch time?
Posted by: JohnQC   2021-05-11 09:47  

#4  The 70s show! drugs, race riots, AWOL, all coming for a new season. Notice any general officer types resigning/retiring in protest to the developments in DoD? I didn't either.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2021-05-11 08:54  

#3  ....DOD knew thirty years ago that this was going to happen. At that time, I was recruiting for the USAF in Akron, OH, and at least 60-75% of the people I talked to were DQ right off the bat.

And it's going to get worse. As we wokify the US military, they will find that a great many people they want to put in will be unable to read/comprehend their training (which, by the way, is set at a 6th grade comprehension level)or will be of a sufficiently criminal mindset that arming them would be the worst mistake we can make.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2021-05-11 06:04  

#2  

During NAM these issues did not bother the DOD.
In fact many a judge offered a thug the ARMY/MARINES/NAVY as an alternative to prison.

Sure there were a bunch of 365/200's. But my father and older brothers (both CSM's) also saw a lot of Duty Hut Supply types that performed support and Admin duties very well.

For those that screwed up again in service while in NAM, it was the LBJ. In the US it was a collection of Camps & Forts that used converted WWII wooden buildings w/o AC surrounded by Razor Wire for a Prison.
Posted by: NN2N1   2021-05-11 05:40  

#1  Only 29% of Generation Z eligible for military service because of obesity, lack of high school diploma, or a criminal record...
Clickbait. If the Government wants more warm bodies most of those are ignored. Obesity? One to three weeks of more exercise. No High School diploma? Criminal Record? Both are waived at the government's pleasure.
Posted by: magpie   2021-05-11 01:34  

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