DaJudge
January 26th, 2008, 07:40 PM
3. Army Draws Fewer High-Quality Recruits
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For the third consecutive year, the Army missed benchmarks for education
standards among new recruits in 2007. The service would like to attract 90
percent of new recruits with high school diplomas; studies show that better
educated new soldiers are more likely to complete their first enlistments. In
2006, 73.1 percent of all Army recruits held diplomas; in 2005, the figure
was 83.5 percent. The decline is a 20-year low. The figures were released
by the National Priorities Project, a Northampton, Mass.-based independent
research group that focuses on the use of taxpayers' money. Complete
recruiting statistics are available at
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/militaryrecruiting2007
on the group's Web site. The group attributes the decline to the war in Iraq. They were also smart enough to figure out that wealthier neighborhoods remain under-represented.
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For the third consecutive year, the Army missed benchmarks for education
standards among new recruits in 2007. The service would like to attract 90
percent of new recruits with high school diplomas; studies show that better
educated new soldiers are more likely to complete their first enlistments. In
2006, 73.1 percent of all Army recruits held diplomas; in 2005, the figure
was 83.5 percent. The decline is a 20-year low. The figures were released
by the National Priorities Project, a Northampton, Mass.-based independent
research group that focuses on the use of taxpayers' money. Complete
recruiting statistics are available at
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/militaryrecruiting2007
on the group's Web site. The group attributes the decline to the war in Iraq. They were also smart enough to figure out that wealthier neighborhoods remain under-represented.