Lowering Standards

When the Army can't enlist enough soldiers, what does it do?  It lowers standards:

The Pentagon is planning a change that will allow applicants to use calculators on the military's entrance exam -- a timed test that gauges academic aptitude and dictates what jobs in the military, if any, they are qualified for, three defense officials told Military.com.

The change in the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, could help relieve an ongoing recruiting slump, which is attributed to many young Americans not scoring high enough to qualify for enlistment. It would also put the ASVAB on par with how test-taking has evolved in the past decade, with calculators being widely used in math classes and on college entrance exams such as the ACT and SAT.

"We are taking a systematic approach, which will assess the impact of calculator use, and we are developing a way forward for calculator inclusion," one Pentagon official told Military.com...

The shortfalls are due to an amalgamation of issues -- but at the forefront is a shrinking pool of qualified young Americans, 17- to 24-year-olds, who are eligible to enlist. Many of those applicants are being turned away due to poor performance on the military's aptitude exam.

And criminal records.  And obesity. And drug use.  And...

Back in my day, back in the 80s, if the needed more soldiers, it just accepted a a couple more percentage points of "Category 4" enlistees.  Category 4:

Two principal Department of Defense (DOD) quality benchmarks apply to NPS recruits. The first quality benchmark is the percentage of NPS enlistees who are high school diploma graduates (HSDG). The second quality benchmark is the percentage of scores above average on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT Categories I-IIIA).  Since FY1993, the DOD’s quality benchmarks for
recruit quality have stipulated that at least 90% of NPS enlistees must be high school diploma graduates, and at least 60% must score above average on the AFQT...DOD regulations require that no more than 4% of an annual enlistment cohort may be Category IV (10th-30th percentile on the AFQT).

The Army recognized they were Category 4, knowing it might take longer to get and keep them in shape.  It didn't lower the physical standards that categorized them.

But that seems like what the Dept of Defense is doing now, lowering the standard.

Air Force Football Helmets

Some lefties are so foul, you wonder how even their own kind can stomach them:

Leftists have gone on the attack against the U.S. Air Force Academy football team for honoring the WWII Doolittle Raid on Japan that occurred immediately after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

On Tuesday, Air Force Football revealed its new uniforms, which feature a tribute to the Doolittle Raid.

Left-wing trolls blasted the Air Force for celebrating the raid conducted by American heroes who showed Japan that the U.S. was not down for the count after taking such heavy losses at Pearl.

I just posted a comment on another post in which I had to quote John Stuart Mill, and that same quote applies in this case.  Maybe it's true of all lefties.  They are just like those milquetoast so-called men that Mill referred to, "a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

Doolittle and his men qualify as better men than those who disparage them.

Changing The Mascot Will Lead To Improved Student Achievement, Of Course

These high schoolers don't know what a Minuteman is?  That's kind of pathetic:

In 2021, the Mt. Diablo Unified School District Governing Board updated their mascot policy, requiring schools to choose non-human mascots in the case that the current one is deemed offensive or insensitive. The school board said that a student committee was formed last year at Concord High School and that students chose to replace the school's mascot, which depicts a Revolutionary War militia member holding a musket, with a bear...

Student trustee Susanna Barrios said that many students she talked to did not even know what a minuteman was and given that the school is majority Latino, did not feel represented by the mascot.

"I want to change the mascot to something that they have pride in and trust in," said Barrios.

I recommend the Marshmallow, as that's what between the ears of almost everyone in this story. 

But not everyone:

"It’s disgusting to disrespect those who fought and sacrificed to defeat tyranny and ultimately found our great nation, and to add insult to injury, they’re replacing it with a meaningless and trite mascot that viciously murders small animals," reacted Matt Shupe, the Republican Party chairman of the Contra Costa County where the school is located.

I hope he's just jerking their chain with that last part, but this next part is true:

"These woke schools need to prioritize teaching math, reading, and writing to catch up from the educational losses during the pandemic rather than spitting on the memories of our veterans," he added.

Pay Back Your Student Loans

I can forgive the high school students a little bit.  Every teacher they've ever had has been a college graduate, and thus the mantra students hear from the first day of school is that they must go to college.  If they choose to do something else they're met with the consternation of screwing up the first adult decision they have to make.

College students, though?  They're supposed to be smart enough to figure this stuff out, and to be wise enough to look beyond just their nose:

According to Fidelity’s College Savings & Student Debt study, six in 10 high school students say they won’t be able to afford college without the help of student loans, and more than one-third (36%) don’t know how long it will take to pay them back.

Additionally, the study results reveal 65% of college students taking advantage of the current federal payment pause say they have no idea how they’re going to start repaying their loans once the emergency pause is lifted this fall.

"These findings are not as much a surprise as they are a concern," says Jesse Moore, head of student debt at Fidelity Investments. "This October will be the first time in over three years that most federal borrowers make a student loan payment, and a lot has changed in three years. These people have bought homes, started families, changed jobs and all have felt the impacts of inflation."

They bought homes without considering how they'd afford the homes in addition to their previous debts?  Are you serious?  I don't have a lot of sympathy for such people.

I applied to 4 universities back in the '82-'83 school year.  Two were military academies, two were public universities.  I got accepted into one of the military academies and both of the public universities, but couldn't afford UCLA or Purdue.  Before I got the acceptance documents from West Point, and being financially responsible even at that young age, I considered postponing college for a few years; the plan was to join the military, then get a degree using the GI Bill.  

Some might say that the GI Bill route and West Point both required someone else to pay for my schooling, and that would be correct.  It would also be irrelevant.  In both cases I agreed to work for the government in order to get my education.  There was an agreement, not an abdication of my own responsibility.  I worked within the system, I didn't expect the system to accommodate my whims as those mentioned above have done.

As for the high school students, I encounter too many for whom a community college is beneath them.  It costs a lot to be housed and fed--just ask any parent!--so yes, going off to college is going to be an expensive proposition.  I'm forced to ask:  what are you doing to mitigate this cost?  Anything?

Having a sense of personal responsibility can be a heavy burden in today's society, as we look in awe at those who have no such sense and wonder how they can be so shameless in their sense of entitlement.

After You've Taken One Objective, Advance To The Next

From Students For Fair Admissions, the group that brought the end of affirmative action in higher education:

Were you rejected from West Point?
Or the Naval Academy or the Air Force Academy?

It may be because you’re the wrong race.

Or are you a high school senior and plan to apply to any of these service academies?

Gaining admission to West Point is tough. Not only must an applicant have superior academic accomplishments, one must be in excellent physical shape, and receive an appointment from most often a U.S. senator or member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

But West Point, as well as the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy, uses an applicant’s race and ethnicity as a factor in admissions. That’s unfair and unconstitutional.

We are Students for Fair Admissions—the membership group that recently won a major Supreme Court victory in our lawsuits against Harvard and the University of North Carolina. You can read our press release about the Supreme Court opinion here.

We are committed to ending these practices at America’s military service academies.  link

The Harvard/UNC ruling specifically exempts the military academies from the prohibition against affirmative action.

Independent Taiwan

I despise such silliness:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated U.S. support of the "One China" policy on Monday, saying that the U.S. does not support Taiwanese independence following a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"We do not support Taiwan independence," Blinken said in a press conference on Monday. "We remain opposed to any unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We continue to expect the peaceful resolution of cross strait differences. We remain committed to continuing our responsibilities under the Taiwan Relations Act including making sure Taiwan has the ability to defend itself."

This has been US policy since I was in elementary school and it's stupid--about as stupid as the Cuban embargo. 

But back to my point.  Worse than the policy is total lack of diplomatic ability in Blinken's remarks.  There was no subtlety to them.  Would it not be better, if you're going to have a stupid policy that hopefully no one truly supports, to be a little more vague so as to keep the Chicoms guessing?  At least be coy, maybe wink at Taiwan and smirk while making such comments?  Something?

Here's my hard-nosed view:  the government in Taiwan is the legitimate government of China.  It was forced out of mainland China at gunpoint in 1949 and set up shop just off the coast, where it has operated nonstop ever since.  The government in Beijing is illegitimate.

Here's my realpolitik.  I have another international relations belief, that 25 years after something has happened, it's over.  Israel has held "Syrian" land since 1967, and the Syrians haven't taken it back; they've lost claim to it.  China annexed Tibet in 1951, and all the "Free Tibet" bumper stickers in the world haven't altered that reality.  Unless borders change in a few years, Crimea will be part of Russia and not Ukraine.  And the Chicoms have run mainland China since well before I was born, so whether we like it or not, we have to recognize the situation on the ground and deal with them as a government.  Of course, by my philosophy we'd also officially recognize Taiwan as independent and would seek to have it readmitted to the UN.

If I were Taiwanese, I wouldn't have a lot of faith in the US Secretary of State or the current White House occupant, not at all.  I certainly wouldn't trust them to abide by any defense pacts.  Scenes from Kabul 2021 would keep me awake at night.

Update, 6/27/23:  I'm not the only one: 

A large majority of Americans say the United States should recognize democratic Taiwan as independent from Communist China, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday.

Sixty-four percent of likely voters told Rasmussen that "the United States should officially recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, separate from China." Only 14 percent oppose U.S. recognition of Taiwan, while 22 percent are unsure.

Veteran Apprenticeship Programs

Two West Point classmates who made it to Congress – one Republican and one Democrat – are teaming up on a bill aimed at expanding opportunities for veterans to pursue non-college educational opportunities with their GI Bill benefits. 

Reps. John James, R-Mich., and Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., are leading the legislation, which would target pre-apprenticeship programs that aren't currently covered for those leaving the service. Those programs can help veterans get skills they need for formal apprenticeships that can lead to good-paying jobs. 

"What this bill does is, it helps on the very ground level to help with housing, to help with tuition, to make it more affordable for veterans to have a smooth dovetail into apprenticeship programs," James said in an interview with Fox News. 

"This expands the options for vets who may say, I don't need to go to college," Ryan added. "This lets them use the benefits they've earned to do that."

link

A Teachable Moment That Slipped Away

Neither the students nor the teacher acted appropriately in this situation:

A Grafton, Wisconsin, middle school teacher allegedly made terroristic threats to his students after he discovered students had drawn swastikas on a notebook found in his class, according to reports.

On May 12, police were dispatched to John Long Middle School after a report of a teacher making threats about guns and harming students, Fox 6 in Milwaukee reported.

When police arrived, they spoke with the school principal who said David Schroeder reported finding a notebook with a swastika on it in the classroom. Then, two days later, the teacher saw two students in possession of a drawing with swastikas on it.

A student claimed Schroeder confronted the class about the drawing and said it was inappropriate before telling them, "I wish pain on all of you and your families."

The student also said the teacher threatened to have his daughter visit the pupils’ homes with a baseball bat, adding that "all Jews have guns." Schroeder also allegedly told the student he had 17 guns in his basement.

Honestly, I don't know that middle schoolers today truly understand the depravity of the Nazis.  Sure, they know calling someone a "nazi" is a bad term, but they probably don't understand much about what the Nazis did to earn having their identification turned into one of the worst pejoratives around.

I'm told that, for a variety of reasons, kids don't learn today what I learned in elementary school.  I was in 5th grade only 30 years after that war--for a sense of relative time, today we're further away from Gulf War I (Iraq/Kuwait) than my 5th grade class was from World War 2.  I remember watching WW2 movies in 5th grade, I remember the bulldozers' pushing nameless heaps of naked Jewish bodies into mass graves.  And 5th grade wasn't the first time I saw such movies.  Think about it, when I was in 5th grade the people who served in WW2 were younger than I am today--and I'm quite the spry fellow.  They wanted us to know, it was important to them that we understood.

I also remember learning about Jet magazine's coverage of Emmett Till.

In my little suburban elementary school in the poor part of town, built on grounds that had previously been a temporary detention center for Japanese-Americans during World War 2, we learned the ugly truths of history.  There was no white-washing, there was no cover-up, but neither was there guilt for something we hadn't done.  We were taught the evils that had preceded us as a way to ensure they could never happen again.

Has today's extreme sensitivity, no doubt in the name of protecting students from "trauma", caused students not to be able to learn the past's lessons as my generation did?  I wonder.

So perhaps the middle school boys in the story above just weren't as educated as they could have been.  Or perhaps they were just middle school boys being middle school boys--a thought that doesn't conjure up images of intelligence, maturity, or empathy.  Either way, and neither option is ideal, the teacher lost the opportunity of a "teachable moment" and completely lost his cool.

And no one is better off because of it.

The Coronation (part 2)

I did in fact get up at 2 a.m. to watch King Charles' coronation, and as expected, the British didn't disappoint with ceremony and pageantry.  I was struck by 3 words that were repeated throughout the service:  law, justice, and mercy.

Those few times Charles himself spoke, I noticed that he pronounced "serve" as "sehrve", just as Mrs. Hughes did on Downton Abbey.  :-)

After the coronation itself there was a large parade of UK and commonwealth soldiers, sailors, and airmen.  The news people kept repeating the phrase "4000 troops" as if to emphasize how big this parade was.  Clearly they've never been to West Point, where a parade of the Corps of Cadets has about 4000 troops and happens all the time!

Speaking of news people, perhaps for the next coronation they'll shut up for a bit.  Gawd, they just kept talking and talking, let us watch the ceremony and hear what the participants are doing.  I don't need to know each piece of trivia.  When one would start talking I'd switch to a different network, and would stay there until their talking heads started talking, at which time I'd switch to another.  I was tuned in to watch the ceremony, not to listen to them.

One of the things I enjoy about the pageantry is the uniforms.  Being a former soldier I love the uniforms, and there were so many different types on display today!  But the best-dressed person there wasn't wearing a uniform.  OK, I just have to say it.  I don't usually care what types of suits and dresses people wear, but the Princess of Wales looked awesome in her Britannia-themed attire.  Sure, Princes William and Andrew and Princess Anne looked resplendent in their robes and uniforms, but that red, white, and blue outfit of Princess Catherine's was darned impressive.

OK, it's almost 7 a.m. and I've been up for 5 hours.  I'm going to go get a couple hours more sleep now....

A Letter From My Congressman

About 3 weeks ago I called out my congressman for failing to respond to my letter about the rape of women Merchant Marine cadets while on ships at sea for training.  I closed that post by saying, "Ami Bera, on the other hand, from whom I've received more franked letters than all the other congressmen I've had in my lifetime combined, can't share a letter or a phone call regarding the rape of Merchant Marine cadets.  What are your priorities, congressman?"

Well, I received another of those franked letters today:

Fancy words, Ami Bera.  You're full of crap.  You care about yourself, certainly not about everyday Americans, certainly not about those in uniform, certainly not those women cadets.  And I'm not even going to address the obvious economic silliness in the content of the letter above, which is far worse than your usual letters.

I used to give the man the benefit of the doubt.  No longer.

I'd Never Heard of This Service Before

This link to the Veterans Canteen Service is on the VA web site:

Unworthy

In both June and October of this year I wrote posts about the rape of US Merchant Marine cadets while aboard merchant ships for "practical exercise" training.  On October 9th I wrote my congressman about this issue, saying in part:

As a West Point graduate I’m sensitive to any mistreatment of our cadets, midshipmen, and military members.  As a man I’m sensitive to the mistreatment of women.  As a human I’m sickened by the mistreatment of some of our Merchant Marine cadets while they’re at sea and, for the most part, unable to protect themselves.  My hope is that you will be as angry and disgusted as I am when you read about what some of them have allegedly suffered.

It seems clear that the Merchant Marine Academy needs to do a better job of vetting the placement of cadets, especially women cadets, on sea voyages.  It seems equally clear that the US Coast Guard needs to be more aggressive when investigating such allegations.  And the only way these two events will happen is if Congress exercises a bit more painful oversight.

Thus, I’m asking you to consider if and how Congress might influence the Merchant Marine Academy to do a better job of preventing the types of attacks I’ve described, and how Congress might influence the Coast Guard to be more pugnacious when investigating these types of attacks.  Lastly, I’m asking you to lead this fight.  

Our Merchant Marine cadets deserve better than the treatment they’re currently receiving.

It's now been two months since I sent this letter to Washington, with no response.  So, Congressman Ami Bera, I'm calling you out publicly.  You send franked letters to your constituents a few times a year asking what you can do for them; I bring you a serious problem and don't even get a response.  To say I'm disappointed in you would be an understatement.  To be honest, I expected better from you.

When my grandfather died 25 years ago, the Veterans Administration was in turmoil and told my grandmother it would be 6 months until grandpa would get a headstone for his grave.  I wrote my congressman at the time, Vic Fazio, and asked for his assistance.  His local office responded to me, agreeing that 6 months was a ridiculous time to wait for a headstone.  They got some information from me and a few weeks later called me to let me know a headstone would be in place in a couple weeks.  After I wrote a thank-you note to the congressman and his staff, I got another call from the local office--no one ever thanks the congressman (or his staff) for their work, they said; rather, people get what they want then go about their lives, and mine was the first thank-you note they could remember receiving.  Vic Fazio is not someone my grandfather or I would ever have voted for, but the congressman and I didn't see a need to treat each other as enemies--we just had different political views, is all.   We treated each other with respect and decency, my situation was resolved, and both of us came out better for it.  Whenever I see signs for the Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area, I can spare a kind thought for the congressman and what he did for my family.

Ami Bera, on the other hand, from whom I've received more franked letters than all the other congressmen I've had in my lifetime combined, can't share a letter or a phone call regarding the rape of Merchant Marine cadets.  What are your priorities, congressman?

It Can't Start Any More Even Than This

 

Beat Navy!

Update:  I don't know that I've ever seen a worse half of Army football, at least as far as offense goes.  Only 33 total yards, one first down, and less than 8 minutes of possession.  Remarkably, defense has held Navy to 3 points, and a blocked punt by special teams resulted in an Army touchdown.  So, defense and special teams showed up for this game, where is the offense?  At halftime it's Army 7, Navy 3.

Update #2:  It was a squeaker.  Army tied it 10-10 in regulation inside of 2 minutes, taking the game to overtime.  Army's first play from scrimmage was a touchdown, and Navy answered with their first completed pass of the game for a touchdown.  Navy got the ball first in 2OT and the Army defense caused a fumble at the goal line.  Army played it safe for their possession and won with a field goal.

Army didn't score an offensive touchdown in regulation but still won the game 20-17 in 2OT.  I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty, and that was as ugly as I can recall seeing Army's offense play.

Here's what ESPN shows, and take my word for it, as bad as it looks, it looked a lot worse for Army at the end of the first half.

Beat Navy!

A Good Weekend

Except for the last Army drive, with less than 2 minutes to go, ending in an interception--and the subsequent 13-7 loss--it was a great 35th class reunion.  I got to see people I knew and share fun memories, that's always nice.  One classmate shared a flattering memory of me--it's good that he remembered it because I sure don't!  Of all the roommates I had at West Point over 4 years, more than half of them were there.

I was able to get decent video of the national anthem followed by the fly-over, and the pilots and crews of the aircraft were introduced inside the stadium in the 3rd quarter and thus got to see the rest of the game from ground level :-)  I saw my former student up on the Jumbotron when all the pilots were welcomed into the stadium during the 3rd quarter, but there's no way I could've gotten over there to say hello before he'd have moved to a seat.  I'm sure his mother told him I was there.

I'm very not happy with the Army Athletics ticket office.  My class had a section in the stadium reserved for us and I paid over $100 for the game ticket, and we were stuck behind the north end zone.  Geez, after 35 years and a lot of money you'd think we'd get better seats than that!  There was an upper deck overhang above my seat such that I couldn't see the open dome from my seat, and neither could I see if a kick was any good unless the ball barely inched over the cross bar of the goal post--I went and sat closer to the front of the section, with friends, so that I would have a somewhat better view of things.

My classmates who organized and planned the reunion did a spectacular job.  I'm very impressed with how smoothly the reunion went.  I don't know if I'll go to another one any time soon, but I'm glad I went to this one.

Our Country We Strengthen.  '87.

Go Army, Beat Air Force!

You can follow the stats here.  I'm at the game, having posted this in advance :-)

Last year members of my class had such a good time at the game that we voted to center our 35th reunion around the game this year.

35 years.  Holy crap.

Veterans Day Offers

The VA offers this list of offers, free meals, and other goodies for active duty military and veterans next Friday, Veterans Day.

It'll Be An Early Day Tomorrow and Saturday

This morning I received a text message from the mother of a former student.  This student graduated from our school in 2011 and four years later from the Air Force Academy.  He is currently a fighter pilot.  Anyway, here's the text of the message:

Hi Darren!  Wanted to let you know--this Saturday is the AF/Army game (televised on CBS).  <name redacted!> will be flying the F-35 for the flyover.

My reply was simple:

I'll wave from inside the stadium :-)

Yes, I'm taking tomorrow off work to fly to Texas for the Army-Air Force game.  My class is having our 35th reunion this weekend, centering on the game.  Sadly, I'm not as confident in our chances of victory this year as I was last year, but I still expect to have plenty of opportunities to hear the two sweetest words in the English language:  TOUCHDOWN, ARMY!

Kickoff is at 11:30 Eastern, 8:30 Pacific.  Physically I'll be in the Central Time Zone but my body will still be on Pacific Time.  At least I'll get an extra hour of sleep Saturday night when we change the clocks back.

Department of Defense Schools Are Not Immune to the Zeitgeist

Why do some people insist on providing explicit sexual material to other people's children?  And wouldn't you think that such people wouldn't get very near Department of Defense schools?  If you do, you'd be wrong:

Pentagon school libraries contained dozens of books with jarring, pornographic content, such as detailed instructions on how to have sex, or radical gender ideology from elementary to high school, a Fox News Digital investigation has found. 

Fox News looked into over 50 schools, selected at random, at the Department of Defense Education Activity, which services over 66,000 military-connected children in the Americas, Europe and the Pacific. Some of DoDEA's libraries boasted specific sections for "banned" books, including explicit titles such as "This Book is Gay," which discusses orgies and sex apps. 

Many of the pornographic and radical gender ideology books were added within the last two years amid President Biden taking office. This finding was determined by taking into account dates books were originally published.

DoDEA and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

I'll bet they didn't.

Books in DoDEA high schools were found to contain sex imagery, detailed instructions on masturbation, recording sex, sending nude pictures, how to have anal sex and other topics. 

It's not a school's place to provide such information to students.  That's what their parents (and the internet) are for.

Hearts Are Breaking Everywhere

Will this give North Korea the excuse it needs to invade?

The global superstars of BTS will perform their mandatory military service in South Korea, the group's representatives said Monday, confirming a move that was long dreaded by their army of fans.

The group's seven members will all fulfill their requirement to serve and not seek any further delays or special exemptions, BigHit Music said in a statement. It said that oldest member Jin will be the first to serve, with the stars to reconvene as a group again around 2025 after fulfilling their service commitment...

Under South Korean law, all able-bodied men are expected to serve 18 to 21 months in the military to defend against the threat from the country's nuclear-armed neighbor, North Korea. But the law allows for special exemptions to be made for some, including athletes, musicians and others who enhance the country's prestige.

Painting Yourself Into A Corner

Imagine the logical contortions needed to justify this:

Under President Joe Biden’s administration, transgender women who are born male must register for the Selective Service, which provides the Defense Department with troops in the event of a military draft. Transgender men who are born female do not have to register for the Selective Service. While the policy was established before Biden took office, the Biden administration has not changed the standard...

The website states that all biological males must register for the draft, including “U.S. citizens or immigrants who are born male and have changed their gender to female.”

The website also notes that “Individuals who are born female and have changed their gender to male” do not have to register.  

When your government needs you to bleed for your country, there are only 2 genders--and they're the ones people are born with.  Your government doesn't care about your feeeeeeeelings or how you "identify".