Most Youth Not Fit For Military Service

Are our youth fit for military service? According to Mission: Readiness, an advocacy group composed mainly of retired senior officers from the American military, the answer is largely No, and if we don't take action soon the problem will just get worse.

This group has issued a report that says nationwide about 75% of our youth are not fit for military service -- either because they are overweight, did not graduate from high school or have a serious criminal record. Personally, I find this to be a shocking figure, and one that needs to be addressed immediately.

While this is a national problem, there are four states that are doing especially bad -- Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Delaware (plus the District of Columbia). Here in Texas, about a third of 17 to 24 year-olds don't qualify because they are overweight or have medical problems. Another 30% did not graduate from high school -- a figure all Texans should be ashamed of, but our state leaders seem to regard as normal.

That puts Texas up to 63%, and we haven't even considered the young people with felony convictions, serious misdemeanor convictions, or drug and alcohol problems. And in Texas, our right-wing state leadership considers jail to be the answer to nearly any problem. That's why we lock up more people in Texas that most of the world's countries do.

What can we do to solve this problem? The group suggests a couple of things. First is to re-emphasize physical education. I'm an older guy, but when I was in school physical education was a requirement for every year of middle and high school. Now it's merely an elective in most schools.

That must be changed. I'm not normally one to talk about the "good old days", because for the most part they weren't that good, but in this case the emphasis on physical education shown in the past was the correct thing to do.

Many health advocates today want to emphasize what our children eat, but ignore the fact that a good physical education program would do more to help out-of-shape kids than shaking up the cafeteria menu.

And if a child can do any kind of physical education without causing actual medical harm, then parents do that child no favor by helping them to get out of psysical exercise. I was not a fan of physical education while in school, but looking back I realize that those classes I was forced to attend served me well later on in life.

But the main thing Mission: Readiness wants to see is a much greater effort given to early childhood education. They want the federal government to pump an extra billion dollars a year into early childhood education. When a kid gets to high school, their habits and beliefs are pretty much set. The earlier you can get to a child, the better chance you have to guide them in positive ways.

This is something liberals have been trying to preach for many years now. But right-wingers have fought these programs every step of the way, and for the programs already established (like Head Start) they have tried to gut those programs by continuously trying to cut their funding. Maybe they will change their tune now that the military is on board (since most of them don't think the military can do anything wrong).

I have to agree with the retired generals and admirals, but not just because better educated young people will be better for the military. Putting a much stronger emphasis on early childhood education will help all phases of our society and be good for the country in general.

The military is currently meeting its recruiting goals, but the advocacy group is honest enough to know that is mainly because our economy is so bad. For many young people, it's the only job available. But what happens when the economy improves and there are other opportunities available? With the current condition of our youth, the military may not be able to meet its goals.

Retired Army Major General James Kelley says, "Commanders in the field have to trust that our soldiers will respect authority, work within the rules and know the difference between right and wrong. Early learning opportunities help instill the qualities that make better citizens, better workers and better candidates for uniformed service."

I don't see how any American can argue with that.