Non conforming details

[Fishtail]

I think I know the parents of all those fat kids.

I have a good friend who has owned a transmission repair shop since he got back from Viet Nam in 1972. I spend a fair bit of time there and I see the parents come in.

Grown men who have to ask another grown man to check their transmission fluid for them.

Grown men who stop in to ask if they can borrow a pair of pliers because their garden hose at home is on too tight. That's right, they don't own their own pair of pliers.

Grown men who come in to ask if their 22 year old son, who lives at home, can have a job. Where is the son? He's out in the Suburban but didn't want to get out because a song he liked was on the radio.

Grown men who don't own a single gun and who "don't like guns".

I could go on and on but you get the picture.

[Dennis]

I know we could all go on and on but I see a problem with no military draft. We used to have men who at least would serve for 2 years and that short time gave them some pride, discipline and perhaps a sense of belonging to a group bigger than they were. It also made America a country where most people had some sense of firearms usage. Now only a small percentage of men join the service and those poor guys go into combat zones 4-5 times or more simply because there isn't anybody else to go. I am not forgetting about the women and I think the military would be great for many of them as well. We have young men simply going nowhere but playing computer games, drinking and using drugs in many areas. I know there are millions of young men and women who work hard, bring home a paycheck, put themselves through college and become great citizens. Unfortunately there just isn't enough of them when compared to the ones we are all paying for.

Dennis

[Bruce Day]

We have too many who can't make it through basic even in the all volunteer force. Huffing paint, computer screen cleaner, failure to comprehend or follow instructions, continual mouthing off, petty theft, inability to get out of bed, minor injury malingering, all washes them out of BMT.

The military is neither equipped or funded to transform society as it previously was. Those funds have now gone to social welfare funding as political patronage.

FYI, a friend was commander of a unit that does USAF basic electronics training as a first step for various advanced skills. Electronics is a difficult program to enter and takes a fairly high aptitude score. He booted out two trainees last year because the first sergeant caught them huffing gold paint in their dorm room, with gold paint on their faces and floor. Two days after giving them an Art 15 non judicial punishment, he was in the exchange and saw them buying quantities of computer screen cleaner, so he asked the NCO to pay them another visit. He did and found them goofy huffing the stuff with it over their faces and in paper bags. So they were given general discharges and booted from an expensive program with virtually unlimited prospects for career USAF advancement or civilian jobs. Can't fix stupid.


The majority of our BSA young people are outstanding, high achievers. And I'm riding next week with the Air Force team on RAGBRAI. Extremely talented people. I'll post photos.

[Steve Hodges]

I cannot disagree with anything said on this thread on some of today’s youth, or parents for that matter, but I do think that we still have plenty of dam fine young folks and parents in this country of ours. They do not “stick out” like the others do, but they are there, IMO.

[John Taddeo]

Computer screen cleaner??? What ever happened to sneaking a "Stoneys or Hams" out of the old mans fridge out in the garage. Good God man... And yes sir there are some upstanding young men and women in this country.
PS. Does anyone remember moving the cans around so the old man wouldn't notice there was one missing

[Bruce Day]

In response to a suggestion of universal military service, here are some figures from the AF fact sheet, which are true for all services:

The propensity for a youth 18-24 to serve in the military is 12%, 17% male and 6% female. The propensity has been declining over the last decade.

73% of American youth 18-24 are not qualified for military service. Disqualifiers include poor aptitude scores, record of drug and alcohol abuse, significant criminal records, obesity, lack of ability to pass initial physical condition testing, and medical exam failures.

[Bill Murphy]

Unfortunately, we Viet Nam era veterans are not the parents of the problem children of today. We are the grandparents. We did not always do our best to instill our values in our children. My kids were headed for school and female, so it never occurred to me to recommend military service. My one son was a good candidate, but lived full time with his mother and I did not exercise enough control. Unfortunately, we are screwed on the school and college system which is run by career liberals. The latest is that Janet Napolitano will now run the California University system, guaranteeing a new crop of thousands of Communist leaning graduates.