United States Military experiencing problems associated with population’s health woes
Alan E. Moses
February 17, 2007
Recently President Bush called for expanding the military by 93,000 enlistees. This is at a time when recruitment is at all time lows. The reasons for this were first seen in 2000 as recruitment goals fell short by 25%. Although the fear of war could play a role there was no involvement when the numbers began to decline.
There is however another more serious issue at hand. And it will continue to influence America’s ability to protect itself for years to come. The very noticeable change in physical and mental health of the American population plays a major role. As seen in the educational system the numbers of students that require special education classes is becoming alarmingly high (13% in the state of Oregon).
There are qualification standards that must be met by recruits to ensure an ability to deal with very advanced technologies along with the safety issues that abound. Unfortunately this is making it harder for the military to find qualified individuals to fill the roles required to not only sustain but to expand the ranks.
Under former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld an attempt was underway to deal with these declining numbers by adjusting the type of strategies of a smaller military. It was thought to be plausible until the realities of war became apparent. You may destroy an army but to occupy and defend you must have sufficient numbers. This lesson was learned the hard way with the situation we now see in Iraq.
The retired US Army Major General Don Edwards writing for the Washington Post in June of 2005 reported that the US Army had lowered recruiting goals and loosened standards and still can’t meet the lower goals. Some of those standards that were modified should not come as a surprise.
The Defense Department chose to alter qualifications for those that have been diagnosed with the neurological disorders ADD/ADHD, and the autoimmune associated Asthma. Changes were made effective June 4, 2004 as you were not automatically disqualified from service due to these diagnoses any longer. Although to qualify you must have documented proof of no longer showing any of the symptoms and must have been removed from need of medication for a minimum of one year. Also it must be validated that you can indeed function without medication in the future and under normal life situations.
Of course by adjusting these qualifications it does show that we are indeed experiencing much higher rates of these types of disorders than we are lead to believe. And if this doesn’t make the government react I don’t know what will. To act as though these disorders are not a worry to the economic, social and health of our nation only allows it to become far worse overtime as our security has now begun to wane. Just maybe we should look within and start dealing with these problems. How bad does it have to become before we start to deal with an issue?
There is however another more serious issue at hand. And it will continue to influence America’s ability to protect itself for years to come. The very noticeable change in physical and mental health of the American population plays a major role. As seen in the educational system the numbers of students that require special education classes is becoming alarmingly high (13% in the state of Oregon).
There are qualification standards that must be met by recruits to ensure an ability to deal with very advanced technologies along with the safety issues that abound. Unfortunately this is making it harder for the military to find qualified individuals to fill the roles required to not only sustain but to expand the ranks.
Under former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld an attempt was underway to deal with these declining numbers by adjusting the type of strategies of a smaller military. It was thought to be plausible until the realities of war became apparent. You may destroy an army but to occupy and defend you must have sufficient numbers. This lesson was learned the hard way with the situation we now see in Iraq.
The retired US Army Major General Don Edwards writing for the Washington Post in June of 2005 reported that the US Army had lowered recruiting goals and loosened standards and still can’t meet the lower goals. Some of those standards that were modified should not come as a surprise.
The Defense Department chose to alter qualifications for those that have been diagnosed with the neurological disorders ADD/ADHD, and the autoimmune associated Asthma. Changes were made effective June 4, 2004 as you were not automatically disqualified from service due to these diagnoses any longer. Although to qualify you must have documented proof of no longer showing any of the symptoms and must have been removed from need of medication for a minimum of one year. Also it must be validated that you can indeed function without medication in the future and under normal life situations.
Of course by adjusting these qualifications it does show that we are indeed experiencing much higher rates of these types of disorders than we are lead to believe. And if this doesn’t make the government react I don’t know what will. To act as though these disorders are not a worry to the economic, social and health of our nation only allows it to become far worse overtime as our security has now begun to wane. Just maybe we should look within and start dealing with these problems. How bad does it have to become before we start to deal with an issue?
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