Army Hopes Dropouts Can Fill Gaps

Opens First Prep School Aimed At Students Who Quit High School

(AP)  Austin Swarner left high school to care for his mother while she fought a losing battle with cancer. Tony Brown wanted to begin supporting himself and left two classes shy of a diploma. Haelee Holden got tired of trying to make it through school while flipping burgers until 1 a.m.

But the U.S. Army, eager to fill its ranks amid wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, doesn't see them as dropouts. They are recruits who only need a GED before they're ready to begin basic training.

And so, the Army formally opens its first prep school Wednesday.

"It's academic immersion," explained Col. Jeffrey Sanderson, chief of staff at Fort Jackson, home of the Army's largest basic training school. "Our studies show that with only three out of every 10 people of military age being capable of joining the Army, we are going to have to do something different."

That includes turning six World War II-era buildings at the base into a mini-campus of spartan classrooms and barracks. Under the yearlong pilot project, classes of about 60 soldiers will enter the monthlong program every week.

Their day begins in uniform at 5 a.m. with physical training. Then they attend about eight hours of academic review classes, followed by homework each evening. An hour of marching drills and military discipline is thrown in for good measure.

"It's a tough, structured day. Some of them have sat on the couch for 18 years, but I haven't heard any howling yet," said social studies instructor John Solis, one of 14 certified teachers on hand. "By and large, they are chomping at the bit; they are ready to go."

The soldiers work in small classrooms outfitted with simple desks, chairs, and dry-erase boards. In-desk computers are used for test-taking. Grouped three to four to a class, the students hunch over special GED preparation books, working on basic math, social studies and reading selections.

Recruits must score in the top half of the Army's aptitude test to qualify for the prep school and get two tries at a General Educational Development certificate. If they still can't pass, the Army will release them from their contract, Sanderson said.

He said the Army prefers those who graduate from high school on their own, because it demonstrates "tenacity." But the reality of current graduation rates has the Army pressed to find an alternative, Sanderson explained.

Holden, 18, of Medford, Ore., is racing through her first week of practice tests before taking a formal GED exam soon. She left home at 16, one of nine children of a mill worker, and wants to be a military police officer.

"There's no jobs out there, nothing. It's just horrible. And it got hard just trying to support myself and go to school at the same time," Holden said.

Swarner, a native of Baton Rouge, La., left school in the ninth grade. Now 20, he dreams of becoming a combat engineer.

With the small classes, hovering teachers and a disciplined schedule, Swarner said he's learning quickly.

"The teachers here are helping a lot. My best class is English, the hardest is probably the math," he said.

With the GED behind them, Swarner and his classmates will enter basic training at Fort Jackson, where more than half of all incoming male soldiers and more than 80 percent of female recruits go through basic combat training. Others will go to one of the Army's three other basic training sites.

Those entering prep school have signed on for a two- to four-year stint, just like any new recruit.

"We have two missions: get the GED and prepare them physically and mentally for basic training," said the school's commander, Capt. Brian Gaddis.

Last October, Army officials said they intended to expand the force by adding 74,000 soldiers by 2010, with the active duty force growing to a total of 547,000.

But Sanderson said the Army's own studies show that only 3 in 10 people ages 17 to 24 are eligible to enlist, with the remainder barred by health or legal issues, or the failure to earn a high school diploma or equivalent.

A study issued by the National Priorities Project released in January found that while the Army has a goal that 90 percent of recruits be high school graduates, it hadn't met that percentage since 2004. In the 2007 budget year, the Project found that only 71 percent of soldiers entering the service had graduated.

Gaddis said he knows his students might have quit high school, but believes that shouldn't be held against them. He added that the school is a move to reach those who have been left behind, not to attract those who are less qualified or lower than the Army's standards.

"These kids may have quit at some point, but the big thing is, a lot of people have quit on them," Gaddis said. "We are not going to allow them to quit."

[runningralph]

Back in the day it was SOP for a high school dropout to join the Army and get a GED. Many of them did well in the Army. Recently the Army did a survey and concluded that about 75% of American youth were unfit for duty. One reason was the huge number of high school dropouts. Another was the huge number of youths with a criminal record. Another thing that used to be common was that a judge would give a boy a choice of going into the Army or going to jail. Lots of boys would choose the Army and do well. The Army needs tough boys. The Army can teach them discipline.

[keithle1]

D A R N! That''s all I said! Please do something to stop this insane filtering/blocking!

[keithle1]

I didn''t mean to say "***." Please find it in your heart to forgive me, CBS. I was raised by wolves.

[keithle1]

You better have a *** good reason for dropping out of high school, kids! I mean a REALLY good one.

What''s going to happen when the military no longer needs all of these recruits? Or are we planning to start some more wars? Look for more stuff around the world that we can stick our big nose in. Spend more mega-billions. Not like we have any domestic needs/concerns/problems/issues.

[babooph]

Just have "phantom" troops, like Bush-send a check to them at home& fake attendance-the "embedded" news crew can fake a victory & all will be happy.

[ioweign]

Posted by hbevis at 01:30 AM : Aug 28, 2008
########
George Bush: Military man

1972 Year that Bush walked away from his pilot duties in the Texas National Guard, Nearly two years before his six-year obligation was up.

$3,500 Reward a group of veterans offered in 2000 for anyone who could confirm Bush''s Alabama guard service.

600-700 Number of guardsmen who were in Bush''s unit during that period.

0 Number of guardsmen from that period who came forward with information about Bush''s guard service.

0 Number of minutes that President Bush, Vice-President *** Cheney, the Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, the assistant Defense Secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, the former chairman of the Defense Policy Board, Richard Perle, and the White House Chief of Staff, Karl Rove - the main proponents of the war in Iraq -served in combat (combined).

0 Number of principal civilian or Pentagon staff members who planned the war who have immediate family members serving in uniform in Iraq.

8 Number of members of the US Senate and House of Representatives who have a child serving in the military.

10 Number of days that the Pentagon spent investigating a soldier who had called the President "a joke" in a letter to the editor of a Newspaper.

46 Percentage increase in sales between 2001 and 2002 of GI Joe figures (children''s toys).

[ioweign]

No child left behind

Regards,

Posted by Nancy_Naive at 06:45 AM : Aug 28, 2008

Exactly Nancy -

Did you know...

... that the notorious No Child Left Behind Act includes a sneaky section that requires high schools to turn over private information on students to military recruiters?

And that the Pentagon has created an illegal database of 30 million 16-25 year-olds, including names, addresses, email addresses, cell phone numbers, ethnicities, social security numbers, extracurricular activities, and areas of study?

www.leavemychildalone.org/

[usclimey]

HMMM! The country''s "best and brightest" include high school dropouts now. What''s wrong with this picture?

[mnbrant]

Combat engineers are the same as your basic leg infantry in the Army except they don''t get paid as much, they don''t get laid as much, and the chow isn''t that good. No joke

[tootall10142]

They did ask me if had a diploma. I said hell i just turned 17 and im not sure if i can be a soldier.They assured mr that they would give me everything i needed to be a good soldier.I guess some werent given enough. I took from where i could and showed no mercy.I have a handful of metals cib with clusters .sevral unit cits.and the regular *** they hand out and then some.Looking twoard the military as way to improve your self , well ithink aevery one should take a time check and consider the fact that the armed forces dont always go as you hope and some day you may be behind the operating end of a life taker.