On 1/17/14, 12:25 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Fri, 17 Jan 2014 10:14:24 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:


I never experienced the "delights" of a pre-induction physical, but a
few of my contemporaries told me about their experiences in the mid to
late 1960s. They weren't as exciting as Arlo Guthrie's saga in "Alice's
Restaurant," but I do recall them telling me the pre-induction screening
was minimalist in nature.

When I was living in West Virginia, one of my buddies was an Army
captain and physician who was the "doc" who examined potential enlistees
in Cabell County. I recall him telling me of the great numbers of
wannabes he had to turn down because the ravages of the poverty of their
youth kept them from meeting even minimal standards. It was sad, he
said, because the military would have offered them a way out of their
abject poverty and lack of educational opportunities.

You must not have been around during the 'Project 100,000' days. Funny, being drafted and going
through the 'system', and I've never heard of the 'great numbers' turned down because of the
'ravages of poverty' keeping them from meeting minimal standards. I think you were had. Draftees
didn't have to meet very high educational standards. Many could speak only minimal English.


I don't know what "Project 100,000" was.

Let's run through this again.

My friend, the military doctor examining physician in the area of West
Virginia where I lived for a while told me he turned down great numbers
of potential enlistees because the ravages of poverty kept them from
meeting even minimal standards.

Now, ask yourself, what does an examining *physician* mainly look at
recruits?

He looks mainly at their physical health. As in how healthy are they
physically? Upon observation and examination, do they appear physically
healthy enough for military service? Are there indications of problems
because of the ravages of childhood diseases, poor nutrition, et cetera?
How about their teeth?

Now, surely, if a potential recruit was otherwise acceptable but the doc
picked up on a gross mental or emotional abnormality, that might trigger
a rejection, but the doctor mainly was looking for physical conditions.

His comment about lack of educational opportunities was his way of
plugging what was available to these guys once they were in the
military, in that they certainly had few educational venues back home.
They'd likely end up unemployable or working a miserable job in the
mines or driving a coal truck or pumping gas. In the military, at least,
they might learn skills that would serve them in their futures.

I wasn't talking about "high educational standards" they weren't able to
meet.