On 1/17/14, 2:49 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:12:57 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:


From Wikipedia, for your reading enjoyment:

Project 100,000 was initiated by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara in October 1966 during American
involvement in the Vietnam War and ended in December 1971.[2] Considered part of Johnson's Great
Society by giving training and opportunity to the uneducated and poor, the recruited men were
classified as "New Standards Men" (or pejoratively the Moron Corps) and had scored in Category IV of
the Armed Forces Qualification Test, which placed them in the 10-30 percentile range.[3] The number
of soldiers reportedly recruited through the program varies, from more than 320,000[3] to 354,000,
which included both volunteers and conscripts (54% to 46%).[2] Although entrance requirements were
loosened, all the Project 100,000 men were sent through the normal training processes with other
recruits, and performance standards were thus the same for everyone.[4]

Project 100,000 soldiers included those unable to speak English, of low aptitude, with physical
impairments, and those who were too short or too tall, among other categories. They also included a
special category - a control group of acceptable soldiers. Each of the different categories was
identified in their official personnel records with a large red letter stamped on the first page of
their enlistment contract. Human resources offices had to prepare reports on them, to be submitted
monthly to Department of the Army. The monthly reports did not include the identity of the
soldiers.[5]

At one time, while serving as a Company Commander in Germany, almost half of my new arrivals would
be those folks. This would make training and maintenance very hard, as most could not read manuals.

When you talk about the medical conditions of all those poor folks which prevented their induction,
I really wonder what medical conditions were in play...black lung disease, cancer, heart conditions?
I don't remember taking an X-ray during my induction physical in Kansas City with about 500 other
kids going through the line. There was certainly no EKG.



Project 100,000 explains a lot.

I don't know what medical conditions were keeping these kids out, other
than the aftermath of untreated childhood diseases, malnutrition, no
visits to doctors or dentists.

Wasn't the pre-induction physical facility in KC somewhere near Union
Station? Did you ever get a chance to look at the bullet holes on the
exterior of the station? Someone at the paper was always writing a piece
about it and the "massacre."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_massacre