Monday, June 14, 2010

Most Philadelphians Not Fit For Military

PHILADELPHIA (AP) A nonprofit group says that up to 90 percent of young Philadelphians are ineligible for military service because of criminal records, obesity or lack of education.

Pennsylvania-based Mission: Readiness released its report Monday. It says 1 million Pennsylvanians are ineligible for the same reasons.

Mission: Readiness is made up of more than 150 retired generals and admirals. The group wants state and federal funding for pre-kindergarten programs that it says give children a solid foundation for academic and personal success.

The report says 145,000 Philadelphians ages 18 to 24 cannot meet the military's medical, moral and mental standards.

Nationally, the Department of Defense estimates that 75 percent of young adults are disqualified from military service.
Read the rest here.

4 comments:

The Anti-Gnostic said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Anti-Gnostic said...

The US has 2.3M men and women on active duty and reserves who are apparently fit for duty. Why is this a problem?

Also - we have been there and done that with early intervention programs; they don't work.

Anonymous said...

The issue is symptomatic of a general decay in society - whether we need more young people in the military is besides the point. I have lived and worked in Philly off and on for a number of years - it is really a sad place, a model for a lot of the systemic problems Americans face: economic, criminal, racial, cultural. Rough town that drags people down low.

On the other hand, I really do believe it is a perfect place for Orthodox missions. The Churches there (esp. In NL) need to wake up and become evangelistic and charity oriented asap.

Ed said...

Man, if these dudes had ever been to an Eagles game, they wouldn't say that. For the Eagles, half of Philadelphia would kill Santa Claus. Unfit for service, my butt! Just tell the Philly crowd that their enemies are Cowboys fans. That'll do the trick right quick.

E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!