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Military Academy Admission Down
by k at 3:22 pm EST, Nov 23, 2004

] "I really have seen it dwindle in the last year, and that
] to me is curious," Brenda Melton, a counselor at the
] Navarro Academy in San Antonio, said. "I think part of it
] is that the war is a major topic and they see people
] getting killed over there and not everyone is in
] agreement with it."

[ Really? It's curious? Makes perfect sense to me. We're in the middle of a war which has, maybe, 50% support among the populace, and from which we have daily casualty reports and imagery. Despite the best efforts of the Bush administration to portray this as a morally imperative war, people are skeptical, and I don't think it's surprising at all that fewer folks are thinking about a nice long stint in americas armed forces.

Though maybe i'm wrong... what are the numbers for regular enlistment like? Have they gone up or down? We're not in the greatest economy at the moment... doesn't that tend to drive up enlistments? I would think, if those are down as well, at a time like this, that doesn't bode well for current levels of actual support for the current war plan (or lack thereof), the election notwithstanding. Plenty of people have supported this war. I wonder how many put their bodies where their mouth is. -k]

RE: Military Academy Admission Down
by noteworthy at 1:23 am EST, Nov 24, 2004

This article is grossly misleading and poorly crafted. It wasn't even passed through a spell-checker or proof-read by an editor before being published. Who could have missed the reference to "solider" instead of "soldier"?

This "Navarro Academy" is a small (~200 students) high school. Who cares what this woman thinks? Maybe her students aren't as interested because the economy is turning up. Or maybe it's because only four of the 17.7 teachers at Navarro are men. Or maybe it's because they suck, and or their students suck, or any of a million other reasons. It's a random data point suffering from a rather severe selection bias.

http://www.schools-data.com/schools/NAVARRO-ACADEMY-SAN-ANTONIO.html

k wrote:
] Really? It's curious? Makes perfect sense to me.

Then, simply put, you are easily misled, my friend.

The headline for the article doesn't even correspond to the body of the article -- not even one word in. The author can't tell the difference between applications and admissions.

The military academies are among the most competitive public colleges/universities in the US.

So getting into West Point just went from insanely exclusive to very, very difficult. BFD.

] what are the numbers for regular enlistment like?

This data was in the article you memed. Did you even read it?

The Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy all met or exceeded recruiting targets for the last year. The active-duty Army and the Army Reserve exceeded recruiting goals, while the Army National Guard fell short.

Even when the ANG is said to have "fallen short", keep in mind that they still turned away a significant number of potential recruits who made serious inquiries about enlisting. "Meeting the numbers" isn't the prime objective here; this isn't the stock market. Quality people are the objective, and the bar is set high intentionally. If the military "wanted" more people, there are already plenty of willing candidates getting turned away.

Military Academy Admission Down
by Mike the Usurper at 2:22 pm EST, Nov 23, 2004

] But it's unclear whether a drawn out conflict will have
] an affect on military academies. While war can stir up
] patriotism and boost interest in military careers, the
] long, unpopular war in Vietnam was thought to have
] depressed application rates to West Point.
]
]
] "I really have seen it dwindle in the last year, and that
] to me is curious," Brenda Melton, a counselor at the
] Navarro Academy in San Antonio, said. "I think part of it
] is that the war is a major topic and they see people
] getting killed over there and not everyone is in
] agreement with it."

Curious, although not surprising.