I was discussing this question with a friend earlier and thought that I would post it on here just to get some opinions and maybe have a debate going.

Can any random person join the United States army, receive the proper training, get plugged into a soldier's position, and get the job done? Obviously it takes courage and bravery to actually do it, but if any random person absolutely HAD to be a soldier, could they suck it up and do it and achieve results similar to the results current soldiers achieve?

Of course, I'm not talking about positions in the army where a high amount of education and training is required. I'm talking about a basic soldier in the military who can just sign up and receive training.

What do you think?

What are you even talking about?

Neither of you realized that countries have drafts or mandatory military service requirements that turn random people into soldiers?

babies are pretty easy to kill so I don't see why not

op,

Join the army and let us know. I'll be waiting for the TR.

Yes, obv

it depends how dumb you are.

"The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature." -- Edward Gibbon

no, only the few and proud

Courage! Bravery!

"If a man’s life can be bought with hot chow and pretty ribbons, can you really complain?"

I think it depends on the motivation. I'm involved in a paramilitary profession (firefighting) and our academies are based on on military basic training in a lot of ways. Watching the lack of discipline many of the younger guys have and the inability for them to adapt to that environment makes me think that many of the ones who can't make it through a basic FF academy would never make it through military basic training. However, given the proper motivation (death, imprisonment, or whatever) I think many of them could get it together and follow chain of command and whatnot.

People don't join the military out of bravery or altruistic reasons. They do it because they are too dumb or poor to go to college.

all in the game

This is pretty ignorant. While it is true some people join because they have a lack of other options many do join out of a sense of duty, or because they want to experience something much of the population doesn't. I know a ton of college educated people with military experience that are definitely not dumb hicks who had no other choices. My dad was an Air Force pilot who has a degree in engineering from Notre Dame and then got his JD...guess he must have been fairly dumb and poor.

From the OP:

I had a serious case of deja vu with this thread. I could swear I've read this thread before, especially post #3.

Anyway, the answer to the OP is no.

JayTee,

Fair enough, I got a bit carried away responding to the part about only the dumb and poor and ignored that part of the OP.

Edit: I was also responding to the part I quoted which seemed to generalize people who join the military as a whole, and not just in response to the OP.

big difference between the chairforce and some ground pounder kicking in doors and getting his nuts blown off by a trap.

I might feel a strong "sense of duty" if my other option would be likely unemployment -> poverty -> homelessness->...

I'm sure there are people who choose to do military service that could also have a good job in the private or public sector. But afaik statistics show clearly that the poor are over and the wealthy underrepresented in the US military.

As for the original question, I'm pretty sure everybody can be a soldier if he's motivated (for whatever reason). That being said, as in everything, some are gonna be better at it than others.

Lot a pretty demented cynicism in this here thread.

No. I've seen plenty try and fail.

Serious answer is: no.

The Army did a study that showed two thirds of military age adults aren't eligible. Some reasons you pretty much can't join the military include:

Have a record
Taking anti-depressants or other psychiatric medication
Dropped out of high school
Flunk a initial drug test
Too fat

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/joini...lstandards.htm

It isn't related to education or race. The racial makeup of the present military is comparable to the US overall (about a quarter minority), and the educational attainment levels are as well regarding high school and bachelor's level. The enlistment and commissioning standards change based on need and most obviously when there is a draft. When I joined in 1995 the requirement to enlist was a high school diploma, or an equivalency and something like 15 or 20 college credits. Then there's the entire officer corps to factor in who are 90%+ college graduates.

And of course none of this considers that the demographic in question is fairly young and many won't use their education benefits until after leaving. The average age of people on active duty is only 28, and yet their educational achievement level compares well to the entire age 25+ demographic of the country. I won't even get into all of the time a person in service will spend in military schools, which only increases over the years.

I can't really speak to the socioeconomic classes of new enlistees and cadets as a whole beyond their educational levels, I don't know offhand. The Census says that 14% of the country is under the absolute poverty line so that's something to compare to I guess. It seemed like a pretty fair mix to me from what I saw. There were definitely some people from depressed areas like Louisiana or ****ty dead-factory towns, but then there were a lot of others who had the type of folks who bought them a new car for their high school graduation.

People join the army for a lot of different reasons and most had little to do with money. Especially back then, when unemployment was very low. Early on I made something like $1,000 a month gross and maybe $60 cost of living for being in Alaska. They threw in a free barracks room and meals at the chow hall, medical/dental, and they paid 75% of tuition for classes on post. But you work long hours, in the field you might sleep 5 hours a night for a couple of weeks in ****ty conditions (no PlayStation), and they don't pay overtime. And that was peacetime conditions.

Why would you need a playstation when you get to blow up actual cars and planes and babies?