Arny Krueger wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in
message m
Arny Krueger wrote:

"Pete Wilcox" wrote in message
news:Pine.GSO.4.60.0805272118540.27281@squire
On Tue, 27 May 2008, Arny Krueger wrote:

Simply setting up a test this stupid is like flunking
an IQ test, let alone advertising that you screwed up
in such an obvious way on TV.
The depressing fact is that 50 per cent of the entire
human race is below average intelligence...

ducks and runs...

I became acutely aware of that when I served in the U.S.
Army. Many people in the middle class are blithely
unaware of the fact that almost everybody they encounter
has an IQ 100. I sure was.

The type of people you encounter in the US military
depends on the work you are assigned, and whether there
is a war going on. The dumbest soldiers I encountered
were in supply, the motor pool and a few infantry types
who thought anyone who wasn't on the battlefield 90% of
their TIS wasn't military.

Yes, that is what I saw. BTW, I served while there was a war going on.

I was a Broadcast Engineer for AFRTS, worked on the
WeatherVision system at Ft. Rucker, and installed some
sound systems. I tested out of the three year
electronics school at Ft. Monmoth and was awarded my MOS
while in basic. I was told that almost no one passed
that MOS test, even five years after completing the
course. I received the highest score on record for my
MOS at Ft Knox.

Never was offered the opportunity to test out of anything.


They thought they couldn't lose, or they wouldn't have offered me the
chance. Of course, ever soldier who ever changed a fuse in something
electronic thought he was an expert in the '70s.


Aced Hawk Radar school, and got the highest proficiency rating in the Army
for my MOS while I served, the first time they tested me for anything like
that. They never got a second chance! ;-)


I forgot to mention I was loaned to the RADAR techs when they were
shorthanded. By the end of the day they were trying to get me
permanently transferred from the WeatherVision system.


They were phasing out my MOS to civilian contractors when it was time
to 're-enlist'. I had a VERY interesting talk with the re-enlist office
about two weeks before I was to leave. In fact, when I had to clear his
office all he did was turn quite pale, say "You're NOT going to
re-enlist, are you soldier" tell me to enjoy life as a civilian and sign
my papers. I also turned down an electronics civil service job a
year earlier. I would have had to spend the next 20 years at Ft Rucker,
Al. if I had signed.


The people I worked with were no different than in any
other technical job. It was the unhappy people doing
mostly menial military jobs that didn't seem very bright,
but some of them were just bored to death. If you got to
know them you discovered that some were well read, and
some were taking one or more military correspondence
courses, or going to night classes at a nearby college.

Again pretty well mirrors what I saw.

The Army had a number of beneficial effects on me, because when I returned
to University after serving, I became an ace student there as well.

Others would have been losers, no matter what they did,
and a few were in the military to keep from going to
prison.

That was an amazingly large part of my basic training platoon - guys who the
judge told: "Jail or Army" Lucky us!

If you served during W.W.II or Korea, they took a lot
of people they wouldn't have, in peace time. They needed
people who could shoot, and who could be quickly trained
to take care of themselves on a battlefield. In a lot of
cases, they were strong, but not well educated farm boys.

Ditto for Vietnam.

People who couldn't afford college, and spent most of
their lives doing hot and heavy labor on the family farm.
They wouldn't have scored high on an IQ test, but in no
way were they stupid. They just never got the chance to
get much of an education. OTOH, they were the guys you
wanted at your back when the **** hit the fan and the
fighting meant life or death.

I avoided those kinds of situations.


I ended up in Alaska, walking over two miles to and from work at -40
or colder, and in the dark. SOme of the guys who saw combat wanted f to
go back. They told me they preferred to be shot at, than a slow death by
freezing.


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