Reply #20: Then why did they take so many of my delinquent wards with GEDs? [View All]

Not that I have any problem with them taking the kids. This was a while back, before they allegedly loosened their standards, and most of my kids were wards for petty crimes (minor in possession of alcohol, possession of small amounts of marijuana, etc.). And, every once in a while, they would find a genius in that underachiever, someone whose skills weren't otherwise recognized. For kids who have been in a reformatory setting, sometimes going right into the military is the best option because of the regimental daily life. When they finish their tour, they are older, more mature and better organized, so they are less likely to fall back on their previous misbehavior.

A recruiter called me once about one of them, a kid with excellent burglarly skills. He wanted to know if I thought the kid would do well in special forces. This was a very smart kid with a screwed up family, who would have just dragged him down if he'd stuck around. And, just for the record, our program would have paid for him to go to college, so the Army wasn't his only option. It was the one he wanted.