So, the army has raised the enlistment age to 42

[WI_DEM]

In June it was raised to 35 and now it has just been raised to 41. Sounds like a pretty over worked army to me! and to think George W. said he would not over-extend our armed forces like that bad old Bill Clinton did. The army also lowered the minimum physical requirements to pass basic training for older recruits--now a 17 year old male recruit has to do 47 sit-ups, 35 push-ups and run 2-miles in 16 min, 36 seconds. For a 41 year old male you can get by with 29 sit ups, 24 push-ups and two miles in 19 minutes and 30 seconds. I can now see commercials showing fathers/sons mothers/daughters joining the army together--"The Family that fights together--stays together" might be their slogan.

What next, the draft?

[Lars39]

1. It's been raised to 42.

[Cronus Protagonist]

4. That's the prime number that is at the source of life, the universe and...

everything :)

And good luck to them if they try to draft 42 year old people - they won't be so easy to brainwash and herd like farm animals.

[TahitiNut]

9. 43 is a prime number. 42 is not.

42 is the answer to "the meaning of life, the univers, and everything." (It's also thought by some to be close to Hubble's constant.)

[lapfog_1]

16. It's also the answer to the question "what is 6 times 9" - n/t

[Rex]

18. Just think, Bush is #43*.

Someone inspect that scalp! Probably 665.

[TahitiNut]

22. Nothin' gohzintu. Ironic.

Just as a prime number isn't divisible by any number (i.e. "nothin' gohzintu it") but itself and one, "nothin' gohzintu" Junior either - no learnin' and no sense. I.e. the decider divider ain't divisible: "one moron, indivisible."

:silly:

[Rex]

24. Bush is an idiot savante.

And his wife is a savonette. :crazy:

[Sherman A1]

2. They keep going

and us old dudes will be eligible. I wonder can we get in on college money too?

[GreenTea]

3. Correct, 42 - and soon after the election to 45.

[RamboLiberal]

5. So far Only 5 People over 40 have signed up

I want to know how old some of these chickenhawk talk show squakers are - are any of them young enough to fight for their country?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-01-army-age_x.htm

The Army has begun training the oldest recruits in its history, the result of a concerted effort to fill ranks depleted during the Iraq war.
In June, five months after it raised the enlistment age limit from 35 to just shy of 40, the Army raised it to just under 42.

To accommodate the older soldiers, the Army has lowered the minimum physical requirements needed to pass basic training.

The first group of older recruits is going through basic training here. So far, only five people 40 and older — and 324 age 35 and older — have enlisted, Army records show.

Soldier 'Mom' inspires recruits

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-01-soldier-mom_x.htm

Margie Black — mother, grandmother, prison guard — has a new title: Private, U.S. Army.

At 41, she's more than twice the age of the never-been-away-from-home teenagers who fidget and fret at the L. Mendel Rivers complex, the Army's front door to the newly enlisted. She's been here less than a week, and her calm demeanor has earned her a nickname.

"They call me Mom. They do it in a respectful way," she says. "I respect them, too."

When Black was 19, she wanted to join the Army. Pregnancy with her daughter Ashley prevented that. A year later, Nathalie came along, followed, a year later, by daughter De'Na.

[NoAmericanTaliban]

6. Does that mean the chickenhawks like Hannity will now join?

Make sure you let your repug friends know about this. Now, they have no excuse to sign up. That is what Hitler did in WWII - kept raising the age limit as the war went on.

[libhill]

7. Hope they have plenty of replacements

in that age group, to cover all the heart attack related deaths in basic. The more desperate the military gets, the more wars these anus cavities try to start -

[lisainmilo]

8. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT

lol....they just might use that slogan....i mean they used to say if you didn't support the war then you were unpatriotic. I say if you support the current administration...please show your support...enlist...ask for front lines. As for me, I am not interested in supporting the "new vietnam".

[partylessinOhio]

10. Raise it up to Cheney's age and then draft his a$$.

[WI_DEM]

11. And Bush too

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Lemme know when it reaches 62.

And, having already put 4 miserable years in the Marine Crotch, I'll break out my map to Canada. Which is where I helped send kids in the '60s.

[BrotherBuzz]

15. Your 4 miserable years in the Marines don't count against your age

58 would be your magic number, except, I think 55 is mandatory retirement for enlisted people. :shrug:

[BrotherBuzz]

13. I'm beginning to believe the only solution....

excluding the draft of course, is to outsource. Methink the military could fill its ranks it it started recruiting overseas. Promises of greencards could do wonders to bolster the military numbers.

[Cathyclysmic]

14. It's already happening. Blackwater.

[libhill]

26. Why not

it's been done before - the ranks of the Indian fighting army of the 1800s were largely comprised of European immigrants. Americans had little interest in their military in that age.

[treestar]

17. Can't wait until it is raised to 46, so Ann Coulter can join

Freepers from 35 to 41 are now rushing to the recruitment offices.

:sarcasm:

[guinivere]

21. I would bet good money that they wouldn't take her.

Not that her crazy self would run out to sign up. But her being a lying nutbar and looking just plain ill would get her out of it.


I'll bet that FreeperLand is damn near empty. They will finally all get to fight their idiot king's war.

[Cobalt-60]

29. Hold On!

We can't send Anne Coulter.
We'll be up for a war crime!

[WilliamPitt]

19. Link?

[WI_DEM]

23. front page of USA Today

www.usatoday.com

"Army Makes Way for Older Soldiers"

[Deja Q]

20. That's an incentive: Rob people of things to fight FOR... and then

raise the volunteer age, thinking lots of Americans will defend what's going on.

Interesting game plan... not well executed, but the concept of shifting from ag to manufacturing to IT to the latest being a military-based economy could have been done better.

[Marr]

25. Here's your chance, Freeps!

Don't give me anymore of that "I'm too old now" bullshit! Go go goooo!

[libhill]

27. Hey, I think you're onto something -

the Freeptards are so gung ho and patriotic, here's a good opportunity for them to put their money where their mouth is. Go kill them some A-rabs what done did 9/11, like Bush done told us -

[Cobalt-60]

28. Walker Brigades

I wonder if they'll assign everyone with the same kind of blood pressure medicine to the same unit.
Perhaps we'll field a Walker Brigade.
I'd have to describe my condition at 42 as useless for front line military service when compared to my actual enlistment age of 22.
I was hardly an invalid, but humping it across the desert all day or crossing bayonets with a suicidal militiaman in the prime of health were well beyond my capacity by 42.
Fitness enthusiasts might be of some use.
There aren't enough of them to make a difference.