The thought the topic about the infantry being the lowest scoring on the AGCT was very interesting, and now I know where the belief that the infantry is the dumbest individuals in the military started. However, I really find it hard to believe that no higher ups thought that this was a bad idea. The reason is because the common foot soldier protects the most important asset the military has the service member and one wrong move by an individual could cost the lives of hundreds of men. In addition, a riflemen not only knows his job but also is a jack-of-all-trades because at the front resources are not always available, which we have learned from In Deadly Combat. Finally, I would like to say that in today’s military the individuals serving in the infantry are not the dumbest members in the service but on average the smartest based on the ASVAB (today’s equal to the AGCT, the ASVAB is based on a score from 0-99). While, to get into the infantry it only takes a score of 30 (which is the lowest for any job in today's military) one cannot be placed into the infantry without wanting to go in the infantry. It is because of this it is highly competitive to get an infantry spot and for this reason and a few others today’s infantrymen are some of the brightest members (based on the ASVAB) in the military both enlisted and officers. (My public serve announcement is now over)
In addition, I thought the reading this week was remarkable about the U-boats that 75% of the U-boats never sunk an enemy ship and that Germany had 29 U-boats in July of 1940. It was amazing the damage those few U-boats caused during 1940. I once heard that Hitler wanted to have a least 100 U-boats before he started a war with Britain. I wonder what would have happened if Germany would have had twice as many U-boat in 1940 or if they had the 100 that Hitler wanted if Britain could have lasted past 1941?
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Yes, I agree Buck, the service members of America's infantry today certainly better qualified than those draftees were back in the day. One might attribute this to the general increase in education in America since the forties, but I think another major reason is that our forces are all-volunteer. This way we only have people who think they're up to the task signing on. Now, I might not say that they're the smartest out of everyone, but no doubt they are on par with many other jobs.
And indeed, if the German U-boat fleet had been used to its full potential, who knows what may have happened. I think Britain would have been slowly strangled much as they were strangling Germany through their blockade.
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