December 18, 2005

Rep. Murtha was right about low IQ recruits

The 37-year Marine veteran said recently that the Army was taking 20% of its new recruits from below the 30th percentile on the military's IQ test, compared to only 1% from 1992 to 2003. The Baltimore Sun reports:

The Army exceeded by 256 its goal of 5,600 recruits for November, while the Army Reserve brought in 1,454 recruits, exceeding its target by 112. To do so, the Army accepted a "double-digit" percentage of recruits who scored between 16 and 30 out of a possible 99 on the military's aptitude test, said officials who requested anonymity.

I believe the "16 and 30 out of a possible 99" refers to percentile. We know that the October proportion of low scorers among recruits was 12%, so, presumably, "double-digit" means worse than that.

More amusingly, over at the popular liberal site Pandagon, the crowd's reaction to this news consists of the two things liberals love doing more than anything else (here and here)

1. Bragging about their high IQs and scorning low IQ people as "mouth-breathers."

2. Denouncing the entire concept of IQ.


My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

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