Military Times says most injured enlistees from the South
Military Times is worried that injured enlistees are costing the Army millions of dollars in Basic Training injuries – fair enough.
Results were taken from rosters of Army recruits entering basic training during fiscal year 2017. Of a total of 99,335 trainees, just under 35% — 33,509 — sustained at least one musculoskeletal injury.
What’s more, medical costs associated with treating musculoskeletal injuries among Army trainees totaled more than $14.8 million.
Now, if you divide that out, however, that works out to less than $450 per injured trainee. Not good, but we pissed that much away in time waiting for the cattle cars to get us out to the range and back. But, as Mr. Popeil said, “Wait – there’s more!”
Musculoskeletal injuries among the sample pool were especially pronounced among women. Of the 19,262 female trainees in the pool, approximately 62% suffered from at least one such injury. That alarming number was in stark contrast to the 32% of male trainees reporting musculoskeletal complications.
62% ? But, I thought women were the equals or betters of men in all things? Going on – apparently the South ain’t gonna do it again because most of these sorry injured come from the South:
The study broke down injury prevalence further according to the home states of recruits. Of the 10 worst performing states, eight were in the South. New York and Rhode Island joined Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and North Carolina as states with the highest percentage of injuries reported.
As a result, the South represented the costliest region in the U.S., totaling nearly $7.2 million in medical expenses to treat trainees — or, approximately 50% of the total cost nationwide.
But just for fun, let’s looks at which states send the most kids into the service:
1. Georgia — 0.921 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
2. South Carolina — 0.847 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
3. Idaho — 0.832 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
4. Alaska — 0.829 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
5. Texas — 0.819 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
6. Arizona — 0.788 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
7. Virginia — 0.786 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
8. Alabama — 0.781 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
9. North Carolina — 0.770 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
10. Florida — 0.770 average military enlistees per 1,000 adult civilians
And you may note that at least two of these states (Alaska and Idaho) are low population hence statistical outliers, right? To me, this says more kids getting injured are from the South likely because more enlistees come FROM the South.
As Mr. Twain famously supposedly said (he actually attributed it to Disraeli) there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. And I’m not going to touch that 62% number.
Here is a little article on the Souths contribution to the military.
https://www.facingsouth.org/2020/01/understanding-souths-unequal-contribution-military-recruits
He attributes it to veterans in the area. IDK. But if true it would explain the sudden lack of interest in the last few years. Veteran support of Biben is quite vapid. The liberal challenges to the Republic and their suppression of individual rights and freedoms are things that most vets don’t want any part of.
Most Soldiers I knew were conservative in most areas. There were two registered Democrats I know of: one a college E4 from Kentucky and the other Charles Clymer (the name should ring a bell to long-time TAH readers). In 2016 I was hanging out with some fellow Drill Sergeants waiting for Eagle Skills Testing (basically, a handful of Trainees from selected companies assessed on their knowledge and training by other DS’) when the news came down that Trump had won. To say that we were all ecstatic is an understatement.
I knew that I wanted to avoid Fort Drum, Fort Lewis, and other places in liberal states or near large liberal cities. I got my wish, with the exception of being stationed in DC twice, which living in VA wasn’t too bad. Otherwise, KY, GA, LA, and VA were my only service locations.
I also suspect if you check it out that most of the enlistees come from the South in the first place.
When you click through to the study itself, the thing about women comprising most of the injuries isn’t even mentioned in the summary of the study.
The entire purpose and premise of the study was to point fingers at the southern states, they didn’t even mention the disparity in the sexes.
Looks to me like another faux study that was engineered from the outset to reach a predetermined conclusion and ignore anything that didn’t fit the desired narrative.
The articles did mention the female disparity. It isn’t more females, but it is twice the rate as males. This is unsurprising.
Might have more to do with the amount of experience/athletiscim in the male population vs female population. Most of the males are B or C grade athletes before joining the military. Most females that join are not athletes…though that may change now with all the female athletic scholarships going to other folks.
Yes, I didn’t state that very accurately. It isn’t “most” of the injuries are females, but the rate is much higher. Mea Culpa.
The article in Military Times did indeed mention the female disparity, my point was that the study upon which the article is based did not mention it at all in the summary. I don’t have time to analyze the entire study, so I imagine it’s discussed in there somewhere, but the study authors didn’t deem that part of the results to be pertinent or important enough to include in the summary. Wonder why.
This is neither new nor surprising. This has been studied for decades. Musculoskeletal injuries (most common are shin splints and pelvic stress fractures) are WAY more common among women. Their ability to sustain and recover from injuries due to heavy loads and/or pounding down hard pack or asphalt surfaces wearing shitty boots with little shock absorption is limited due to their build and skeletal structure which is (surprise!) different than the average male. Nothing cultural or societal about it, it’s physiological. Line up and get your Motrin…
I saw/took part in this very same study at West Point in 1983…IIRC, the results were nearly identical to these. I hate it when news outlets publish “surprising, shocking results” like they’ve never heard of it before…the Army’s known about this for at least 40 years.
Given the lead author is a consultant, and looking at his journal article history on PubMed, I would postulate that the primary purpose of the study is to cash a government check. The study is essentially the same as this one published in 2019 and which is no-pay access. The dude has probably cashed two checks – one for 2019 and one for the reboot in 2022. The government trough is so overflowing, a second scoop out of it will never be missed.
Which US States Pose the Greatest Threats to Military Readiness and Public Health?
https://journals.lww.com/jphmp/Fulltext/2019/01000/Which_US_States_Pose_the_Greatest_Threats_to.15.aspx
I am ALWAYS immediately suspicious when I see the words “Public Health” together.
Public health is the trump card usually played before suggesting something should be taken away from the subjects.
Except for controlling VD, public health is kinda suspect.
Ah. These is no bias like confirmation bias!
I entered the service from Georgia. Lots of veterans around here.
Gotta be that southern cuisine.
Much as I love it, it should be consumed in moderation. When I lived down south my cholesterol was over 400. I blame it on the grits. With butter. Or maybe the sausage. Or the eggs? Greens are good for you, even with a bit of bacon/fatback. Aren’t they? Cornbread is okay, isn’t it? Only a few cracklins’in it, and the bacon grease stays on the pan, Doesn’t it? Chicken-fried steak? Biscuits with sausage gravy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHlZ-p5TGWA
Moved to Massachusetts and solved that problem!
Baked Scrod (“scrod”? who the fuck knows?).
Sprinkled with crushed Ritz crackers for a bit of excitement.
Ummmm. Delicious.
:…that works out to less than $450 per injured…”
That’s a lot of Motrin.
(Drink plenty of water, and be sure to change your socks. You’ll be alright.)
I’d venture to say that the ratios may change as more and more Southerners show their disgust over what the “woke” crowd has done to the military and they avoid recruiters in droves. Many of the young’uns that I mentored over the last 50 years chose military service…and did well. In the last 2 years I’ve not recommended military service to not.a.single.one. And neither have my peers. Another thing that hasn’t been considered in these “studies” is that the “ass whooped” generations were tougher than the “time out generations”. Jus’ sayin’.
Interesting that Idaho and Arizona are in the top 10. What’re we doing differently? I entered the service from Idaho (Idaho Falls recruiter, Boise MEPS).
Note those are rates, not absolute figures. One injury in a hundred shows the same as 100 in 10,000.
I was referring to the enlistment rates, not the injury rates. I may have attended Idaho schools, but I do understand the difference between a rate and an absolute count.
So, our Southern Brothers and Sisters ‘go harder in the paint’?
From up here in the upstairs of These States dis-United can’t say that I’m shocked, but I will admit to being grateful.
So, these whiney diaper-loads are complaining about the numbers of trainees injured during training and the cost?
Would they prefer that there be NO training (and therefore no injuries and zero costs)?
And then have these same trainees injured and dying by the tens of thousands MORE then normal, in combat, because they weren’t trained in what to do and how to survive in combat?
I wanna go full Drill Sergeant Hartman on these whiney jackwagons…..just because.
“Pain is weakness leaving the body”
Forget where I’d seen that first (maybe at D 2/54 IN) but from what I’ve experienced, thems some true-ass words right there.
Sometimes pain is nature’s way of telling you “hey, don’t do that, dumbass”.
I was an E/2-54 Drill Sergeant from 2016-2018, and I can attest to the much weaker population of young recruits now as compared to when I enlisted. By the time I was on the Trail, we had “Warrior Athletic Trainers” assigned to each battalion. Kids that were exceptionally weak or who were potentially injured reported there for screening. Theories are the growing lack of activity and poor nutrition. Hell, my 22-year-old son is 120 pounds soaking wet, plays videos games when he’s not working, and lives on a diet of fast food, pasta, and whatever he or his girlfriend can microwave.
Basic Training units have had “4th Meal” since before I donned the hat, which originally consisted of a box of shelf stable milk and a protein bar just before personal time. We eventually stopped getting milk, but then started getting these things: Army develops new nutritional bed-time snack bar for basic trainees (armytimes.com). Even in the field, we gave them the extra food, and I for one never really cared if they got something extra at the DFAC. I even let them get Gatorade from the vending machine in the CTA after a couple of cycles. When I’d been there a while, I saw the vendor come to restock and realized that the machines were only occasionally used by Cadre, so I decided “why not let the Trainees spend their money?”
Ah, yes, the nightly granola bar. When I went through Basic in 2011, we got a Nature Valley crunchy granola bar at our “hydration formation.” Yep, a granola bar and a canteen of water. I was 38 at the time and couldn’t wrap my head around seeing so many trainees the same age as my kids getting around on crutches. If you said the word “hip”, it was like “BOOM” straight to sick call and a pair of crutches. I was a prior Air Force NCO and I crossed over right after the Army eliminated the 5-week Warrior Transition Course, so off to Basic I went. I got through it ok and the one injury I received, some bruised ribs from a kick during combatives, I kept to myself. I can only imagine what it’s like now…
“shelf stable milk”
I am afraid to ask.
“…nutritional bedtime snack for basic trainees”
WTF?????
“they got something extra at the DFAC.”
They got extras????
They wanted extras??
“vending machine”
Migawd!
“Trainees don’t get a lot of treats during basic training, and since this bar is made of chocolate, we know compliance won’t be an issue.” (from the link)
The writer obviously had never encountered a C-ration B-2 Unit “Fudge Disk” (or whatever they called that thing)
Every purported chocolate bar in C-rats was over sweet and the chocolate was like candle wax. We generally just tossed them.
I had shin splints in Infantry Basic Training and AIT. I never went to Sick-Call during training. Looking back as a 52 year old with 35 total years of service, both AD and NG, it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. I (and assume many others in this fine group of patriots) came from a “different time”. We sucked-it-up and didn’t quit. That mentality has saved me well in this life as far as success goes. Probably not so well physically. I’ve started feeling it more and more the older I get.
BTW, I’m from the South too and a male(from the git-go, no surgeries to change myself👍😉😁)
You don’t want to know how I got through running my first marathon on shin splints. Amazingly enough, it only hurt when I was stopped or walking.
But I learned to train properly and avoid those. By the time I ran my second marathon, I had cut over an hour off my time.
Statistics….pffft
Everyone knows that 83.7% of statistics are made up on the spot.
Kanuckistan’s equivalent region is the East Coast. Newfoundland and Cape Breton in particular.
In addition to producing many recruits, this region is notable for Scottish-Irish ancestry, a friendly & laid back pace of life, delicious fried & smoked foods.
This region is also the butt of jokes in the rest of the country. Being seen as dumb, simple yokels with a shallow gene pool.
Sound familiar?
Probably the closest I got to getting in trouble as a Drill Sergeant was during my first full cycle. We were conducting the teambuilding course on Sand Hill when a Trainee injured his hip. I thought little of it and had him continue until he couldn’t anymore, only finding out afterwards that any claim of hip pain is an instant “stop training” moment, followed by a trip to the athletic trainers and likely to Sick Call. The kid in question ended up on the 4th Floor (mental ward) of the hospital after being pulled out of training for his injury and was finally chaptered out.
A lot of Soldiers are from the South. Naturally, this is going to result in a lot of injured Soldiers and ELS cases being from the South as well.
When I was on the Trail, I hated seeing a motivated young 11X getting a legitimate injury, or worse, complaining of some pain and having the Drill Sergeant and company leadership pull him away from key training events. A trip to Winder Health Clinic could easily lead to the Sick Call Rangers who doubled as barracks lawyers getting into their heads. Learning they’d have to make up training or might be pushed to another company a week or two behind would often lead to the magic Trainee acronym: RTT. Refuse-to-train resulted in a slow process that saw the once-motivated young men act like a morale drain on their former peers. We’d keep them around as long as they were useful, while minimizing their interactions with Trainees. After all, we always needed chow details and gate guards.
I reported to 2-54 Infantry when 2-19 Infantry had its first class of female Trainees. They made it look easy, I suppose, so when 2-58 Infantry took the next group of female Trainees, their leadership slacked. From what I understand, while 2-19’s battalion commander and CSM went straight by the book and ensured their company leadership and Drill Sergeants did the same, 2-58’s entire chain of command simply figured “we got this” while looking for shortcuts.
The big scandal with 2-58 Drill Sergeants sleeping with Trainees happened, of course, and hearsay has it that it was so bad that the company commander for the unit would enter and leave through his office window to avoid seeing Drill Sergeants and Trainees. The battalion commander and a bunch of others were relieved, and all of Sand Hill was affected as those 2-58 Drill Sergeants that hadn’t been involved were sent to other units while we had to give up some of our own to take their places. DS Williams, one of the guys who went there said that while in the dining facility, the soon-to-be retired CSM who had somehow avoid getting directly fired shouted at a female who was without a battle buddy, “this is how Privates get f***ed!”.
Anyway, I can believe the percentages. Whenever we passed an integrated 2-58 or 2-19 unit there was a trail of tears behind it with seemingly half of the females on crutches or otherwise not marching in formation. The salty old Major at the 30th AG mental health facility put it well one day, when he witnessed a young female getting a little too much attention. The Trainees there were mostly in PTs and she sported a large thigh tattoo, which of course was attention-grabbing. Even as a Drill Sergeant, I’d made up my mind to avoid any interactions with female Trainees, so I let it be, but the psychologist was having none of it, saying something along the lines of: “Hey Private, that’s some nice ink. It must have hurt a lot, and it’s a shame that you can’t suck up a little discomfort in training and have to come complain here.”