America needs soldiers. It doesn’t matter when you read this: North America has shootings all the time, and like any other large company, it needs staff. Currently the way to recruit young people is through video games or sexualization on social networks (interestingly using TikTok), but they needed too many personnel for the Vietnam War and resorted to something extremely controversial: lowering IQ. Recruitment.

This is something that is being tried to be erased from history, described as an “experiment”, and which those responsible did knowing that they were sending cannon fodder to Vietnam. This is the story of the ‘New Standard Men’, popularly known as the ‘McNamara Jerk Corps’.

His IQ was 80 in World War II. Strategies such as the sexualization of women to attract members to the military are not new or unique to the United States. Other countries have done this throughout history (seen in the case of Ukraine in recent years), and it was done before social networks. Posters were used in World War II to attract young people and raise troop morale, but soldiers were also needed.

For this reason, those in charge of entrance exams to certain corps accepted people who scored below certain percentiles in mental ability tests. After experience, the minimum IQ to join the military was set at 80. Then came the Vietnam War.

vietnam war. All wars are complex, but Vietnam was huge. This was a conflict that lasted 20 years (from 1955 to 1975) and involved almost twenty countries, but became even more global when the United States distorted the facts and entered the conflict fully in 1964. President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed 184,000 men. troops to face the “war against communism.”

The conflict was extremely controversial in the United States, as many did not understand why they had to go to war, and since 1963 protests have occurred across the country, dividing society: on one side, those who wanted immediate peace, and on the other. The other is those who want it to continue. It was a period of transition for the American people, as the hippie movement and civil rights demonstrations also occurred.

100,000 Project. One of the most important names on the North American side was Robert McNamara. He was the United States Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968 and felt that if the troops needed more men, they should be obtained by any means possible. McNamara was one of the war’s biggest supporters (even recommending launching nuclear bombs), and one of his beliefs was that better technology from the US military as well as more men in the field would be key to selling the war.

It was then, after tens of thousands of troops had been sent to Vietnam, that McNamara concluded that 100,000 more troops were needed to win the war. It was an issue he raised with Johnson, but then the problem arose: If hundreds of thousands of educated young men were hired, it would disrupt the economy and affect the country. Considering the social mobilizations, this was not something that pleased Johnson, who also refused to send in all reserves and the National Guard.

What was clear was that men were needed, and they found a way to increase the number of recruits from 17,000 to 35,000 a month: lower intellectual standards. This was called ‘Project 100,000’ and the aim was to accept men into military service who had previously been rejected for physical or mental reasons. The program was officially named ‘New Standards’ and it is estimated that more than 300,000 people were recruited. Men who were out of shape one day were magically in shape the next.

This scene from the movie ‘Full Metal Jacket’ wasn’t far off the mark

‘McNamara’s Fools’. These new troops were trained without discrimination alongside other soldiers, and it is estimated that 71% went into the Army. The rest was distributed among the Marine Corps (10%), Navy (10%) and Air Force (9%). Interestingly, the place where the least preparation was needed was where the majority of new joiners were located. These soldiers, who had financial problems or came from unstructured families, were promised a better life as the army gave them the skills they lacked and they returned to civilian life with new skills. But the underlying problem was different.

Most of these new hires were between the ages of 18 and 19 and had a high school diploma… or not even that. There were officers who complained that some of these recruits were not smart enough to handle strategies, technical tasks, or everyday actions like tying their shoelaces. There were those who could not speak English due to language problems, standards were relaxed to accept hires who were overweight or underweight

The Johnny Gupton Story. Hamilton Gregory is the author of ‘McNamara’s Madness: The Use of Low IQ Troops in Vietnam’, but he also served at an Army training center in Nashville. In his speech to promote his book, he said that he met a soldier named Johnny Gupton (his fictitious name), who was under his command. When he talked to him he discovered that he had no idea about the situation in the country and that the USA was at war. A sergeant ordered him to accompany him every step of the way, telling him, “Make sure he doesn’t get lost, he’s one of McNamara’s assholes.”

Gupton was illiterate and needed help filling out paperwork at Fort Benning, Hamilton said. He also had to help him make the bunk bed every morning because he couldn’t do it by army standards. He had to tie his boots and help him distinguish right from left until another soldier had the patience to teach him to do it alone. He didn’t understand the sergeant’s shouts, he was a danger in the weapons training area, and they eventually sent him to the kitchen.

A one-way ticket. After spending time at a training center, Hamilton said he learned that dozens of men were failing even basic physical testing due to mental, not physical, limitations. One of the most basic training sessions was to throw a grenade at a stationary target at a distance, set it on the ground in a series to simulate combat situations, and throw the grenade in an arc as if trying to simulate throwing from behind a parapet.

He stated that they did not understand the concept and that the recruits continued to throw the grenade in a straight line no matter how much the sergeants explained how it was done. In a combat situation, this could cause the unit to collide with the railing it is standing on. They also could not fire their rifles at targets that appeared: when they aimed at a target, the next target had already appeared before they could fire.

It is estimated that in the first three years of the program, half of the soldiers were assigned to combat units and their mortality rate was three times higher than that of other soldiers. In total, 5,478 soldiers belonging to the 100,000 Project lost their lives.

Deleting history. Or at least that’s what is claimed due to the embarrassment of the program. Along with new recruits with IQs unsuited to serve in the military, the promise of a better life upon return attracted young black men who saw the military as an escape from what they might experience in the Department of Defense. A later study noted that 41% of Project 100,000 recruits were black, compared to 12% in other branches of the military.

After a while, McNamara regretted the war, but it is difficult to find information about Project 100,000 in some sources. Since it’s not even mentioned in his bio. Myra MacPherson, author of ‘Long Transition: Vietnam and the Cursed Generation’, researched the post-traumatic stress of the Vietnam War and noted that there were war veterans who reacted with surprise when they read about Project 100,000 in 2002.

“McNamara should be shot”. But Herb DeBose remembered this. “McNamara should be shot. When he resigned as president of the World Bank, I saw him crying for the poor children of the world, but he didn’t cry,” said the former black first lieutenant, who runs a veterans program in New York. For any of the men of Project 100,000, they don’t know what it’s like to cry. Many of them were not even qualified to pass the fifth grade.

Along with new recruits with IQs unsuited to serve in the military, the promise of a better life upon return attracted young black men who saw the military as an escape from what they might experience in the Department of Defense. A later study noted that 41% of Project 100,000 recruits were black, compared to 12% in other branches of the military.

‘metal jacket’. There is no doubt that Project 100,000 was a terrible exercise; It was an experiment by a man who believed that the war could be won with numbers and better technology, and sent thousands of unprepared young people into helicopters. Although there are writers who claim that this is a shameful thing and want to hide it, Stanley Kubrick showed us the horrors of Vietnam in his work ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and we can see something similar in the first act of the movie. Hamilton said.

“Clumsy soldier” Gomer Pyle Lawrence starred in some of the film’s most memorable scenes. Scenes where he confuses his left and right, can’t use a gun correctly, is overweight which prevents him from doing physical tests, is constantly embarrassed by his superior, and can’t tie his shoelaces. He also received assistance in putting on his uniform correctly and making his bed. The 100,000 project is not explicitly included in the movie, but after learning what Hamilton said, we can now see Pyle with different eyes.

Needless to say, these young people in Project 100,000 did not achieve the promised better life when they returned home. They were unqualified for these jobs and also suffered from physical problems, amputations, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

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