Mission: Readiness

Group of Senior Retired Military Leaders Believe Early Childhood Interventions are Key to National Security

Mission: Readiness

Mission: Readiness, a nonprofit, bi-partisan organization led by nearly 90 senior retired admirals, generals, and military leaders, supports policies to help young people get the right start so they are prepared to succeed in life. The group believes that competent, educated, and healthy young people are the future patriots tasked with defending America's national security and prosperity. However, 75 percent of 17 to 24-year-olds today do not meet the basic minimum standards required for military service because they fail to graduate high school, have a criminal record, or are physically unfit. In Florida, that would mean 1.4 million young adults cannot join. This may actually be a low estimate because, compared to the national average, Florida has more young people who are overweight, (33 percent vs. 32 percent), and more young people without on-time high school degrees, (35 percent vs. 26 percent).

A limited recruitment pool will hold back our military readiness and erode our national security in the long run. Mission: Readiness believes that the following must be done in order to ensure that this trend is not the wave of the future:

A world-class military requires world-class health and education. The most effective long-term investment we can make for a strong military is in the health and education of the American people. If we want to ensure that we have a strong, capable fighting force, we need to help America's youth succeed academically, stay physically fit, and abide by the law.
The path to success does not begin at age 17. The earliest months and years of life are a crucial time when we build the foundation of children's character, how they relate to others and how they learn. Long-term research shows that quality early childhood education raises graduation rates by up to 44 percent. Research further shows that kids who fail to get it are 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18, making them potentially unfit for service and a threat to their communities. Furthermore, every dollar invested in quality early childhood programs can save $16 in the long term.

"The armed services are meeting recruitment targets in 2009, but those of us who have served in command roles are worried about the trends we see," said Rear Admiral James Barnett (USN, Ret.) "Our national security in the year 2030 is absolutely dependent on what's going on in pre-kindergarten today. We urge Congress to take action on this issue this year."

Mission: Readiness calls on all policymakers to ensure America's national security by supporting interventions that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship; this includes fully funding early childhood education programs, improving graduation rates, supporting families in ways that improve parenting skills and reduce child abuse, improving child health, mental health and nutrition services, and helping troubled kids get back on track.

Congress is now considering a new initiative, the Early Learning Challenge Fund, designed to help states provide more at-risk kids with access to quality early learning programs. The proposal will provide grants to the states of $1 billion a year for up to ten years to improve the quality of early childhood development programs and expand access to more at-risk kids. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in September that included support for the Early Learning Challenge Fund, and it is awaiting deliberation in the Senate.

For more information about Mission: Readiness, visit www.missionreadiness.org.

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Mission: Readiness