since writing about miss disappearance in 2012. what she reveals is a troubled young man who had been discharged from the coast guard after fewer than 180 days of service in 2006, because of psychological problems. and who somehow was still able to join the army in 2008. a period in which the military dramatically lowered its standards in order to keep feeding the war in iraq. an article by fred caplan in january of 2008 quoted the national priorities project, which compiled data from the defense department showing that the percentages of new army recruits with high school diplomas has plunged, from 94% in 2003 to 83.5% in 2005, to 70.7% in 2007. the pentagon's long-standing goal is 90%. the army is fielding fewer and fewer high-quality recruits. caplan said in order to meet the recruitment targets, the army