A byproduct and proxy war of the Cold War, the Vietnam War was a side conflict between the northern and southern regions of Vietnam; the North was backed by the communist Soviet Union and China, and the South was backed by the United States, South Korea, and several other nations. In hopes to succeed in the war, the United States (and possibly other involved nations) employed questionable operations: one of most notable being the Chemical Rainbow Agents used to clear out the thick brush, leaving lasting defects and health problems with the Vietnamese. But the United States launched a second operation–one that directly harmed citizens on American soil.
An initiative taken during the Vietnam War to both reduce the poverty crisis and support the war effort, Project 100,000 was a program created and launched by the United States Department of Defense and its Secretary, Robert McNamara, as a component of then-president Lyndon B. Johnson’s “war on poverty.” It looked bright in the hopes to solve both problems mentioned above, but when put into practice, Project 100,000 was controversial, poorly executed, and cruel and deadly to those that participated in the program. As a result, Project 100,000 is notoriously remembered by multiple crueler names: one of the most famous being “McNamara’s Morons.”
Started by the DoD, Project 100,000 hoped to solve multiple problems with the most prominent of these being the exorbitant poverty rate during the Vietnam War at 19% along with the faltering United States army’s morale while fighting in Vietnam. The point of Project 100,000 was to offer the less fortunate or impoverished people of America a new opportunity to help fix their life through enlistment in the military.
However, to make this project work, the Department of Defense changed multiple aspects regarding fighting qualifications. All hoping to enlist in the army must first prove themselves through both an exam, specifically the United States Armed Forces Qualification Test, and basic training. Both–before the initiation of Project 100,000–allowed the military to effectively filter out those able to fight from those unable to fight, whatever the reason may be. However, the introduction of this operation significantly loosened the requirements to enter in several ways. Most importantly, the percentile floor required regarding the Armed Forces Qualification Test to be rendered eligible for combat dropped from around the 25th percentile to a staggering 10th percentile, as well as reducing the score needed to pass the exam by 6%, meaning that those that would have originally not qualified would qualify after the introduction of Project 100,000. The Department of Defense also removed the need to finish high school for admittance into the military. This opened the door for a whole new branch of citizens–those that were less fit or ready for combat. This pool of people included most that were less intelligent, physically impaired, overweight or underweight (unhealthy in general), and even some that couldn’t speak English well. Lots were drafted into the military; others volunteered to serve. Yet, all of the 320,000 people had something in common; they were being sent to fight in a war not fit for them to fight in.
These “new standards men,” as they were formally called, performed several folds worse than their “regular” counterparts in combat, not having the mental abilities to successfully engage in warfare. As a result, those part of Project 100,000 who served in combat did not fare well; they were around 2-3 times more likely to die while fighting than a standard soldier was. A total of over 5,000 Project 100,000 enlistees were killed in combat out of the 150,000 some troops fighting in the war, along with 20,000 additional wounded. The lack of mental aptitude of most meant that they were unable to perform the more technical, mechanical, and engineering-related duties, forcing them to fight on the frontlines as infantry units. Unfortunately for these men, this fate was almost certain death or permanent injuries.
For those that did survive and returned to the United States, their altered futures were found to be as disadvantageous as their combat experience. Participants of Project 100,000 typically received a staggering $6,000 less per year than their “regular” counterparts. They divorced more often. They could not sustain as well overall in the real world. All of these prevalent effects may be just a few among dozen other disadvantages Project 100,000 enlistees faced in the process of returning to normal life.
To put it simply, Project 100,000–while it may have looked promising in theory–did not live up to its expectations to solve either problem Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara predicted it would, and actually hurt the country more than helped the impoverished demographic the Department of Defense hoped to assist. It lies in almost total notoriety, with few supporting the program; some have speculated that Project 100,000’s main goal was to send more disposable and accessible citizens as mere fodder, including minority citizens. Regardless of the reason, Project 100,000 was a complete failure in several respects. Expertlysaid by Tufts assistant professor Kelly M. Greenfield, McNamara’s Folly was “a distraction for the military and of little benefit to the men it was created to help."
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