Just because you are a vet or serving currently

[videguy]

Here is a more official article from the US Census Bureau. If you add up all the numbers of people with less than a high school education and divide by the total number of people, you get 14%, which is somewhat in the middle of the two data. This is also where I got the number of people with bachelor degrees.

US Army Info Site: Joining the Army



So the Army for the most part isn't even taking people with GED's anymore, once again raising the average IQ level by keeping people out of "low intelligence" (not that everyone with a GED is stupid) ..and that's only the ENLISTED side of it, keep in mind 20% are officers.

Look at the ASVAB. The Army, which has the "lowest" standards, at least on the ASVAB, requires a score of 31 to enlist.
The ASVAB score is just a percentile which means the bottom 31% of applicants are disqualified right off the bat.

Edit: let's say for argument's sake it is in fact 8% of civilians that are HS dropouts with no GED. I couldn't find anything real official but about.com says the DOD average for enlistees in 2008 with a HS diploma was 92%... (your data of 8% was HS diploma and GED's, whereas this figure is just HS diplomas) + the amount that had a GED (5% ???) means roughly 3% now don't have a HS diploma. I would think even that number is too high since the recruiters are having to turn away perfectly qualified people because there are too many applicants.

And what about people with 4 year degrees? The military has a greater number of degree holders by percent. Yes it is true that our schooling is paid for and that is definitely a part of it, but the argument is "who is more intelligent on average" not "who had more opportunities and used them to go to school."

So the census bureau is more official than the Department of Education, or is it that you can take the information and try to use it to attempt to backup your points. The link you provided is for a site called us-army-info.com. The site is owned by an online marketing company called Quinstreet, not sure how they are tied to the Census(I looked at the site and did not see any links to the Census Bureau). I even looked at their links and they were all to internal pages.
You couldn't find anything real official. I guess you did not see the link to the Department of Education study. You instead quote About.com, you really need to check your sources of information. You quoted an article that said that most areas were not accepting enlistees with a GED, but want to say that 5% have a GED in the next section. So they issued a lot of waivers? Or did you just pull that 5% out of a hat?
Again your argument concerning the percentage in the Army with a degree vs the general public does not hold water. You are talking about 2 very different groups and the comparison is not valid. How about if we compare the military to the population of the US who holds at least a high school diploma? I am not aware of a comparison like this being done, but it would seem a more accurate comparison than the one you are making. How about we compare the military to the population of a college town? I would be willing to bet the college town would have a much higher percentage of college graduates.
So as I have said you arguments hold no water and you have provided no proof that people in the military are smarter than the civilian population. I will be happy to continue to prove your "facts" incorrect if you like, but I am sure you will tired of it eventually.