Steve Sailer writes: The 1980 hostage rescue fiasco in Iran was during the 1976-1980 period when the military had accidentally (?) misnormed its AFQT score minimums and let in a lot of real dullards. Sen. Sam Nunn kept insisting to the Pentagon that old sergeants were writing to him about there had to be something wrong with the test because these new recruits they’re letting join are just not right.
The scoring was fixed in 1980 — that’s why the AFQT was given to the nationally representative NLSY79 panel in 1980, creating the data at the heart of “The Bell Curve” — and Reagan inherited an improving military.
