The question of how Gump can enlist into the Army with a 75 IQ, and physical disabilities, may be answered with a real-life military plan set during the Vietnam War. Then-Secretary of Defense Robert Macnamara created a program called Project 100,000 that lowered the requirements to enlist for certain men in order to beef up the manpower shortages in Vietnam. Such things as, low IQs, on the autistic spectrum, possessing hernias or hemorrhoids, being underweight or overweight, having worn leg or back braces, cannot speak English, and many, many others, were now allowed through the Project. The ultimate goal was to allow those with mental or physical disabilities to learn new trades and skills from service to transfer over to a civilian life and better their futures.The Project failed horribly. Recruits that took part were noted as being mentally deficient to the point that some couldn't tell their left from their right. Many required a 'babysitter', another enlisted man to tend to them, tie their shoes, make their beds, and clean their uniforms. Those enlistees under the Project also couldn't remember instructions, or even write properly. They would easily panic under stress. There were a few whom couldn't even comprehend their country was at war.Yet, the Project allowed them to pass through training and send them overseas. During the course of the Vietnam War, over 300,000 men were enlisted through the Project, the bulk of which went to the Army and most of the recruits overall were turned into riflemen. Of those that deployed, around 5,400 were killed-in-action in Vietnam, or nearly 10% of the total dead for Americans. Another 20,000 were wounded.Those that took part in Project 100,000 were given nicknames; McNamara's Folly, or Mcnamara's Misfits, or even Mcnamara's Morons.

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