U.S. Army lowers its recruiting standards

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-recruit11oct11,0,4222162.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

More recruits have criminal records, no high school diploma

By Aamer Madhani | Washington Bureau
October 11, 2007

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army met its recruiting goals for the last year but enlisted thousands of new soldiers with criminal records and fewer who have earned high school diplomas, according to figures released Wednesday.

The spike of new enlistees given "character" waivers for fiscal 2007 continues a steady upward trend in the number of recruits with past arrests and convictions allowed into the Army since the start of the war in Iraq.

More than 11 percent of the Army recruits needed waivers for problems with the law -- up from 7.9 percent the previous year and more than double the percentage in 2003, the year the U.S. invaded Iraq. Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, stressed that a vast majority, about 87 percent, of those allowed in with waivers had misdemeanors for such offenses as joy riding or violating curfew. Most faced little punishment beyond community service for their actions, Bostick said.

[NMMNG]

1. At the rate they're going,

they're going to start recruiting straight from the prisons. Mass-murderers are no problem, so long as those homos don't get in. :sarcasm:

[tekisui]

3. They are recruiting from prison.

They are going to juvienile detention centers and prisons, offering early release if the sign up for war.

[NMMNG]

4. Scary

And interesting how convicts are considered more "moral" than gays. But then again, we're dealing with Republicans here. :crazy:

[Squatch]

7. Ummm....no "they" are not.

[tekisui]

9. I must have misunderstood.

I know the Army has signed a lot of waivers for convicts with up to one felony. I thought I heard or read somewhere that the Army was recruiting from juvenile detention centers and even trading time for enlistment. But, i can't find anything on it now.

[Squatch]

10. As a commander, I've only signed waivers for

up to Class 1 misdemeanors not of a domestic abuse nature. Most of these so-called "moral waivers" involve confessions of posession of marijuana that never involved the Law.

That is to say, when a recruiter interviews a prospective soldier, he asks the marijuana question. A bunch of times, the response is something to the tune of "I smoke a spliff in HS but was never arrested for it" and is then annotated. Then, it comes to me, for which I grant the moral waiver.

The single Class 1 misdemeanor I waived was for criminal possession of marijuana. The guy was a licensed paramedic, and the Army is critically short of medics.

[tekisui]

12. Here are some article about felony waviers.

"More recruits with criminal records, including felony convictions, are being allowed to join the Army and Marine Corps as the armed services cope with a dwindling pool of volunteers during wartime.

"The military routinely grants waivers to take in recruits who have criminal records, medical problems or low aptitude scores that would otherwise disqualify them from service. Most are moral waivers, which include some felonies, misdemeanors, and traffic and drug offenses.

"Defense Department statistics show that the number of Army and Marine recruits needing waivers for felonies and serious misdemeanors, including minor drug offenses, has grown since 2003. Some recruits may get more than one waiver.

"The Army granted more than double the number of waivers for felonies and misdemeanors in 2006 than it did in 2003."


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/14/national/main2474041.shtml


"We're looking for high school graduates with no more than one felony on their record," one recruiter said.

"The Army has even looked behind prison bars for fill-in recruits --in one reported case, they went to a "youth prison" in Ogden, Utah. Although Steven Price had asked to see a recruiter while still incarcerated, he was "barely 17 when he enlisted last January" and his divorced parents say "recruiters used false promises and forged documents to enlist him."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/10/01/ING42LCIGK1.DTL

And, this Salon article has some intresting things in it:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/02/02/waivers/index1.html

[Tesha]

2. I guess "litterin'" wouldn't get you placed on the Group W bench anymore, huh? (NT)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Not even if you want to "eat dead burned bodies".

At Alice's Restaurant.

[Thothmes]

5. Nothing New Here

In the late 60's and early 70's the only requirement for enlistment or conscription was close to normal body temperature and all for limbs.

[Zywiec]

6. Joy riding or violating curfew kept you out in the past?

Wow, it really does sound like they are scraping the bottom of the barrel now. What's next, allowing people who jay-walked into the military? :eyes:

[unhappycamper]

8. Could you cross post this to the Veterans forum?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=259

Thanks!

[leftofthedial]

13. again?