Convict Army

Faced with higher recruiting goals, the Pentagon is quietly looking for ways to make it easier for people with minor criminal records to join the military, according to the Associated Press.

The policy review comes as the number of Army recruits needing waivers for bad behavior (such as trying drugs, stealing, carrying weapons on school grounds and fighting) rose from 15% in 2006 to 18% this year. It reflects the services' overall growing use of criminal, health and other waivers to build their ranks. Currently about three in every 10 recruits must get a waiver, and two-thirds of those approved in recent years have been for criminal behavior. Even more encouraging is that some recruits required more than one waiver to cover things ranging from a criminal record, to health problems such as asthma or flat feet, to low aptitude scores.

The goal of the review is to make “cumbersome” (as they call it) waiver requirements consistent across the all armed services, and reduce the number of petty crimes that now trigger the process. Naturally, some Army officers worry that disciplinary problems will grow as more soldiers with records, past drug use and behavior problems are brought in. They must be the ones who were not dope smoking thieves prior to joining.

One example advocates point to is the Marine code for drug use. The Marines require a waiver for one-time marijuana use, while the other services don't, and 69 percent of conduct waivers for Marines who joined from October 2006 to June 2007 were for previous drug use. By comparison it was 12% for the Army. But in earnest, the bulk of the Army's conduct waivers during that time were for serious misdemeanors, which includes thefts worth more than $500, any incident involving a dangerous weapon on school grounds, or minor assaults and fights. Try that to the tune of 71%.

And having an ingrown toenail or allergies is no longer winning the waiver war. According to the Pentagon data, the bulk of all conduct waivers are for recruits involved in either drug offenses or serious misdemeanors. For Marines and Air Force candidates, they fell between 75-80%, but the Navy actually saw a decline…down to a tolerable 40%!

Relaxing some of the waiver requirements may make it easier for the Army to meet increased pressure for recruits in the next few years to fight unpopular and unnecessary wars in the coming years. And why not? I say let troubled youngsters get killed for our interests. Just because they did something illegal or bad in the past shouldn’t preclude them from having a gun and a flag to defend. In fact, get them off our soil so we can be safe, because without the discipline and leadership of the military, who knows what they’ll do if left unattended.