Military may ease standards for recruits

[Divine Discontent]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - 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, The Associated Press has learned.


The review, in its early stages, 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 percent in 2006 to 18 percent this year. And it reflects the services' growing use of criminal, health and other waivers to build their ranks.

Overall, about three in every 10 recruits must get a waiver, according to Pentagon statistics obtained by AP, and about two-thirds of those approved in recent years have been for criminal behavior. Some recruits must get more than one waiver to cover things ranging from any criminal record, to health problems such as asthma or flat feet, to low aptitude scores — and even for some tattoos.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071106/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/m...

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My first thought was, "again?"

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. a friend who just retired, said gang problems were

growing in the military.

GANG PROBLEMS! In OUR MILITARY. and we are giving these folks weapons.

[krispos42]

2. Not just weapons!

Guided weapons!

[Divine Discontent]

8. yeah, good point

and fragging from a distance never got so easy...

[davepc]

45. The weapons arent the problem

its the urban combat training they receive and take with them when they get out and rejoin the ranks of the gang.

[Divine Discontent]

5. oh wow..

never heard that one...

please pray/have good thougths for my family member in the navy serving in Iraq starting as of last night. He's the all-american guy who joined up after 9/11 and wants to believe (even though he hears what's going 'on' in DC) that his forced tour of duty over there will help. I preferred he go to Canada, but he's back in the sand pit again.

[tanyev]

9. That can't be true. Laura's anti-gang initiatives fixed the gang problem.

Completely. In only a few photo-ops.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. silly me. Mission accomplished, right?

duh.

[krkaufman]

14. That's been one of my post-service concerns.

We're training them in urban combat, and then they return to the inner cities with military grade training and experience. We'll be paying for Bush's crimes for a loooong time.

[ClintonTyree]

32. In all probability....

automatic weapons, and probably much worse, are being fed into the inner cities as well. There are hundreds of thousands of weapons that are "missing" in Iraq. I suspect a good deal of them are finding their way back onto the street of America.

Just what we need; gangbangers with fully automatic weapons, grenade launchers and worse taking urban warfare to whole new level on our city streets.

[BreweryYardRat]

44. If they're stupid enough to do that...

I guarantee you Congress will pass a mandatory Death Penalty for use of full-auto/heavy weapons in a crime so fast it'll make your head spin.

Problem is, then we'd have to give cops the same armament, and that's just asking for EVEN MORE trouble.

[Kolesar]

21. RW terrorist Tim McVeigh was a member of a white supremist gang in the Army

[SKKY]

36. That's been an issue for a while now...

...I was on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in 1994 and there were gangs on that ship just as there were on about any other. My deployment on the USS Carl Vinson in 2003 proved that things haven't changed much, and may be getting worse.

[tabasco]

39. I was an infantry commander in 1994.

And we had zero gang problems.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

40. ah, the good old days.

damn this administration.

[SyntaxError]

41. how the hell does that work?

Do they let their gang membership get in the way of performing their duties? Fucking aye, I wouldn't want to be in a war with people who can't put stupid gang shit to rest.

[SKKY]

43. Surprisingly, not as much as you might think....

...it's most prevalent when we pull into a port, or when the ship is homeported. Now, having said that, there are certainly places on a carrier I wouldn't stumble into at night.

[Orsino]

42. If you force the military to act like thugs...

...the difference becomes hard to distinguish.

[rox63]

3. Next thing you know they'll be offering criminals shorter sentences for joining the army

They might as well just send the recruiters straight over to the jails.

[saigon68]

10. They soon will be recuiting in jails ------it is inevitable

A few thuggish murderers to carry out the Chimp's Fantasy

[krkaufman]

16. Not a reach. They're already offering citizenship.

And, I believe, "they" were offering shortened sentences to prisoners who helped with the California wildfires.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

25. hey, don't knock that.

my father was a refugee from eastern europe, after graduating lawschool, (in those days, you could not practice without US citizenship) he joined the army and got his citizenship that way.

[krkaufman]

28. Not knocking it, outright, but the methods need some light shone on them.

Was your father already in this country legally? Or did the US military actively recruit him in his home country?

I'm not a fan of this method of "recruitment", as it puts the responsibility for "defending" the country primarily on those with the least political freedom -- that is, having living conditions that allow them to exercise their political will.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

29. he lived in a US run DP camp in germany after WWII.

he and his family were permitted in.

[krkaufman]

30. So he wasn't just some random citizen of another country.

I think his circumstances were different, from what you've mentioned, from those who are currently short-cutting the citizenship process. (I'm not against the concept, outright, but don't feel it should be out there as a separate, parallel path to citizenship -- and especially not so if it's used as a means to perpetuate Bush's wars of aggression.)

[SKKY]

37. Let's see, career criminals or hopeful, hardworking immigrants...

...I'll take the immigrants every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

[JackRiddler]

17. Agree, see post 15.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

26. I see them in court, taking custody of DUI and worse cases, in exchange for

a lesser or no sentence, heading directly to boot camp.

[ClintonTyree]

33. I remember them doing that during the Viet Nam "conflict"...

as well. Many young men had a choice; jail or south-east Asia. Surprisingly, many decided to take the jail time. Can't say as I blame them.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

34. remember that arab-speaking gay males are

NOT wanted, even though language and communication has been a major problem since day one.

[babylonsister]

4. Again? My first thought, too. nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. Same here,

How low can they go? Was my second thought.

[BushOut06]

7. Criminal record? No problem. Homosexual? Not a chance.

When are we ever going to join the 21st century?

[Divine Discontent]

13. the queers?

c'mon, you know better...

who would the average troop have to make fun of if we were defended against taunting?

plus I'm sure that they think allowing us to openly enlist would cause weekly "dancing with the stars" parties, and a vast wave of gay sex orgies where we'll recruit the straight men.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

11. We tried it in Vietnam,

it was known as Project 100,000 or more often as "Macnamara's Morons"

The military took 350,000 petty criminals, mental patients and a whole lot of homeless all deemed unfit for service under previous guidelines.

And they were a disaster, worst of all it was sold as one of LBJ's great society efforts, the military was going to sort these guys out!

[saigon68]

22. Ah Yes McNamara's Morans

90% of these waifs received bad paper discharges.

Some of the most vicious killers, rapists and criminals came from this lot


In an 8-23-66 speech before the Vets of Foreign Wars, SecDefense Robert S Mcnamara declared: "The poor of America have not had the opportunity to earn their fair share of this Nation's abundance, but they can be given an opportunity to serve in their Country's defense, and they can be given an opportunity to return to civilian life with skills and aptitudes which for them and their families will reverse the downward spiral of human decay."

MY TAKE ----These men returned with skills to become prisoners in the nations Maximum Security Prisons

Link citation

http://members.aol.com/vetschoice/100-1.htm

[krkaufman]

12. Further. The headline omitted the key qualifier of "further." n/t

[JackRiddler]

15. Saw this coming years ago...

Offenders under 40 convicted of crimes involving sentences of less than 4 or 5 years will soon be given the choice of prison or a tour of duty. Companies like Blackwater will partner up with Wackenhut in programs to put prisoners through basic training, with sentence reductions for signing up as a soldier or mercenary. They'll probably be required to take a pledge to pursue some kind of quasi faith-based or 12-step principles in life - so it will all be keeping with the classic American themes of self-help and redemption.

You can almost bank on this stuff.

[onelittleindian]

27. blackwater

I don't think blackwater will train prisoners, they wait for taxpayers to train killers in the marines then lure them away for a highly trained killing machine.

[JackRiddler]

31. well...

it's not like they'll do anything for free!

[kimmylavin]

18. Seriously, where else can they go?

I don't think the day they start implementing "Army or Jail" sentences for even the most heinous crimes is far off...

[conspirator]

19. Just open the jail gates and give everyone a uniform

[Divine Discontent]

20. they've probably thought about

bussing 'em all over to the nearest base and throwing a uniform on them and saying, "live through this war and your free when you get back home!'

boy, ol, boy, talk about killin' machines

[HuffleClaw]

23. AGAI N????

sad sad sad

[freebrew]

35. Exactly.

My thoughts too.

AGAIN?

It seems that the all volunteer army isn't what we needed.
What we need is leaders that won't start wars for oil or greed.

THEN, we could have a draft for ALL citizens of age.
NOT for fighting wars, but for helping get us back on track.

The all-volunteer army has turned into a religious camp for lunatics.

[amandabeech]

38. I'm betting that the military recruiters are hoping that the economy goes down the toilet.

It might up the caliber of the troops.

[saigon68]

46. Especiially if they can get guys "stealing food to live"

Just think of all the possibilities

[classysassy]

47. Can you feel

a draft?