Inuyasha

Wow this is surprising. We might wind up with one very strange military. Will this incite congress to bring back the draft? I mean, with the military full of convicted felons those politicians mught not want to "vist the troops" even more.


WASHINGTON - The Army and Marine Corps. are letting in more recruits with criminal records, including some with felony convictions, reflecting the increased pressure of five years of war and its mounting casualties.

According to data compiled by the Defense Department, the number of Army and Marine recruits needing waivers for felonies and serious misdemeanors, including minor drug offenses, has grown since 2003. And the Army granted more than double the number of waivers for felonies and misdemeanors in 2006 than it did in 2003. Some recruits may get more than one waiver.

The number of felony waivers granted by the Army grew from 411 in 2003 to 901 in 2006, according to the Pentagon. Other misdemeanors, which could be petty theft, writing a bad check or some assaults, jumped from about 2,700 to more than 6,000 in 2006. The minor crimes represented more than three-quarters of the waivers granted by the Army in 2006, up from more than half in 2003.

Army and Defense Department officials defended the waiver program as a way to admit young people who may have made a mistake early in life but have overcome past behavior. And they said about two-thirds of the waivers granted by the Marines are for drug use, because they — unlike the other services — require a waiver if someone has been convicted once for marijuana use.


Military requests more felony waivers - Yahoo! News

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from life i have learned:
My greatest teachers have been my own failures.
Ignorance is often the mother of valor.

from my military service:
Once you have pulled the pin, Mr Grenade is not your friend.

Korimyr the Rat

If a felon can become a good soldier after acquiring a waiver, then we have not only acquired another good soldier, we have successfully rehabilitated a criminal. As long as order is maintained, this is a win-win situation.

We seem to forget that felons are still citizens of this country, and if they are in a position to walk into a recruiting station, they have presumably "paid their debt to society". If they wish to pay their debt with interest, we should by all means allow them to do so.

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DeeJayH

back in the day, didnt people in court have teh option of doing time in prison
or time in the military
this is hardly new
much less newsworthy
unless you are a rabid bush hater
*cues bush haters*

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These days it seems that the deadliest place on earth for an American to be is inside the womb. - Joshua P. Allem

DeeJayH

that is an even better take on things than my post
what happened to liberals and their "he served his time, he paid his debt"

oh thats right, this is happening under Bush

Inuyasha

You are right but unfortunately we have not been educated that way and a prison record is a "scarlet letter" in our society. That is why this is an issue.

Navy Pride

People make mistakes....I think everyone deserves a second chance.......

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Inuyasha

Well DeeJay, I guess I am a lot older than you. I have seen 12 presidents in the WH during my lifetime. When i went in the service convicted felons were not allowed to serve. As a matter of fact even an enlistee or a draftee with only misdemeanor convictions were carefully scrutinized and often turned down. That was at a time when we were in a bigger war than this one and we had the draft. As far as i know the law has never changed. if it has maybe you can cite when and where.

As for this being a "Bush hating" post your are out in left field. I don't hate bush. I certainly don't have a lot of respect for him but hatred. Naw. He is not even a devious person. if any one is it might be Cheney who allows George W, Bush and 300 million Americans to wake up every morning believing that Bush is the president and is running the nation. But I have been around long enough to realize that is a brilliant tactic and I respect him for using it. I think you are a bit paranoid on the "Bush hating" thing

jujuman13

quote
(You are right but unfortunately we have not been educated that way and a prison record is a "scarlet letter" in our society. That is why this is an issue.)

I agree this is the way we have been educated, but it does not mean that a person who has a prison record should not be allowed to correct his mistake in life.
If serving in the armed forces allows him / her to recoup their dignity in the eyes of the rest of us as well as our respect then by all means I can see no wrong in them being given this opportunity.

It is also a fact that (not hiherto in the US) the option of serving in the armed forces or prison as an alternative has long been used in other country's, primarily the UK.

RightinNYC

I don't know how a single marijuana conviction would make someone a distinctly less capable Marine.

That being said, if the military wants these people in, then who are we to tell them no? If they truly believe they can make them into good soldiers, why not let them?

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Hatuey

Even pedophiles? . According to you, they scar little children for life and must therefor keep on paying a debt to society. Isn't that what you said about that fellow who won the lottery?

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