The US Military's Moral Blinders: Criminals Preferred to Fill Rank

[Catchme]

No accounting for the hypocrisy and bigotry present in the USA. And I guess we know were the new surge troops are coming from. Do we really want our military personals lives to be put into these peoples hands?

the US military is digging more deeply into the available American labor pool than it perhaps should and has already issued more than 125,000 "moral waivers" to new enlistees.

The article suggests that in some cases, the military is putting weapons into the hands of serious criminals.

The editorial, in part, reads:

To keep filling the ranks, the Army has had to keep lowering its expectations. Diluting educational, aptitude and medical standards has not been enough. Nor have larger enlistment bonuses plugged the gap. So the Army has found itself recklessly expanding the granting of "moral waivers," which let people convicted of serious misdemeanors and even some felonies enlist in its ranks.

Last year, such waivers were granted to 8,129 men and women -- or more than one out of every 10 new Army recruits. That number is up 65 percent since 2003, the year President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq. In the last three years, more than 125,000 moral waivers have been granted by America's four military services.

Most of last year's Army waivers were for serious misdemeanors, like aggravated assault, robbery, burglary and vehicular homicide. But around 900 -- double the number in 2003 -- were for felonies. Worse, the Army does no systematic tracking of recruits with waivers once it signs them up, and it does not always pay enough attention to any adjustment problems.

Without adequate monitoring and counseling, handing out guns to people who have already committed crimes poses a danger to the other soldiers they serve with and to the innocent civilians they are supposed to protect.

But the Pentagon is discharging more than 700 people a year who are determined to be homosexuals -- who in nearly every case have performed their service honorably on behalf of their country and uniformed service.

But it goes beyond troops on the front line. The military apparently has little problem putting major weapons systems into the hands of criminals while at the same time discharging Arabic-speaking linguists.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/

[Canadian Blue]

That's an unintelligent move of the part of the US military, considering what a few troops have done in Iraq who weren't right in the head. Hopefully the US Military reevaluates it's recruiting process so they can get some decent recruits instead of being forced to recruit felons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6384781.stm

[Guthrie]

It was reevaluating it's recruiting process taking them to the disaster they're in now. Recruiters have been able to slip increasing amounts of unethical tactics in recruiting --- taking felons is a last ditch effort to hide the downward spiralling failure of the military to inspire young folks to join up.