Military Lowers Standards To Fill Ranks

The Army Is Taking Chances On Recruits With Rap Sheets

(CBS)  The longer the war continues, the harder it's proving to fill the U.S. Army's ranks. A strong economy also means there are easier jobs around.

So the Army is accepting a growing number of new recruits with everythging from health and weight issues to lower academic test scores to criminal records.

The number of incoming soldiers with prior felony arrests or convictions has more than tripled in the past five years. This year alone, the Army accepted an estimated 8,000 recruits with rap sheets, reports CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier.

Most are guilty of misdemeanors, but around 100 in the past year had felony convictions.

"Burglaries and narcotics are probably our two top categories," according to Col. Sheila Hickman.

In the Dallas recruiting office, Staff Sgt. Anthony Garcia says he enlists only those who are ready to leave that past behind.

"DUI, drug paraphernalia charges, more than three curfew violations," Garcia says. "It could be anything minor or some stuff major."

No violent crimes, but for "major stuff" like breaking and entering or arson, the military grants what's called a "moral waiver."

It's an old formula judges used to pronounce: Join the Army or go to jail.

But today, recruits are going from boot camp to a hot war in Iraq. Some former Pentagon officials call it a recipe for chaos.

"In order for the Army to meet its quota, which is going up … they have to resort to giving, taking more and more chances on people," says Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress.

Some chances work out. Cpl. Angelo Vaccaro was granted a waiver. He was awarded two Silver Stars after he was killed rescuing wounded soldiers.

But then there's former Army Pvt. Steve Green, also awarded a waiver, who is on trial for raping and murdering an Iraqi girl, then killing her entire family.

"The stakes are very high," Korb says. "You're going to give these people lethal weapons… so you better be damn sure that this man or woman has the self-discipline and the strength to be able to use that weapon only when he or she must."

Yet across the services, commanders are not told when someone has a record. The idea: With no stigma, the recruit has an equal chance to succeed.

"We've always been an Army that's been known to give patriotic citizens second and third chances," Hickman says.

They are risking their lives for those second chances, but officials also admit the people they really want are being driven away.

[sjv4488]

A follow-up story that discusses all of the services would be very interesting. The real number is over 1,600 moral waivers.

[bennyblack1]

Michelle, I agree.

[bennyblack1]

Adrian...and don't forget combat pay, adding around $600 a month. And that $70,000 of combat zone pay in a foreign country is tax free. Raise his benefits? Surely, you jest.

[bennyblack1]

Adian;
Soldiers get FREE EVERYTHING. You want to raise their BENEFIT payments? They get FREE education. FREE medical care. FREE life insurance. HEAVILY discounted dental insurance. FREE housing and food. Please understand the value of what a soldier gets. An E-2 with all these benefits may only get paid 12,000 a year, but add on all these things he would otherwise have to pay for, he makes nearly $30,000 his first year. An E-6 may get paid $24,000, but the value of those benefits add up to around $60,000 per year. After he gets out, honorably, he still gets FREE education and FREE health care by VA, and his family gets education at a discounted rate. So, you want to raise his benefit payments? Come on lady, get real.

[bennyblack1]

Well, speaking as an ex-recruiter, the standards were never changed. The Army standard for recruiting people is a high school diploma with no more than 2 felonies and 3 misdemeanors, none of which could be drug related or of a sexual nature. The standard for whether they needed a high school diploma is a variable, but not their records. For instance, during times when it is hard to recruit, having a GED may be the requirement, but passing the test at a certain score. If it got really hard, they dropped the standard to non diploma persons. The focus should be on the standard that fluctuates. So in a regular month of recruiting in a bad area, one recruiter may get 3 regular army (having a HS diploma). That is the Gold Standard. In a not so productive month, the same recruiter might find 1 regular army, and 1 GED, the GED having a felony and a misdemeanor. In a bad month, the same recruiter might pull in 1 GED having a felony and a misdemeanor, and a non-diploma person having 2 felonies and 2 misdemeanors. The standards and goals are set by the recruiting headquarters. Recruiters do what they are told and are told what they are allowed to do. Don't ask them, it's a waste of time. The members of the military don't have an opinion, figuratively speaking. Ask US Army Recruiting Command. The numbers come from the President, and ultimately he determines what he needs to accomplish goals. Ask the person who advises the president. That is where the "why" will come from.

[iam1usmarine]

The real story is REINDEAU not gang members.
THIS IS TOTALLY BULL ***!!!!!!!!!!!

[iam1usmarine]

This is ***. Do the story about REINDEAU

[harp1963]

A strong economy makes joining the Army less appetizing for many, so the military has had to reduce its standards to meet its enlistment goals?

How about a stupid war in Iraq that forces the soldiers to serve tour after tour after tour with no end in sight?

The economy where lots of people are working for peanuts had nothing to do with the lack of recruits.

[can069]

Still, they would take felons before taking anyone over 40 years old...

[michellem99-2009]

Who has the power to declar war..Congress ..Not Bush..The US congress only..They did 2 times and that being WW1 and WW2. no others. So that is an illegal one at that. No I can't fight it as a legally blind . So dear I say get rid of greed as that is the root of the problem. So forgive vets I thank you and my Dad. But CHARITY STARTS HERE AT HOME FIRST..So we need to take care of the ones here. That means gangs. That means bringing the boys and girls home. I am 52.

[adian1-2009]

Instead of lowering the standards, why don't the miiitary rises payment and benefits for soldiers? After all, aren't our soldiers forced to fight wars so that a few oil industry profiteers and weapons manufacturers fill their pockets with billions? Then, tax those guys the fair way and you'll have enough money to pay decently to our soldiers, at least while they stay alive. Because there is another truth: there is no corporate profit that pays for the loss of life of even one of our soldiers. Problem is that wars are declared by politicians, but are fought by the people.

[beadazzle]

What's next,now we have gangs in the military,oh God help save us all. Are any of them the MS13 gang memebers? Am i going to live to see another stage in history that copies tv,in where we will be over runned with gangs telling us what we can and cannot do.

How much of our military secrets are being used by these gangs to further their attempts to take over cities? Sending prisoners is not the answer and i'm not sure what the answer is,but what I do know is if we americans don't get off our lazy ***** and fight the goverment on our turf now,what will america be like in the next 50 to 100 yrs?
Slowly I'm seeing people revolting in their own little ways to fight back the goverment and their policies,whether it be the lady who hates bush or the militia or anyone else who has a voice,we should speak out and we should do whatever it takes to get our goverment back on track FOR THE PEOPLE.

[timincal]

Take ALL the hardened criminals out of our prisons, load them on planes, take them to Afghanistan, Drop them off.Throw out weapons and ammo as you leave.Before you do tell them that you have created a place in Israel called "home free". If they can make it trough Afghanistan,Iran,Iraq Syria and Saudi Arabia alive they can come home free. Let the Moslem's deal with them.

[bobgee_1999]

"...then why don't you go down to the recruiter's office and raise your right hand. I did."

Will my middle finger suffice? Turn their lives around? Yeah, why be a shoplifter or pothead when you can be a murderer, officially sanctioned by the U.S. government?

And as for "fishingbabe," if your son's lifelong dream was to be in the military then he should have stayed out of jail, shouldn't he? Hardly surprising, though, raised by a mother that refers to herself as a "babe." People wonder why kids become criminals---because people like you think that just having a crotch entitles you to squirt your offspring onto the rest of us. Now you want to unload him on the taxpayers and the military. Sounds to me like you both need to take responsibility for your own actions and live with the consequences.

[superdem]

fishingbabe - I can't believe you call yourself a concerned mother when you are ACTIVELY TRYING to get your son into a hot war zone ! The whole country is trying to get their kids OUT, and you are trying to get your kid IN ! Horrific wars in stinking pits like Iraq with bombs exploding and bullets flying are NOT therapy for kids who can't behave themselve in the United States. War doesn't "fix" people, it breaks them - haven't you read about the vets coming back who can't get the mental health care they need after seeing all the death and destruction, they can't sleep, they can't trust people, they get divorced, they depend on substances, they lose jobs, they have every sort of problem and then some. NOT ALL - not by any means, but a great many. I've never served but I remember this very issue in Viet Nam days. War destroys some peoples' hold on reality. If you love your kid, don't send him to war !

[terrythr]

If you don't like the fact that we are offering these young people the chance to turn their lives around and don't think it is safe to send them in to a combat zone, then why don't you go down to the recruiter's office and raise your right hand. I did.

[purocabron1]

And yet, we still have "Don't ask, don't tell"

[lstray]

why not let them serve? going to war is an honorable service to your country...better they die in war then in a gang battle in your neighborhood. everyone deserves a second chance.

[gwalsh3rd]

Great whats next, why dont we just recruit right
out of prison. We can send in convicted killers
who have nothing else to loose, if they go to Iraq and kill some taliban fighters then we can
pardon them

[citizenusa-2009]

Well, this means Jenna and Barbara Bush can go now! Rock on!