It was not too many decades ago that young men in trouble with the law were given an option by a judge -- jail or the military. Many of them joined the military, got their acts together, and became upstanding citizens.

As the military became an all-volunteer force, standards became higher. Minor offenses that might have gotten a guy to join the military became disqualifying factor. And some things became disqualifiers that really had nothing to do with fitness to serve at all. Example? Tattoos, even if they weren't gang-related -- even as tattoos became more socially acceptable in American society.

Which leads us to this story.

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.

The goal of the review is to make cumbersome waiver requirements consistent across the services — the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force — and reduce the number of petty crimes that now trigger the process. Still, some Army officers worry that disciplinary problems will grow as more soldiers with records, past drug use and behavior problems are brought in.

I've seen how these processes go. One of my students wanted to be a Marine, but had to get a waiver for a tattoo on his shoulder memorializing his cousin, who had been killed in a random shooting. Another was arrested at 13 for breaking into a neighbor's house to recover a stolen bicycle -- he ended up with a year's probation and went on to become an honor student. And I won't even begin to get into the cases of kids who tried marijuana once at a party and had to go through the process. I'm willing to bet that most of these waivers are for good kids who have messed up -- and who will make exemplary citizens after the experiences of military service. They are the kids who I work with to try to ensure that they don't screw up again -- the ones you want to see get a second chance.

That is why I will find the reaction of liberals like Oliver Willis on this topic informative. Liberals love to tell us that kids shouldn't be thrown away for youthful mistakes. Why, then, does Willis (and other liberals) feel it necessary to degrade them when they seek to serve their country? Could it be that they loathe the military, and the country, so deeply that they are prepared to tear down folks trying to better themselves? Is it merely rank hypocrisy from the left -- the kind we are all so used to? You bet it is.

Posted by: Greg at 11:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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