Not a bad way for bad guys to be redeemed

by David Grand
May 7, 2008

Those with past felony convictions are being recruited by the Army and Marine Corps at an increasing rate. The number granted waivers by the Army jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007, and from 208 to 350 in the Marine Corps. By contrast, the Navy only granted 42 waivers in 2007 (a drop of six from 2006), while the Air Force didn't grant any waivers to recruits in either year.

That disparity between the branches is understandable, for the chances of losing life or limb on a ship or Air Force base are minuscule compared to facing life and death situations each day in Iraq and Afghanistan. So it's no wonder they have no difficulty in meeting their recruitment goals.

As regards the breakdown of felony convictions for which waivers were issued in 2007, they were:

• A bit more than half of the Army's convictions were for various types of thefts, ranging from burglaries to bad checks and stolen cars, with another 130 for drug offenses. The remainder included two for manslaughter, five for sex crimes (which includes rape, incest or sexual assaults); three for negligent or vehicular homicide, and two for terrorist threats, including bomb threats.
• At least 235 of the Marine Corps' 350 waivers were for various types of thefts and another 63 for assaults or robberies that may have also included use of a weapon; one for manslaughter, four for sex crimes and five for terrorist and/or bomb threats.
• Most of the Navy's convictions were for a variety of thefts, or drug offenses and for drunk driving. (They look good compared to the dogfaces and jarheads.)
  It should be noted that the waivers aren't granted willy-nilly. For they must be approved by a brigadier general or above, plus written recommendations and endorsements from community leaders showing that the recruits would be a good bet for the military. (Good riddance is probably what motivated many of 'em.)

And there's mixed results about Army recruits granted waivers. On one hand, a study shows they go AWOL more often and face more court martial; but on the other, they get promoted faster and re-enlist at a higher rate. "So far, the return outweighs the risk," said Army Col. Kent M. Miller, who headed the study team.

As I said in my column of 1/3/07, if the Army and Marine Corps are that desperate for recruits, they should consider offering those in prison for non-violent, drug-related crimes a "clean slate" in exchange for the opportunity to do something worthwhile for the country and with their lives.

What with 70 percent of those in prison falling into that category, I'm sure there'd be enough volunteers to meet the military's recruitment needs for decades to come; and that wardens of over crowded prisons would hail the idea.

And I went on to say, that's no more far-fetched than the Pentagon weighing the possibility of tapping into a large, unused manpower pool of illegal immigrants. For as David Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland said, "they're here anyway, and if they're willing to lay their lives on the line to put them on a faster track to U.S. citizenship, I think that makes them more worthy than someone born here whose never done anything for his country, other than putting a "support the troops" sticker on his vehicle." (Currently, there's about 30,000 non citizens in the armed forces, with more than 100 killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

Think I'll take a breather and play my tape of that inspiring 1967 movie "The Dirty Dozen," which depicts twelve hardened criminals in an Army jail who take on a suicide mission in WW 11, on the promise they'd be freed if the mission is a success. Only two survived.