Friday Follies- It's the system, not the troops

The Army may be overlooking an opportunity of significant import. It is well known that enlistment numbers are down and re-enlistment numbers are not where they would like them to be. So, what can be done to meet their quotas, numbers so demanding because of the lack of foresight by the Bush administration?

I know, lets relax the recruitment standards (again), and that is exactly what they have done. The question is, are they taking full advantage of the lower standards now established.

Because their recruitment goals in 2005 were the worst since 1979, in 2006, the Army lowered (or raised, depending on how you look at it) the aptitude level for recruits. Before this they only allowed 2 percent of the recruits to fall below minimum aptitude scores. In 2006 it was raised to 4 percent and they exceeded their recruitment goal. Since 2003 the number of recruits with a high school diploma has dropped from 94 percent to 70.7 percent in 2007.


In another attempt to fill vacancies, the Army has also changed it's policy on allowing convicted criminals to enlist. Between 2003 through 2006, the military allowed 4,230 convicted felons to enlist under the "moral waivers" program, which enables otherwise unqualified candidates to serve. In addition, 43,977 individuals convicted of serious misdemeanors such as assault were permitted to enlist under the moral waivers program during that period, as were 58,561 illegal drug abusers.

The latest number I could find indicates that through the first half of 2007 almost 12 percent of the new recruits enlisted under a moral waiver program.

The only types that seems to be excluded are of course those of the gay persuasion and for some reason, murderers. Maybe if we want to find and eliminate those who seek to terrorize us we should enlist the help of someone with that type of background, kind of like the "Dirty Dozen" or maybe someone from the Gambino family. They always seem to be able to find someone that didn't want to be found.