Oh no!

WASHINGTON - The Army and Marine Corps are letting in more recruits with criminal records, including some with felony convictions, reflecting the increased pressure of five years of war and its mounting casualties.

According to data compiled by the Defense Department, the number of Army and Marine recruits needing waivers for felonies and serious misdemeanors, including minor drug offenses, has grown since 2003. The Army granted more than double the number of waivers for felonies and misdemeanors in 2006 than it did in 2003. Some recruits may get more than one waiver.

So we have a military full of pot heads and thieves now?  I mean, double the number of waivers.  That must be a lot, right?

Except, wait a minute...what’s this buried down in the middle of the article…

The number of felony waivers granted by the Army grew from 411 in 2003 to 901 in 2006, according to the Pentagon, or about one in 10 of the moral waivers approved that year. Other misdemeanors, which could be petty theft, writing a bad check or some assaults, jumped from about 2,700 to more than 6,000 in 2006.

So 901 recruits got waivers for felonies.  About 6,000 got waivers for misdemeanors.  In fiscal year 2006 the military recruited 317,866 people.  These recruits that got waivers represent about 2.2% of overall recruits.  But do we even really care about the recruits that had misdemeanor waivers?  I mean, we’re talking about things like maybe shoplifting.  Loud partying.  Maybe a bar fight or something.  Hardly troubling, no?

If we just include those recruits that got waivers for felonies we’re at about .28%.  Or about 3 tenths of one percent of all recruits in 2006. 

Hardly a staggering number.  Plus, consider the military’s explanation for these waivers:

Army and Defense Department officials defended the waiver program as a way to admit young people who may have made a mistake early in life but have overcome past behavior. And they said about two-thirds of the waivers granted by the Marines are for drug use, because they — unlike the other services — require a waiver if someone has been convicted once for marijuana use.

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?  Well that didn’t get in the way of Democrats making some political hay out of the whole non-issue:

“The data is crystal clear. Our Armed Forces are under incredible strain and the only way that they can fill their recruiting quotas is by lowering their standards,” said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., who requested the information from the Pentagon. “By lowering standards, we are endangering the rest of our armed forces and sending the wrong message to potential recruits across the country.”

Lowering standards?  I think the men and women who were recruited by the military in 2006 would be surprised to learn that they’re sub-standard.  I also fail to see how letting in a few recruits with minor criminal records hurts anything.  There was a time in this country when the military was a place for the shiftless or the troublemakers.  The military straightened ‘em out. 

My father, in fact, was one who joined the military after a brief career as a juvenile delinquent.  I won’t get into the nature of his petty crimes, but suffice it to say that the military did indeed straighten him out.  He served in Vietnam as a Sergent in charge of a long range reconnaissance platoon, and he ended his military service with a silver star, three bronze stars, three purple hearts and a myriad of other lesser commendations.

I think folks like my father who were “straightened out” by the military might be surprised that they’re substandard as well.

It is pathetic - detestably pathetic - that the left and their allies in the media would try to make political hay out of this.