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US Army more selective on recruits, re-enlistments
Topic Started: May 22 2012, 09:37 AM (815 Views)
Max
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Uncle Sam may not want you after all.

In sharp contrast to the peak years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Army last year took in no recruits with misconduct convictions or drug or alcohol issues, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press. And soldiers already serving on active duty now must meet tougher standards to stay on for further tours in uniform.

The Army is also spending hundreds of thousands of dollars less in bonuses to attract recruits or entice soldiers to remain.

It's all part of an effort to slash the size of the active duty Army from about 570,000 at the height of the Iraq war to 490,000 by 2017. The cutbacks began last year, and as of the end of March the Army was down to less than 558,000 troops.

For a time during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army lowered its recruiting standards, raising the number of recruits who entered the Army with moral, medical and criminal - including felony - waivers.

Recruits with misdemeanors, which could range from petty theft and writing bad checks to assault, were allowed into the Army, as well as those with some medical problems or low aptitude scores that might otherwise have disqualified them.

A very small fraction of recruits had waivers for felonies, which included convictions for manslaughter, vehicular homicide, robbery and a handful of sex crimes. The sex crimes often involved consensual sex when one of the individuals was under 18.

In 2006, about 20 percent of new Army recruits came in under some type of waiver, and by the next year it had grown to nearly three in 10. After the Defense Department issued new guidelines, the percentage needing waivers started to come down in 2009.

Now, as the Army moves to reduce its force, some soldiers will have to leave.

Officials say they hope to make cuts largely through voluntary attrition. But Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, has warned that as much as 35 percent of the cuts will be "involuntary" ones that force soldiers to abandon what they had hoped would be long military careers.

"This is going to be hard," said Gen. David Rodriguez, head of U.S. Army Forces Command. "This is tough business. As we increase things like re-enlistment standards, some of the people who were able to re-enlist three years ago won't be able to re-enlist again."

The Army, in an internal slide presentation, is blunt: "Re-enlistment is a privilege, not a right; some 'fully qualified' soldiers will be denied re-enlistment due to force realignment requirements and reductions in end strength."

(More@:SOURCE:YahooNews)

Waivers for *felonies*? WTF? I couldn't get in because of my health,OK, but they let *criminals* in?
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LarryOldtimer
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Back in my days in the USAF, there was at least an "entrance exam", but during WWII, every physically fit man, beginning at age 18 through 45 years old served in the US military, other than exempt occupations.

Those men gambled, drank lots of beer and whiskey, were by modern terms "immoral", but a good many were thugs or worse in civilian terms . . . and were quite willing to kill our enemies in every theater of war.

It takes great courage, including "Dutch courage" to go to a battlefield to kill or be killed, but that is simply what happens during wartime.

People in general think (better "believe") that great wars are a thing of the past. I am quite sure that after the gore and stink of the First World War ("the war to end all wars) no one thought that another great war would happen again any time soon . . . but it sure did happen.

After WWII, those great heroes and killers simply adapted quickly, with no shrink assistance, to being peaceful but very much self-motivated men (and many women) in civilian life.

Our nations woes we have brought upon ourselves from grades K-12 and further in education.

Men are, for the most part, not real men any more, but have been feminized, which will be to our great regret in the near future.

I taught myself the movements of Gung-Fu by the time I was 13 years old, and followed with Savate (French kick boxing), and there was not a "big guy" in high school who did not fear me. A stupid would be bullies tried me on, and learned quickly to their great dismay.

I still can be quite let hat, if the need arises.

Our modern military "rules of engagement" are but suicidal for our troops "over there".
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Max
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I know a lot of soldiers are as they say "rough men", but letting in felons? I resent it.
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LarryOldtimer
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If you would look back at WWII, you would think differently. A lot of our medal winners were but thugs in civilian life. Machine-gun Kelly was a tough thug, in civilized life.

A good but wild friend of mine was told by a judge it was jail, or enlist in the military. He enlisted in the Air Force, greatly enjoyed it, and in time, was promoted to master sergeant.
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Max
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Well, the reason I resent it was because my illness is regarded as a liability but felons that were also considered undesirable are now allowed in.
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LarryOldtimer
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One of the hardest thing to do is to train a soldier to kill. In the mitary, there is great value to recruiting felons, and training them well.

Aside from that, what sort of felons are you referring to?
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Max
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Well, sex offenders. It says they were letting sex offenders in. So a rapist isn't a liability?
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LarryOldtimer
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As i questioned, which sort of felon?. These rapists should be nailed by their balls to a wall, and then have the wall set on fire.
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Max
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Roger that.
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