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Still Fewer "Criminals" in the Army Than in Your Neighborhood Bar
For years now, the Army has been stretching to keep its numbers up by compromising everything from enlistment standards to the quality of new recruits to the character of recruiters themselves. As Peter points out below, today's New York Times now warns us about the rash of waivers being given to incoming soldiers. Salon posted this snarky response under the headline "Need more recruits for Iraq? Take more criminals":
The good news: As the Times explains, "soldiers with criminal histories made up only" -- only! -- "11.7 percent of the Army recruits in 2006."
There are 52 million individuals in the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System criminal history database; that's about 17% of Americans who've been in trouble for some crime at some point in their lives. So the percentage of recruits with criminal histories, less than 12%, is lower than that of the general population with criminal histories.
Moreover, people with criminal records don't equal lifetime criminals; working at a bank two years ago doesn't make you a teller any more than having sold pot in college makes you a dealer. It's not enough that ex-cons face employment discrimination and legal restrictions on where they can live in some states. The public is, evidently, so opposed to letting them establish legitimate lives that we don't even want them doing it in a war zone six thousand miles away.
—Nicole McClelland
Hell, if the President of the United States can be elected with a past that includes alcohol abuse, and the Vice President can shoot someone in the face and escape charges, there is no good reason a young man or woman with a little shop-lifting on their record cannot serve as a soldier.
I was a company clerk in the 82nd Airborne Division back in the late sixties. Remember this when local judges would give young men a choice - jail or the military?
As the company clerk I would spend 75% of my day processing the judicial paperwork for what I would term forced enlistees. These guys were constantly messing up.
Fast forward to the early eighties I spent the summer on Fort Irwin as a quality control inspector for the road construction around the base. The first thing I noticed was the quality and professionalism of the enlisted men in our all volunteer Army. It was like night and day.
Jeebus, McClelland, that was a dumbass thing to say. You do realize that it can get slightly hairy in combat, and you need to have people around that you can trust? Because, you know, your fucking life is on the line, and it may be the actions of the guy beside you that determines if your chips are cashed. So when the shit hits the fan, do you want to depend on some guy with a history of fucking off, or a guy with a history of follwing the rules. Because, you know, when people are trying to kill you, following the rules of combat is the only fucking thing you got going for you.
Yeah, I believe that people should get second chances, hell, even thirty chances depending on the situation. But they have no right to expect to get that chance in the Army in combat at the possible expense of a buddy. They can get their chance down at the Burger King drive-thru where if they fuck up, no one gets killed.
I agree with Ivor in that war is hell and you need the best on your side, but what would make an individual with a criminal history more likely to foul-up in combat verses your average, mentally-challenged grunt? Would you rather have a criminal preparing your fast food or over 2,000 miles away being all that he or she can be (assuming their campaign isn't Mexico border patrol)?
Is the military a valid rehabilitation opportunity for convicts? Hell yes. Not ALL convicts, but if a Judge can deliver a sentence, they can probably also decide which criminals are not far enough gone to gain something from active duty. Many criminals head down the wrong path due to a lack of opportunity and education. The military is looking to groom folks from scratch, plus there's those famous GED and higher-education opportunities the US government is supposed to provide those who have served their tours.
Doesn't this seem like a win-win for a country with full prisons, full high school classrooms and empty-headed, challenged individuals who won't use "Jesus" in a sentence but will gladly add "hell, "shit" or "fuck" five times to get their point across? Just curious.
Okay, I'm a vet. Seen all types in the Army. Yup, even the ones with criminal backgrounds. But I got to tell ya, some of the kids with the "questionable" backgrounds make pretty good service members. And yes they still give them the chance of Jail or the military. Know a few who had that choice given to them.
One of the best 1SG's I ever had got busted so many times during his first four years it's funny. But, he was one of the BEST 1SG I ever had. He also knew that young studs are gonna be young studs. Full of piss, full of vinegar. And with the right NCO, they become good troops.
Thing is, that means it takes time. That means an NCO or an Officer might have their free time cut into. But that is what seperates good leaders from just leaders doing their time in a leadership position for career advancement.
The military is a cross section of our culture. It really is. Rich, poor, upper class, middle class, lower class, educated, uneducated, all religioins, and no religions. Male and female. You can come to the military with nothing in your pocket. Some do, others don't.
They give you a chance to have a better life. They give you opportunites you might not have elsewhere or given the chance to have.
Our present military situation is the result of some Neo Cons who wanted to have a war. Well, what they got and gave the US is a boondoggle. They bit off more then they could chew and have no idea how to get out of it. And, they are wearing down the military. And our elected officials from BOTH PARTIES have let it happen.
I won't even go into having a draft or "what if" had we had one. That's for another time, and another blog.
A side note.
There is that train of thought called the, "Selection Destruction Cycle." This is where you get the best and the brightest, train them, send them off to fight, and they get killed. What you have left are not the best and the brightest.
So, even though these people may have criminal backgrounds, I guess you could say it's the "thinning of the heard?"
Having spent a good chunk of time in New Orleans, I'm all for recruiting kids off the street, gang members, to rove the streets of Baghdad for the United States military. Those kids who grew up in the Magnolia and St. Thomas projects are scared of nothing and know how to seek revenge as the escalating New Orleans murder rate insists.
Don't think of them as acutal soldiers, but more a Special Ops unit that operates independently of the Army.