Looks like all that weapons and survival training that every prisoner unofficially gets in our glorious jails won’t go to waste on the outside. In other words, prisons are teaching job skills to make our country strong!
Military grants more waivers to recruits
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.
More than half of the Marine recruits needed a waiver in 2006, a bit higher than in 2003, and largely due to their more strict drug requirements. Felony waivers made up about 2 percent of the Marine waivers, while other lesser crimes made up about 25 percent, both up slightly from 2003.
I did this last year. I had a bunch of unpaid parking and speeding tickets in half a dozen states. I said I wanted to join the army, and the army paid all the various fines and fees for me. Then I said, no thanks, during ASVAB.
It was an excellent deal.
Thank you for your uselessness to society.
It worked for the Dirty Dozen
You could look at this two ways. A soldier taken off the means streets of the inner city would be well equipped to handle urban warfare in Baghdad. On the other hand, these thugs could rape and pillage their way to an American public relations disaster in the Islamic world.
There has been a series of articles in the military Stars & Stripes newspaper chronicling the infiltration of the military ranks with gang members.
http://tinyurl.com/yum2sl
I’m pretty sure this isn’t what we want our professional military ranks to consist of?
Well, they gotta get their troops ready for the next war with Iran.
What better way than to bribe people with a pardon from a prison sentence.
Maybe they should also consider those on death row. What the heck, they’re going to die soon any way. Just put them on the front lines to act as cannon fodder.
#2
And this makes you proud??
Legal mercenaries.
#2 – You are a low down scoundrel of the highest order. Please teach me, oh great one (OFTLO bows before the Master).
#4 – You make a valid point concerning gang infiltration. Perhaps the military needs to start learning from gang culture. After all, if you can get through the battery of training and still be loyal to the gang and not the US, then the gang must be doing something right (at least, from the gang’s point of view)
You people are confused!
The Army doesn’t fight wars, that’s the National Guard’s job!
The Army… oh, I dunno, “trains” or something…
On the other hand, maybe if more thugs get into the forces, they’ll be able to smuggle drugs back to Uncle Sam much easier, reducing prices, and increasing supply. You have to love economics!
Excepting the obvious serious crimes, such as rape, murder, assault, pedophilia, and the like, I see no reason why many of these men and women can’t serve. Felony or not.
I have long felt that felonies strip all dignity from a person and make it even more difficult to go straight. If this is what it takes to make them human again, then so be it.
#10. Nicely said.
10) ??? Felonies strip one’s dignity? As opposed to what? Being proud of the fact that one committed a felony?
Although you are very apologetic for those who are criminals, last time I checked people who are convicted of a crime are SUPPOSED to be punished. There isn’t supposed to be any dignity for being punished for a crime.
Being stripped of your dignity for doing something very bad is supposed to motivate one not to do it again. Hence why I have no problem with the sheriff / mayor down in Arparillo (don’t know the spelling) Arizona who makes his prisoners wear pink and they only get to watch the Disney Channel and the Weather Channel.
That being said, we do have a society where it is very tough to go straight once one has been “reformed” from prison life. This is where I think many former prisoners go back to crime… it’s because they can’t get a decent job due to their criminal past… not because their loss of dignity pushed them back into it….. The military option is one possible way to put someone back on track .
Personally, I’d rather have the draft come back so that rich elitest snobs who go to some ivy league school and then become a politician can at least serve their country and understand what the military goes through for many thankless holier-than-thou elitetists.
Personally, I’d rather have the draft come back so that rich elitest snobs who go to some ivy league school and then become a politician can at least serve their country and understand what the military goes through for many thankless holier-than-thou elitetists.
I’d agree if it ever worked. But have you looked at the service record of the Washington DC chicken hawks in charge of starting wars? The people who send our brave men and women into harm’s way all found ways to get out of serving themselves. A few used family connections to get to the front of the National Guard line, like Dubya Bush, but he went awol.
Universal drafts never work. Better to stay out of wars, especially wars that only enrich the war industry, get our men and women killed, and fall for sucker traps set by enemies (see http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3961 )
#6,
I don’t have hangups about being proud. Besides pride is a sin.
Woot #2!! wtg!! thats a great idea. rofl
I’ve been harping on this point for years now, if only they’d put all felons (the murdering & raping kind obviously – those that are in the pen for drug convictions will just setup new networks over there) in the military then this war would have been over years ago. Especially felons from the inner cities, they’re much mose used to dealing with drive-by’s, underhanded tactics, and racism – hence, they’d be perfect for the front line. And, as an added bonus, if they die over there, then we get rid of some of the less desired members of our soceity. Its a ‘win-win” situation.
and then ur son becomes a felon and exActly what u said happens think before u speak stupid
#8. My experience is that gang loyalty is a very tenuous thing. Ask all the gang members who were sent to the pen based upon the testimony of their fellows. Or the ones who got nabbed for some gang initiation crime and never again saw hide or hair of the people who put them up to it. I imagine the Army could break up any gangs if it really tried.
#12, Guyver,
10) ??? Felonies strip one’s dignity? As opposed to what? Being proud of the fact that one committed a felony?
While you suppose this as a black and white issue, you miss the point entirely. I am all in favor of “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”. The biggest problem with that is that Justice has taken a back seat to the Revenge. Many, if not most, sentences far outweigh the crime.
I know a man locally who committed a felony over 20 years ago. He did his year in jail for driving a car while someone else robbed a gas station. He was a teenager. Today he has a family and works hard trying to support them. Yet the record follows him and prevents him from getting a job he is capable of. He made a mistake, paid for it and continues to pay even today.
Being stripped of your dignity for doing something very bad is supposed to motivate one not to do it again.
Threats and fear are not motivating factors. That is basic Psychology 102. If they were then we wouldn’t have any “sin” in the world and especially not among the religious wing nut jobs. Why don’t threats work? Simply because most people don’t expect to get caught. Societal coercion, suasion, and mores are the main motivators that work.
it’s because they can’t get a decent job due to their criminal past… not because their loss of dignity pushed them back into it
Fool, and just what do you think their “criminal past” does to their dignity? They can’t vote, often have to register with the police, can’t possess a firearm or other weapon, and usually are shut out of better paying jobs. They get put on registers for all to see. For life.
The military option is one possible way to put someone back on track
We agree on something. There should be ways for a person to reform himself. It is so much better to have productive members of society then warehouse them.
Hence why I have no problem with the sheriff / mayor down in Arparillo (don’t know the spelling) Arizona who makes his prisoners wear pink and they only get to watch the Disney Channel and the Weather Channel
Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County (Phoenix, AZ). Who also had chain gangs brought back.
J/P=?
anyone who uses the government for there own agenda other then that of succeeding in life to get out of a jam, should not be in the military. By own agenda, I mean like, using the military to gain weapons that are illegal on the street. Using the military to recruit for gangs, and so forth should not happen. If it happens, something serious should be done with the gang members. Thats like committing treason. You vow , and swear to serve your country, yet, you still operate , or stay involved with a gang. Personally, I find it to be hypocrisy at its best. Its one or the other. You can’t have both.
people dont recruit gang members in the military they just enlist and aregang members thats what they r saying and since they show no sign until they r enlisted it then becomes the issue see what im saying lmao recriting soldiers by far the worst follow up of an article high treason hahaha its not like they making other soldiers join a gang and leave lmao learn what treason is