8000 Rap Sheets; 100 Felons
Last night's CBS Evening News had an eye-opening report on just how low the military will go to fill its ranks. According to CBS, among the recent recruits for the U.S. Army, 8000 had some sort of criminal background and 100 of those were convicted felons.
"The number of incoming soldiers with prior felony arrests or convictions has more than tripled in the past five years," correspondent Kimberly Dozier reported.
"In order for the Army to meet its quota, which is going up … they have to resort to giving, taking more and more chances on people," said Lawrence Korb of the Center for American Progress (and an SLDN advisory board member). "The stakes are very high. You're going to give these people lethal weapons… so you better be damn sure that this man or woman has the self-discipline and the strength to be able to use that weapon only when he or she must."
Colonel Sheila Hickman told CBS that "We've always been an Army that's been known to give patriotic citizens second and third chances."
Unless, of course, you happen to be gay.
While 8000 recruits were given 'moral waivers' to enter military service, 11,000 perfectly well-qualified troops were fired because they happen to be lesbian, gay or bisexual. Nearly 800 of those had 'mission-critical' skills, including more than 300 with language training. But what most of them didn't have was a criminal record.
Shouldn't that be a good thing?
As long as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" stays on the books, the Pentagon will continue shooting itself in the foot, day after day. How many more rap sheets will have to fill DoD filing cabinets before military leaders speak up and demand a change that allows them to recruit better troops, even if they happen to be gay?
- Steve RallsLabels: in the news, recruiting, waivers
-----07-31-07
Comments
Comments for this entry are closed.