Frontlines: The Latest from OutServe-SLDN

Wavering Standards

This morning's USAToday features an important report on the rising percentage of Army recruits needing a waiver to join the service because of a past criminal record. The article states that the percentage has more than doubled since 2004 to an astounding one for every eight new soldiers. According to statistics compiled by the Army Recruiting Command and cited in the USAToday article, the percentage of Active and Reserve Army recruits granted conduct waivers for misdemeanor or felony charges has grown from 4.6% of recruits in FY2004, to 13% so far in fiscal year 2008. USAToday reports that "most waivers involve misdemeanors. The Army has granted 4,676 conduct waivers among the 36,047 recruited from October through late February. The waivers have helped the Army meet its Active and Reserve recruitment goals of about 100,000 people a year for the past several years." From 2004-2008 over 2,000 service members have been discharged from the military because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. It is shocking -- and inefficient-- that Congress allows recruiters to enlist a group of men and women with proven behavioral problems (like felons) while at the same time dismissing another group of men and women (lesbians, gays and bisexuals) because they tell the truth about their sexual orientation. Each year bigotry towards lesbians and gays costs the military dearly. Statistics from the Williams Institute at UCLA suggest nearly 4,000 Americans a year never enlist, are discharged or decide not to re-enlist because of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” That means, since the law was passed in 1993, the military has lost nearly 60,000 qualified troops to the ban. That figure is more than equal to the number of men and women sent into Iraq last year as part of the surge. The loss of so many qualified service members is one of the reasons why recruiters are now granting waivers to ex-cons. Americans need to tell lawmakers that "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is not working, that the ban is not serving the best interests of our military, and that it is compromising America's national security interests. Click here to find out how you can contact your Senators and Representative and tell them to support the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." -Aubrey Sarvis

Labels: recruiting

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04-07-08