Some conservative groups are getting all hot and bothered about whether military personnel should have access to reading material that gets them all hot and bothered. They want Congress to reevaluate what qualifies as "sexually explicit" and should be banned from bases. But believe it or not, there are more pressing concerns than whether porn belongs in the military. Such as, do criminals?
With a serious need for increased enrollment, the Pentagon wants to make it easier for people with a criminal record to get into the military. Right now, recruits with a record for drugs, stealing, weapons possession, and fighting need a waiver to join, as do recruits with health problems like asthma or flat feet, or low scores on aptitude tests. The percentage of recruits needing a waiver for behavior-related problems rose from 15 percent in 2006 to 18 percent this year, and about 30 percent of all recruits need some sort of waiver. The Pentagon reports that two-thirds of the waivers that have been approved in recent years have been for criminal behavior.
The stats differ among the branches of the armed services, but here's a particularly disturbing one: 71 percent of the Army's conduct waivers between October 2006 and June 2007 were for serious misdemeanors, which the AP reports can include "thefts worth more than $500, any incident involving a dangerous weapon on school grounds, or minor assaults and fights."
The military seems pretty divided on the issue. While there's a concern that the waiver process slows recruitment, others say they don't want to have to deal with discipline problems. The AP piece makes it clear that a lot of these waivers are for petty offenses committed when the recruits were juveniles. But that's not always the case. I'm not saying everyone who's ever done something wrong should be barred from the military, but there's a reason the waiver process exists -- to weed out people that probably shouldn't be operating weapons in foreign countries.
--Kate Sheppard
