"...in order to boost recruiting, the military has waived regulations for 17 percent of its new recruits -- or 21,880 new soldiers -- in 2005."
Army seems to be desperate for troops. Waivers to bring in 21,880 criminals and 12,500 stop-loss actions in 2005 alone (see post 65165) to keep in the good guys who want out when they are supposed to. Really an interesting "volunteer" Army. If CICBush43 starts action against Iran, looks like a draft will not be far behind since that will no doubt actually be a declared war. And that will have consequences for all of us economically as cargo and passenger movements to and from the U.S. will involve entering a war zone with higher insurance costs so goods and fuel will cost more. Oh yeah, your insurance probably doesn't cover damage in a war zone or acts of war. Stay tuned... David Bier http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Military_waived_regulations_for_21880_recruits_0202.html Military waived regulations for 21,880 recruits last year, Salon reports 02/02/2006 @ 10:11 am Filed by RAW STORY An article in today's Salon.com describes how a future Air National Guardsman was busted for possessing marijuana and how the Guard waived their usual prohibition on "criminal offenses" to let him join the Guard. The article reveals that in order to boost recruiting, the military has waived regulations for 17 percent of its new recruits -- or 21,880 new soldiers -- in 2005. Excerpts: Under Air National Guard rules, the dealer had committed a "major offense" that would bar him from military service. Air National Guard recruits, like other members of the military, cannot have drug convictions on their record. But on Feb. 2, 2005, the applicant who had been arrested in the mini-mall was admitted into the Delaware Air National Guard. How? Through the use of a little-known, but increasingly important, escape clause known as a waiver. Waivers, which are generally approved at the Pentagon, allow recruiters to sign up men and women who otherwise would be ineligible for service because of legal convictions, medical problems or other reasons preventing them from meeting minimum standards. This is where waivers come in. According to statistics provided to Salon by the office of the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, the Army said that 17 percent (21,880 new soldiers) of its 2005 recruits were admitted under waivers. Put another way, more soldiers than are in an entire infantry division entered the Army in 2005 without meeting normal standards. This use of waivers represents a 42 percent increase since the pre-Iraq year of 2000. (All annual figures used in this article are based on the government's fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. So fiscal year 2006 began Oct. 1, 2005.) In fact, even the already high rate of 17 percent underestimates the use of waivers, as the Pentagon combined the Army's figures with the lower ones for reserve forces to dilute the apparent percentage. Equally significant is the Army's currently liberal use of "moral waivers," loosely defined as criminal offenses. Officially, the Pentagon states that most waivers issued on moral grounds are for minor infractions like traffic tickets. Yet documents obtained by Salon show that many of the offenses are more serious and include drunken driving and domestic abuse. Full restricted story here. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/02/02/waivers/ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
