Military Enlists Convicted Felons

April 21, 2008 By CJ
Posted in Life in the Military, Military News, Top Posts

Really?

There’s been a lot of talk by those who detest this administration and are clinging to anything they can that “supports” their notion of an unjust war. One of the reasons they site for why we shouldn’t be at war in Iraq is that the military has had to resort to “lowering our standards” with more moral waivers than ever before. The fact is that moral waivers have been increasing since prior to the war in Iraq.

Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year than in 2006, including some with manslaughter and sex crime convictions.

Data released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

Those numbers represent a fraction of the more than 180,000 recruits brought in by the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007. But they highlight a trend that has raised concerns both within the military and on Capitol Hill.

I have another perspective I’d like to share.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistic’s ”Indicators of School Crime and Safety” report that came out two years ago - the latest report available:

71% of public schools experiences one or more violent incidents and 36% of public school reported violent incidents to the police. 20% of public schools experienced one or more serious violent incidents, and 15% reported serious violent incidents to the police.

According to FBI statistics in 2006 (the latest available), the number of juveniles arrested for assault (ie, schoolyard fights, but not including aggravated assault) rose 5.0% in the past decade. The number of robberies by juveniles rose 34.4%. Violent crimes involving arson by juveniles rose 7.6%. Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter by juveniles rose 17.8%. Vandalism among juveniles rose 10.4%. Weapons offenses by juveniles rose 30.9%.

In 2006, 414,822 juveniles committed the offenses that the article highlights being waivered in to the military. The military recruited 680 of those juveniles - a mere 0.16%! Those individuals made up less than one half percent of the total enlistment contracts signed. With all these increases in crime by juveniles - the government’s constant drive to make everything illegal! - it’s only natural that the military would have fewer individuals to pool from.

I don’t think the military is lowering its standards. I think American society is!! It’s time the American media used a little context instead of making our jobs harder than they need to be.

Miss Ladybug

April 21st, 2008 at 8:37 pm

I think there are several factors that go into the increased number of juveniles with records these days. “Zero tolerance” rules/laws that don’t allow for an application of common sense (like the story a number of years ago about the honors student who had a cooking knife in her car being in violation of a “no weapons on campus” decree). Another factor, I think, is the glorification in the media (movies, music) of the “gansta” lifestyle, and even suburban youth wanting to emulate that kind of behavior. The military seems to be having to make some adjustments to the changing demographics of society as a whole. That is a sad statement about society moreso than a mark against the military…

George Samek CW-3 US Army Retired

April 21st, 2008 at 8:47 pm

I enlisted in 1958 at age 18.,with a juvenile waiver ..non felony..served 23 years E-1 to E-7..to Warrent Officer..served two combat tours in Vietnam. Received a Bronze Star Tet 68…held secret clearance..worked with nukes…attended collage while on active duty,…retired and become a NC Police Officer ..attended the Charlotte NC Police Academy. I Received a Police Purple heart . For a.on duty gunshot. Disibility retired for this injury.

Without the chance to serve my country, which ws given to me by a waiver of my crimes as a youth, I feel by life would not have been anywhere near rewarding as it has been.
In a all volunteer military I feel there should be a place for those who have offered to serve and if selected should be treated no different then any other soldier.

I thank my country for the chance to prove myself. Think very hard before you close the door on military service to those with a minor crininal record. That waiver was the most important document in my life.

LT Nixon

April 22nd, 2008 at 3:36 am

The military is an excellent place for people who came from a rough background or made some mistakes as teenagers to get straightened out. The comradery embedded into the military psyche may be what many of these young men seek when they join gangs. I have worked with many “jail or sail” type people, and they all performed with excellence. Obviously, there should be some restrictions and all felons should be on a case-by-case basis with their recruiter, but ultimately this will benefit society.

yankeemom

April 22nd, 2008 at 5:28 am

First of all, thank you, CJ, for posting about this. I was going to research it further myself because it stank of another witch hunt on our military under the heading of defeatist politiking. I am so tired of this nonsense!
I should have known you’d be right on this.

I personally know of 2 young men who were headed for jail time before they entered the Army, mostly because their parents didn’t give two good hoots about raising them up right. So they got into trouble a lot. One is now working toward becoming a SGT and the other just made Ranger with high marks and will be deploying soon. Both had waivers. (These were, as LT Nixon advises, done on a case by case basis. The recruiters don’t want to put anyone in the military that will endanger others’ lives.)

They are very grateful to be in the military instead of a prison. And they are now proud of themselves. Plus, they have a family, which is something neither really had their whole lives.
I’ve known a lot of “lost” children. Some used to sleep on my livingroom floor as I didn’t want them on the streets. They were the kids of folks making at least $100,000/ yr, too busy to make a lot of money and raise their kids at the same time, I guess.
So, yes, I agree ~ it isn’t the military standards that have fallen. I’d say society is sinking lower and losing it’s kids. Thank god some find the military.

sue

April 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am

Great post CJ.

Bill Grisham

April 22nd, 2008 at 10:28 am

I don’t believe that society or the military really need to worry about the so called “lower standards” being applied to applicants and recruiters. Most of the problem stems from the socialist approach of trying to define and control all aspects of our wonderful multi-cultural American society. With all of the emphasis on using the law and statutes to direct and classify everything we do in our lives as either good or bad with the addition of making some of these actions felonies without any real damaged party or property. It is too easy now-a-days for someone to be classified as a criminal without ever really harming anyone else. Freedom has been sacrificed for definitions of what should or should not be done without seeing if you had intentionally caused someone else harm. Criminal Intent has been lost from our legal lexicon and replaced with whether you conformed to the well intentioned statutes of the State. I remember several members of my squadron who were discharged from the Navy for possession of a plant. These men were good workers who showed up on time for work and did a good job when there. Unfortunately, they were expunged for early 20th century efforts to control minorities by outlawing the things their culture happened to enjoy and partake in. The political response made the mere possession of a plant or plant product a crime and so that the lesson was driven home, a minor amount of the substance was classified as a felony. It is easy to make bad political decisions that the public has to endure and the media do nothing to investigate and simply reinforce the bad decision made with propaganda based on new and always changing “reasons” for its outlawry. Since the political system made so many criminals out of non-criminal activiities, it is only logical that more criminals are now in society.
Ayn Rand made the following observation in the 1950s: “There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of law-breakers—and then you cash in on guilt.”
Grocho Marx made the following observation about the same time: “Politics is (1) the art of looking for trouble, (2) finding it everywhere, (3) diagnosing it incorrectly and (4) applying the wrong remedy.”
The military has always been an alternative method for judges who believe that the person brought before him for legal judgment may have potential positive contributions to society by telling him he has the option of enlisting in the military or serving a jail term. Most seemed to choose the military. As pointed out above, many persons got their life together while in the service and did improve the world thereby.
We are now in the middle of a great socialist experiment wherein we are all told what “society” expects of us and then punishes us for not conforming. So much for the freedom this country is supposed to represent and stand for. We now have more people in jail than any other country in the world as a percentage of the population shows. Is there some kind of a disconnect here? After all I did enter the military to defend the freedoms of our country and now find that if I were still in it, I would be defending a large group of politicos that are doing all they can to undermine those freedoms.
The German people of the 1930s thought that the Nazis would protect their freedoms, but they undermined them by scapegoating the Jews and other undesireables as the causes of the country’s problems. Were they really the cause of the problems or were the politicos the problem?
Stalin and the Bolshevics were eager to bring “freedom” to the Russian people and ended up enslaving them. Their country is still trying to get out from under the heel of the State. Even most of what the communists worked with in their society was already in existence under the Czar; i.e. secret police to spy on and deter any resistance to government edicts (NKVD).
“The state spends much time and effort persuading the public that it is not really what it is and that the consequences of its actions are positive rather than negative.”
Hans-Hermann Hoppe
We still have much to learn about freedom and until we see that true criminal acts harm other persons or their property, we will never have a free society. Tolerance is a necessary component of that freedom and the rules of the common law set down the principles for liberty to flourish.
I conclude by stating that society is neither worse nor better than before, but only different and continuing to change. Beware of politicians with agendas that don’t recognize individual liberty and try to place us all in little boxes for them to rule. Democracy is not a general curative panacea and anyone in the minority is subject to outlawry by sophistry because a 51% majority can control anybody for anything. That is why Ben Franklin stated after the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that “We have given you a Republic if you can keep it.” The rule of law is much used by our leaders today, but they mean to call their rules and statutes “law” and the reality is that most of their statutes are not law but political manipulation.

David

April 24th, 2008 at 9:00 am

I enetered the Army in 1971. We had quite a few of the “serve the army or serve your term” in basic training. Some should not have been there and others fit in well.

In my 33 years plus service, it boils down to the individual. Based on my observations, my recommendation would be to limit the waivers to certain infractions, and to have special periodic performance evaluations (a probation period) over the first 3-4 years to verify which ones should not be retained.

I would also initially restrict the MOS’s available to them during this probationary period.

But the story makes good copy for the newspapers and politicians.

mike

May 4th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

To me the military should should be looked upon as the “lower standard.” In society we look at someone who kills with fear and feel they should be put to death or incarcerated for life. Meanwhile, men who drive tanks, drop bombs, and shoot m-16’s a people are honored. So I guess its okay to be a “killer,” as long as its for the United States and not for yourself.

May 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

Mike,

You’re right! Fear us! FEAR US!! Run for your life because we’re liable to snap. Boogety boogety! Run, hide, save yourself before it’s too late. Lock your doors, bar up your windows. Fear the Soldiers. FEAR THE SOLDIERS!!!

Mark

May 12th, 2008 at 8:15 am

Mike:

“To me the military should should be looked upon as the “lower standard.””

It’s dolts like you that fail to recognize the fact that it’s the military that gives you the right to show your ass with statements like this. A nation without a strong military is destined to be ruled by others. Perhaps that’s what you want; a Government that will wipe your nose, feed you, and tuck you in at night.
It’s going to be O.K. The mental disorder you have is known as Socialism. Our soldiers are here to protect you from yourself.

Jason Selph

June 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am

I was convicted of a felony in 2001, while in the USAF. I was 20 years old at the time of the offenses. I am now 29,married with three children, and am trying to get back in the service. I feel horrible about my drug conviction, and in truth it was only because I was young and ignorant. For some to think that my convictions, and mistakes make me somehow less a patriot, really bothers me, I know if given an oppurtunity to serve my country I would be successful. I want to fight terrorism! I want redemption, and I don’t know if I will ever get a chance at it in the military, because of youthful ignorance.

gman

December 9th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

how can you carry a weapon in the military if you are a felon? aren’t the MOSs already limited if you cant? if it was a state judge that convicted you, can he determine that you can carry a weapon in the military even though it is a federal law?

Johnny Oxford

January 7th, 2009 at 11:16 pm

I am an ex convict who has served his time. Ever since I was a child I wanted to join the Army. Not all convicts are bad people. Not all cops and judges are good people. I am waiting on my waiver.

I was in state prison when the twin towers fell… And this convict wept.

Barbie

January 28th, 2009 at 5:35 pm

I have a son that has two felony’s - which were due to a car accident in 2007. Our judical system took their wrath out on him it seems. He was not drinking, he stopped to help the 3 youths, he even called 911 and they arrested him on the spot and took him to jail and towed away his car. The 3 youths were wanting to race him and lost control of their car and ran into a pole, totaling out their car. They were underage, had been drinking and 2 of them even admitted it wasn’t my son’s fault! To make a long story short — my son is not a bad person. He has found after being charged with these felony’s he can’t find a job, he has his license suspended for two years, and he doesn’t have a car to drive anyway. He will probably have to pay enormous insurance premiums when and if he doesn’t retain his license again. He can’t even rent a place to live. With no options left he has tried to join the military and serve his country. He is in top pysical condition, doesn’t have drug problems, phycological problems ect… he has tried and tried to get into the army and they will not let him in saying he has one to many felonies! These are traffic related!!! Here is a willing and able young man ready to fight for the rights and freedom of OUR country and he isn’t able to do so. I find it a shame. A real shame.

brownskin#1

January 31st, 2009 at 11:16 pm

I have a friend in the same position .He has two felonies.He can not get a job that pays more than minimum wadge.With no options i hope the military will take him.If he can’t get in i don’t know what he will do.How can a person change his his life if you make it hard to do so.

Kaci Ayres

February 22nd, 2009 at 3:47 pm

My son and a friend broke into some businesses around here in early October of 2008. The police spoke with him, he told the truth and returned everything that he had stolen. They never charged him, never arrested him, never fingerprinted him. On January 10th of this year, he joined the Army. When asked if he had ever been convicted of a felony, he said no. We were kind of sweating the criminal check because we hadn’t heard from the police and were assuming that since he returned the stolen items, they weren’t going to press charges. On Feb. 6th, the day he left for boot camp, I got the papers in the mail saying that they were NOW charging him. I went to court for him last week, and the prosecutor almost had him pulled back from boot camp immediately. The probation officer, my attorney, and the public defender persuaded the judge to let him stay and finish boot camp and hold the trial after he graduates. My question is this; the probation officer is going to be speaking to my son’s commander, and once he sees the time line of events, that he in fact joined before the charges were filed, will they allow him to stay in? He didn’t lie on his application, at the time, he had never been charged, nor convicted of a crime. Anyone have any input??

February 23rd, 2009 at 6:05 pm

Kaci, your son will be fine I think. Since he wasn’t charged until this month, it was not a fraudulent enlistment. However, he may be required to reclassify into another job if the job he enlisted for requires a security clearance. It may be difficult for him to get a clearance if he is found guilty.

Lynn

March 16th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

Wow! To all of those felons…contact the National Guard they will take you and give you a firearm even though it is against federal law. After years of abuse I finally left this Guardsman. Convicted of domestic violence many times and as well as so much more he is also a three time felon! He was just made a Sgt. in the Idaho National Guard. Get this his reduction of crime in the civil court house was DENIED and he lied all over his enlistment papers. He has also had a STROKE!

To the true soldiers not just looking for money you are THANKED very much for what you do and what you have done in the past for our country. Keep your heads up true soldiers and families of one and above all remember 2nd chances are not always good “Felons got your back”.

April 9th, 2009 at 3:42 pm

I am a felon. I was allowed to serve. It has given me direction and purpose. I love my country, and I made a mistake. It is what an individual wants in life or an individual’s will to want to change. Labeling is a bad practice for both sides of the game. Those individuals that require a need to judge others to me have no other traits or skills.

Anana

April 14th, 2009 at 10:05 am

I am a c0nvicted fel0n! I have always wanted t0 j0in the service, all my life! I’ve had a h0rribble childho0d(abuse, gr0up h0mes, scho0l dr0p-0ut)it still never deterred me fr0m my feelings 0f wanting t0 d0 s0mething that I feel is s0 meaningful in life and in this c0untry; and that’s serving! If I can enlist, I will!!!! I’ve made mistakes and will c0ntinue t0 I’m sure its called being human, h0wever, if all0wed t0 I will bust my ass t0 serve because it w0uld be a dream c0me true! Fel0ns have dreams and regrets t0 I assure y0u! Human!

Justin

April 20th, 2009 at 8:15 pm

David, I’m doing an essay about this subject. I’m all for people with a few past troubles being granted a chance to prove themselves and change their lives in the military. I also wanted to join and they never let me because of an aggravated assault I had when I was 15. I’m now 23 and still can’t join. I was protecting my mother for christ sake! then again, I also had a DUI when I was 18, and a few traffic violations.

I’m trying to find some reliable sources of information and specific examples, documented true stories about people that were allowed to join and made successful soldiers, also examples of those that did not, and perhaps committed some sort of crime during their time of service.

If anyone here can help me it would be awesome! Thanks

Freddie Tomlin

April 27th, 2009 at 10:57 pm

To Whom It May Concern:

I have wanted to enlist in the military and due to my criminal background I have been told by recruiters that I am not entitled to enlist. I understand rules and regulations but it just seems like it not fair to civilians like me wanting to serve this country. I have a distribution felony that on my criminal background that happened 10 years ago. At that time I was given first time offenders status and later the charge was dismissed. After 10 years of having NO altercations or charges relating to drugs I am unable to enlist in the military. It just doesn’t seem fair. I have been a good civilian trying to better myself with having some college and holding a steady job. I am married and have children and admit I have a bad past. I was 19 years old when those charges happened and feel I was still young and not matured. I had a hard life growing up, but now have matured and would just like to have the same opportunities as other men and women are given. I understand it’s a privilege to join the military. I just wish that there could be some type of amendment or something done to the regulations allowing individuals that have corrected their life and proved to society they are worthy to join the military.

Nehemiah T.

May 16th, 2009 at 10:15 pm

I grew up in a city where almost every youth I knew was either being raised by a single mother, a grandmother, or was in foster care. There were no men to teach us about being men. There were only the gangs and the cops. The military was the first place to hold me to a stardard and I met men I could respect and model myself after. I was taken out of that city and met people from all walks of life that I would have never had anything to do with otherwise. I learned a lot from them, several of whom became my friends. I became a man in the true sense of the word, not just an adult.

It was only luck that I was able to escape getting a criminal record during my youth. I wasn’t a career criminal, just someone who went along with the people I knew because I didn’t have anything else going for me. If the cop chasing me had not stumbled when I was 15, my future would have been radically changed. Only a handful of the guys I knew back then got out. The rest are either dead, incarcerated, or soon to be one or the other. A lot of people I knew joined gangs because they promised to give them what they were not getting at home: people who supported them, advised them, mentored them, praised them, showed pride in them, or just gave a da-n about them. When you come from a place where if you are not causing trouble, you are ignored, you would be willing to die for your gang.

I passed my GED because my Sgt. told me if I didn’t get it after two years after I enlisted, I would have to be seperated from the service. He knew if that happened, I would just go back to where I grew up and it would all be for nothing. If I did well on the practice tests, I wouldn’t spend my time restricted to base and doing sh-t jobs late into the night. That motivated me to learn what I needed and I passed. I still don’t know anyone else who would have done that for me. He’s dead now. Cancer.

I’m not saying every person who has a criminal record should be wavered in. There are some people who are bad and will never be anything other than that until they die. But if you take a kid out of their messed up environment they grew up in, hold them to a standard and give them some pride, they can turn their lives around. Some people have football coaches for that and they remember their coach for the rest of their lives.

There are just too many kids who are just growing wild with no one to guide them and they keep having babies who grow up just like them. I think they should bring back the draft and make the training much tougher. Many, if not most will be better people when they leave the military. Just give them a chance. We all did stupid stuff that could have screwed up our lives if they went badly or got caught. Give them a chance to turn their lives into something better instead of ensuring that they cannot leave the screwed up one they currently have because of something they did when they were young.

That’s all.

adam

May 21st, 2009 at 5:17 pm

I believe that mistakes should not mold the rest of our life’s, we are only human in an unjust world we are bound to have fouls, but most of all were are Americans, and some people forget that, like the person who wrote this topic. When an individual makes a mistake and wants to change their ways and prove their self to society, serving their country is a great way, and hopefully I will be one to soon get that wavier and serve. See maybe American Society isn’t lowering expectation’s maybe you have such high standards that’s why your so upset, I would rather see people change their life’s, and let the military help change the direction in their life and give them discipline. Otherwise they stay on the streets and maybe more problems come, not every one has an outlet or a father or brother for help, some have none…

Tony

June 16th, 2009 at 10:54 am

It is my opinion that the latter statement regarding American society lowering its standards to be very true. When someone has made a mistake, completed the assigned sentence, and has moved on to a better and more responsible life, then there is no reason to hold their past against them. Considering that the statistics are that 78% of those convicted of a felony will return to prison, society as a whole do not have to worry about most of those labeled “felons”.

As for “ex-felons”, I believe American society doesn’t want them around because they are a reminder that there are consequences for bad choices. I have read articles that speak in high regard of our men and women in uniform. And, I agree. Yet, the uniform does not stop you from making bad choices. And, in fact, there are those that have been convicted of military and civilian felonies while wearing the uniform.

The fact is, society labels felons and ex-felons, and it is difficult for them to find “gainful” employment to live a self-respecting lifestyle as society wants to judge them based on mistakes made from the past. So, why should they not be allowed to serve within the confines of a structured atmosphere that may likely give them the guidance and direction that they need to be upstanding, law-abiding citizens that the retributive state and federal prison systems obviously cannot.

It never fails to amaze me how a man that had cheated and beat on his wife, a man or woman who has gotten away with raping their child, people who have done/sold drugs and never gotten caught, or just plain horrible human beings, etc. feel as if they have the right to judge anyone else. Think of it this way, if society would stop shunning these men and women, then maybe they would not have to worry about increased military enlistment of ex-felons. And, the bottom-line is I would rather a man enlist and serve his country than go back to prison. Instead of a weapon being stuck in my face in a convenience store robbery (because no one will hire him because they cannot overlook his past), I would rather his weapon be on the enemies of the free United States of America. And, because of his honorable service to his nation (because it is his country), he have even the same opportunities as those that are too frightened of the possibilities of death to serve (which, in general, are extremely low).

After some time of working with and around people that have done time, I can tell you that there is an extremely thin line between what is legal and what is not. It just depends on the situation. Also, remember that 97% of indictments end up in plea bargains not because they are guilty but because they just want to get back to a form of normalism in their life patterns before the indictment even happened. Also, finally remember that there is a saying “you can indict a ham sandwich”. I have an associate that is a federal defense attorney (who used to be a federal prosecutor). He said the saying was coined because it is very true.