The Other Side of the Story - Army Has Not Lowered Recruiting Standards

[wackychick]

There has been lots of news lately about the Army's increased number of new recruits allowed into the service with conduct waivers. I found this article in answer to these stories - interesting:

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, May. 6, 2008) -- Despite a rise in conduct waivers offered to recruits last year, Army officials emphasized the service is not lowering its standards -- explaining that cir***stances surrounding each case and the recent behavior of those recruits earned them a second look.

"First off, every Soldier that comes into the Army is fully qualified for the job they take," said Lt. Col. Val Siegfried, the Army branch chief for enlisted accessions. "Second, we're not letting murderers in and we're not letting in ***ual predators."

In fact, Siegfried says, the Soldiers let into the ranks with conduct waivers are of the same caliber as Soldiers without those waivers, and by some measure, Soldiers with conduct waivers perform even better than their counterparts.

The Army's G-1 recently conducted a study of enlistees accessed from FY03-FY06. The study compared 258,270 Soldiers who did not need conduct waivers and 17,961 who did. Waivers are required for recruits with felonies, traffic violations, or non-traffic- related violations.

Get more details here

[luv_2_laugh]

Thanks for posting this thread wackychick! It sure did clear up some of the questions I had in regards to the Army's standards. I truly thought they were getting desperate and letting anyone in just as so many others had thought.

[armywife1314]

my husband required a waiver for a dwi from 5 years ago. he went to ait with some guys who needed waivers for selling drugs, robbery, etc. i will never feel comfortable with those types of people knowing where my house is.

[wackychick]

I just feel like the media at large has put a very negative spin on the situation, and the stats they recite do not do justice to how the Army is handling it. EVERYONE is entitled to a second chance at a good life, and that includes persons wanting to join the service...