RodeoVann wrote:
My issue with the military compared to when I was in is that they are taking in felons now (Stats released by a congressional committee shows the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 549 in 200http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs5/2513935_o.gif10 to 901 in 2011. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 608 to 850), they did before but now its not so much of a hurdle to climb, which is concerning. You cant be a cop or firefighter if you have a felony conviction and having a misdemeanor more then likely wont get you past the orientation process. I have many friends who are cops and they all have degrees and they didn't go into that job wanting to do patrol for 30 years, most want to be detectives or more, that requires an college degree.
The US military has major issues, poor training, poor leaders and enlistee's who are just there to stay out of jail, as I said before, not a huge % but enough to make me wonder whats going on. I dont totally agree with ES, but mostly on this one, he is right, its just not PC to diss the military, its all cupcakes and rainbows, but truth be told and if one is actually paying attention, its not and its obvious.
I support the troops who are fighting right now, but I won't ignore the downfalls that the military and public seem to be ignoring just to paint a happy picture.
A few issues with this.
First, blanket statements about any demographic are lazy and irresponsible. From my experience many of the "bad seeds", as you and Steve would say, are not bad people at all. They made some mistakes and are taking the 2nd chance being afforded to them. Not everybody made all the right decisions all the time growing up. It would suck to be known for the dumbest thing you ever did. That's basically how you are tagging them.
Second, the numbers you pointed out are so ridiculously low compared to the overall numbers that make up the Marines and Army that it's disingenuous to act like felons being in the military is suddenly an epidemic. It's less than .01% I believe. So stop trying to paint an inaccurate picture.
Third, the military always has lowered its standards for wartime. This is nothing new. They need bodies and only 1% of the qualified people join the military. But the standards have gotten tougher since 2010. I don't know about waivers for felons specifically, but they stopped just handing out bonuses, require higher asvabs now, and overall are trying to lower the number of Active troops. So it should be less of an issue.
Your post sounded like a few old timers I knew in the Army talking shit. They hate everything about the "New Army" and all these young punks running around with their crazy outfits and crazy out-of-standard haircuts. Back in the Old Army we wouldn'ta put up with that shit. We woulda given these kids wall-to-wall counselings(that's military speak for basically kicking the shit out of a private) every damn month. Etc, etc, etc.
The military is filled with Americans. Good, bad, lazy, ambitious, intelligent, uneducated, etc. They have all types. The men and women in our military do not get our respect because they are all brave, strong, smart, proud Americans, but because even though they are not they are still asked to perform like one with their lives on the line.
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