Recruiting Criminals

Lawmaker: Recruiting criminals unwise.

Congress has passed legislation to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps, but the military may have trouble filling those newly created ranks, said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif.

To fill their ranks, the services have begun accepting recruits with criminal records, she said.

“I’m all for rehab and giving people a second chance, but that’s not why we’re doing this. This is about the fact that we need people with pulses that are willing to come into the military,” Tauscher said.

“We’re going to be spending money every day trying to get you to be all that you can be, but you’re not going to be that.” Lowering admission standards to the services may not be “a wise investment for the American people,” Tauscher said.

------- Spin spin. I find Tauscher's comments regarding criminal recruits true hypocrisy – afterall, none are more criminal than US members of congress.

Army waivers for "criminals" include offenses ranging in seriousness from misdemeanors such as vandalism to felonies such as burglary and aggravated assault (such as the Jena 6?).

Such offenses are usually referred to by politicians as youthful indiscretions when it is themselves or their own felonious trust fund babies.

All US wars have been fought with "criminal" boys/men until recent years when the military could afford to be selective. Ask any veteran from US wars between 1915-1975 and they will tell you a pulse was all ya needed to be accepted by the military.

Since Vietnam, progressive pols vote for wars then have a change of heart. Progressives such as Tauscher, who in 2002 had "wanted the Iraq war resolution delayed until after the November elections, dropped those efforts ... saying, "Unfortunately, this has moved way beyond our ability to put the brakes on it."

Five years later, with much blood and treasury spent, Tauscher, as so many progressive pols, has finally located the brakes (next to a bulging portfolio on the seat of their limo).

To date, the Army has reached its 2007 recruitment goals, which supports what I've been seeing and hearing. Troops are re-upping and troops are volunteering for multiple tours for the combat pay. It is what progressives call the "poverty draft," you know those folks so materially poor and without social resources - they have no choice but to enlist in the military – but in other speeches they will describe them as the best and the brightest (although apparently not bright enough to find economic solutions other than the military).

It's all propaganda for the future when funding for veteran programs are cut, when the short-attention span sheople will be unsympathetic to that homeless vet on the corner - he may be a recruited criminal, sent to rape and murder in an illegal war, all because he couldn't figure out another way to pay for college and/or job skills.

Tauscher does make one statement that rings true - "We’re going to be spending money every day trying to get you to be all that you can be, but you’re not going to be that." While that doesn't describe the troops, it certainly describes the taxpayers funding a government that is never going to be what they need it to be.

(FYI – ArmyTimes is a Gannett-owned company that publishes Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and Marine Corps Times. They are not affiliated with the U.S. military.)