11,018
By on Feb 16th, 2006 at 3:54 am
11,018
The number of 2005 U.S. Army recruits, about 15 percent of the total, who had to be given special waivers because of a history of medical problems, drug and alcohol abuse, or criminal conduct that would otherwise have disqualified them. (The Army still missed its recruiting target.)
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“By and large these are flawed recruits,” said retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, who commanded the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, adding that the ripple effects of the waivers would be felt into the future when the recruits are up for promotion.
“Those getting waivers won’t be the sergeants we want.”
But they might be good enough to fill about 2200 pairs of combat boots (and bodybags), say in Iraq or Iran?
February 16th, 2006 at 4:08 am“There was a significant increase in the number of recruits with what the Army terms “serious criminal misconduct” in their background.
That category includes aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats, said Douglas Smith, a spokesman for the Army Recruiting Command at Ft. Knox, Ky.
Instead of terrorists learning our weapons and tactics in battle, Rumsfeld is “streamling the military” and cutting out the middleman – by training the terrorists themselves.
Reagan would be so proud.
February 16th, 2006 at 4:33 ami spent a very nice evening last evening at the movies with a few friends here in buenos aires… they wanted to see a gory slasher movie, not my thing, but i said what the hell… it turned out to be grade d-minus acting with every bit the stupidly written plot that i suspected it would have… oh, well… it was being with friends that made the evening worthwhile, not the movie…
i returned to at the ‘puter before hitting the sack, looking over the day’s news and, ya know what…? everything i read about is just as stupid and as oozing with overwrought melodrama as what i saw sitting in sala 5, piso 1 of hoyt’s general cinema at abasto… and, ya know what else…? that makes me feel very sad…
my country is better than dick cheney… my country is better than george bush, karl rove, bill frist, tom delay, jack abramoff, donald rumsfeld and the rest of the criminal gang… and, yes, my country is even better than someone like that sniveling sycophant senator from minnesota, norm coleman, who got his ass handed to him by none other than “drownie” brown in the senate hearing the other day… so, when are the american people, my fellow citizens, going to wake up and toss these bastards out…? this can’t be allowed to continue… it just can’t…
Visit my blog: And, yes, I DO take it personally
February 16th, 2006 at 5:43 amBut can they tell the difference between upland Quail and a 78-year-old republican lawyer?
February 16th, 2006 at 7:30 amWell it’s better than the draft isn’t it? How much does it cost to have a first Lt. graduate from the Military academy? Fodder is fodder.
February 16th, 2006 at 7:54 amThe “dumbing down” of America began with the election of W. When will it end and where is it taking the country?
February 16th, 2006 at 7:55 amMore to the point, you now have drug addicted, stupid thieves representing America abroad. I hope they can shoot!
So what else is news. Why is anyone offended is any way by the actions of this administration?
February 16th, 2006 at 7:58 amJust one single example that might, just might get someone worked up.
How about 11,000 trailers sitting in the mud of a Arkansas airport?
How about that!
#7 – Of course there are people offended by the actions of this administration! I guess we’re all so used to being offended that we’ve become numb to the flagrant illegal activities, the rampant corruption, and the outright lies that come from this administration.
I think the most offensive part of the whole thing is that Republicans are turning a blind eye to what’s going on simply because it’s the Republicans who are doing it.
I’ve got a friend who is a life-long Republican who was happy when Pres. Bush was (s) elected in 2000. Now, however, he’s sick of what the man has done and how corrupt and incompetent his administration has proven itself.
We’re both veterans, and he’s noticed a major shift from “automatic pro-Republican” to “questioning the mendacity of the Bush administration” among the veterans he knows. With luck, the members of the military will wake up to the fact they are being severely damaged by the Republican special interests that always trump VA funding. This could be a turning point that will help send the ‘Phants back to the minority.
February 16th, 2006 at 8:21 amRepublican Darwinism: sacrifice citizens of the poor, the lower class, the criminally-minded to the war machine while not giving them adequate body armor. Lower intelligent persons may not be able to save sufficient quantities of $ for their personal SS accounts and their HSA’s with their low-paying, no-benefits service jobs anyway….assuming they survive. Sounds like a win-win situation on the part of Compassionate Conservatives. How sad.
February 16th, 2006 at 8:22 amSlightly off-topic, but a good read:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/02/14/a_reassertion_of_gop_common_sense/
“Although he voted for the resolution authorizing force in Iraq, Hagel has become a sharp critic of the administration’s policy there. ”When I think of issues like Iraq, of how we went into it — no planning, no preparation, no sense of consequences, of where we were going, how we were going to get out, went in without enough men, no exit strategy . . . I’ll speak out, I’ll go against my party,” he said.”
Sounds to me like more and more elected Republicans are waking up to the disaster that is Pres. Bush and his administration.
“In last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, several GOP senators made it clear they wouldn’t countenance the administration’s flimsy legal justifications.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for one, was dismissive of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s assertion that the resolution authorizing force in Iraq had conferred wiretapping authority on the president.
”This statutory force resolution argument that you’re making is very dangerous in terms of its application for the future,” Graham warned. ”When I voted for it, I never envisioned that I was giving to this president or any other the ability to go around FISA carte blanche,” he said, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.”
Maybe the Republican party will return to their betrayed beliefs of ‘limited government’ and ‘fiscal responsibility’ and not just mouth the words ‘we support the troops’, but actually start SUPPORTING THE TROOPS! Wow! What a novel concept!
February 16th, 2006 at 8:42 amThey’ll probably sentence Moussaui to National guard duty in Iraq…
February 16th, 2006 at 8:48 amIn an article that he wrote for the liberal Web site Salon.com published Wednesday, Feingold said that “too many Democrats have folded” on the Patriot Act and said the “few minor concessions” that Democrats and a few Republicans got from the White House “are a fig leaf to disguise a complete about-face.”
Feingold wrote that “some Democrats may be breathing sighs of relief that the president can’t use this issue to paint them as `soft’ on terrorism,” but he said “Democrats will be perceived as timid” for giving in on the Patriot Act.
Assistant Minority Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois is one Democrat who has dropped his objections to the Patriot Act bill.
Asked about Feingold’s criticisms, Durbin said “Russ Feingold has been an extraordinary leader on this” but the current bill is a “modest, sometimes even minor improvement, but it is an improvement” over the original Patriot Act.
“I think we should move forward,” Durbin said.
Voting for the democrats any more feels like a waste of time
February 16th, 2006 at 9:07 amThis administration can’t armor-up our forces but they sure can dumb-down them. I guess it comes from the top.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:11 amThe “Dirty Dozen” is remade into the “Dirty Eleven Thousand.” When all Rumsfeld wants are bodies in uniforms to be returned later in body bags, he will get them wherever he can. Nevermind that others who volunteer might have reservations about serving along side one of Rummy’s new recruits.
February 16th, 2006 at 9:27 amAnd how many much-needed linguists were discharged from Rummy’s army because they are gay?
Maybe you guys are comfortable facing down the threat of worldwide IslamoCommieSyndicalistDisestablishmentarianism with an army full of pinky-raising chrome-domes with GEDs, symmetrical features and an even number of chromosomes…
…but, gawdammit, when it comes to protecting my family and defending the ideals of Western Civilization, I WANT AN ARMY OF DROOLING CRIMINAL RETARDS AND WIFE-BEATERS HIGH ON PCP AND SMACK between me and the swarthy mooslim legions of the Hun!
February 16th, 2006 at 9:28 amDem. Soldier, here is something I posted yesterday on another thread which you might find of interest. Enjoy:http://www.nationalreview.com/owens/owens200602130816.asp
February 16th, 2006 at 9:45 amYou know what this means…. 918 potential remakes of “The Dirty Dozen”.
February 16th, 2006 at 10:00 amGuess we need more of those fine upstanding sons and daughters of the Congress Senate and the MSM Pundit Media and their ‘morals’ to go fight this war…Show em how its Done Mighty Media Misfits
Show them your Morals George and Dick. Hey send Libby and over hes a Criminal Now, And DELAY and Cunniingham, Safavian as well, who else has lied lately?
Scotty Mac? aw hell just send the Whole Lie House.
Whaddya Say Republican and Democratic Pundits and ChickenHawks go over their and ‘Moralize’ the troops with your incessant jaw jacking and hateful partisan ways.
Cmon Rush take some oXycontin and get your ass to the war. Ann Coulter you always want to Kill something, heres your chance.
Spineless MSM, Spineless Pundits, and a Spineless Congress
February 16th, 2006 at 10:05 amwith their Spineless ILK.
Mr. Ho, btw there are apparently quite anuber of congressional people who actually do have active military childre. they just don’t announce it due to the added risk for the child if they should become captured. that’s what happened to John McCain, his dad was an Admiral at the time of his capture and this was subsequently used against him by his captors. Also have you been to jauncole.com or have you signed up for Steven Aftergood’s FAS news letter? These are always more very specific topic sites.
February 16th, 2006 at 10:31 amThe real travesty is that our President and Vice President would also need these waivers, both have records of substance abuse and/or DWI’s.
February 16th, 2006 at 10:40 amInfantry is where the Allies floundered in Europe in the months after D-Day. When the first wave of experienced NCOs and Lieutenants was wounded or killed, they were replaced by poorly-trained, green, jumpy soldiers. The infantry was the dumping ground for problem recruits, second-chancers, and unhappy Army Air Force cadets who were drafted into rifle companies on an emergency basis. Except for certain elite units, like the Rangers or Airborne, this situation clearly showed in the field. It was difficult to sustain momentum in the attack, where leadership at the small-unit level makes a great difference. The Germans showed this talent brilliantly and the result was a lengthening of the war, massive increase in money and supplies required to sustain it, and thousands of excess casualties.
McCaffrey knows this. Hell, I’m just an armchair general and I know it. But here we see the same mistake being made all over again.
Once again I’m astounded by the sheer ignorance, arrogance, and utter stupidity of the Bush Administration.
God damn, they’re stupid.
February 16th, 2006 at 11:13 amA family frind tried to join all four branches. Navy and Airforce turned him down outright. He is nto very bright and has LD problems for which he is taking medication. The Army, even with their new lower standards turned him down and asked him to come back after being off his anti-depressants and ADD drugs for one full year. The Marines took him.
My point in this is that each of the services is using different criteria. The Navy and Airforce are much mroe high tech sothey still appear to want higher tech minds. The army was moving high tech and is willing to accept lower tech minds to complete the mission at hand. The Marines need bodies to fulfill the mission at hand and apparently have lowered their standards also.
February 16th, 2006 at 12:22 pmbtw there are apparently quite anuber of congressional people who actually do have active military childre. they just don’t announce it due to the added risk for the child if they should become captured.
Comment by The fly-man #19
fly,
You obviously missed “Fahrenheit 911″…
February 16th, 2006 at 12:34 pm#21 EBP
February 16th, 2006 at 3:28 pmGood historical point.
I, too, am “astounded by the sheer ignorance, arrogance, and utter stupidity of the Bush Administration.”