"With less than three months left in the fiscal year, 11.6 percent of new active-duty and Army Reserve troops in 2007 have received a so-called "moral waiver," up from 7.9 percent in fiscal year 2006, according to figures from the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. In fiscal 2003 and 2004, soldiers granted waivers accounted for 4.6 percent of new recruits; in 2005, it was 6.2 percent."
"Deployed grandma spending Fourth in Iraq
Nick Bonham | The Pueblo Chieftain
It's been about two months since Maj. Madeline Belarde shipped out for training at Fort Riley, Kan.
It's been about a month since she departed from the United States for an 18-month tour in the Middle East.
But Belarde’s role as a combat stress nurse in the U.S. Army's Operation Iraqi Freedom has already been too lengthy, and the experience too realistic."
"Congress gave all of the services permission to raise the maximum age for recruits from 35 to 42 in the fiscal 2006 defense budget authorization.
Only the Army, which has been struggling with recruiting in the face of ongoing deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, decided to take advantage of the extension, with the age increase applying to the active Army, the Army Reserve and National Guard.
Although Army officials always intended to raise the bar to the 42-year limit set by Congress, they began by taking an “interim step” and increasing the limit just to age 40, Bobick said.
The reason for that was because officials decided individuals over that age would require additional cardiovascular checkups and other medical tests, and “we needed time to work out the details” of how the tests would be conducted, Bobick said."
And so on. I remember at least one story of a deployed army reserve sergeant getting together with his grandson in Iraq, but I can't find it at the moment.
OK, thanks. In the case of the Grandma nurse, she was probably a career person to have made major and I would guess she had her child (children) at an early age. Remember that the career people are usually in for at least twenty years. On the moral waivers, do you recall what level of seriousness of crime was being waived? In Florida there's a huge progressive push to allow discharged felons to vote. Why can't they serve in the military?
Grandma was in the army reserve. She wouldn't have been deployed as a combat nurse if they weren't running very low on personnel. I don't recall what the range of felonies was, only that use of the waivers tripled over the course of a few years. I also remember reading about a National Guard platoon, every member of which failed a drug test immediately before deployment but were deployed anyway. I'll try to find that one as well.
Have you got source on Bush sending grandfathers and felons into combat? Somehow, I missed that/
"With less than three months left in the fiscal year, 11.6 percent of new active-duty and Army Reserve troops in 2007 have received a so-called "moral waiver," up from 7.9 percent in fiscal year 2006, according to figures from the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. In fiscal 2003 and 2004, soldiers granted waivers accounted for 4.6 percent of new recruits; in 2005, it was 6.2 percent."
"Deployed grandma spending Fourth in Iraq
Nick Bonham | The Pueblo Chieftain
It's been about two months since Maj. Madeline Belarde shipped out for training at Fort Riley, Kan.
It's been about a month since she departed from the United States for an 18-month tour in the Middle East.
But Belarde’s role as a combat stress nurse in the U.S. Army's Operation Iraqi Freedom has already been too lengthy, and the experience too realistic."
"Congress gave all of the services permission to raise the maximum age for recruits from 35 to 42 in the fiscal 2006 defense budget authorization.
Only the Army, which has been struggling with recruiting in the face of ongoing deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, decided to take advantage of the extension, with the age increase applying to the active Army, the Army Reserve and National Guard.
Although Army officials always intended to raise the bar to the 42-year limit set by Congress, they began by taking an “interim step” and increasing the limit just to age 40, Bobick said.
The reason for that was because officials decided individuals over that age would require additional cardiovascular checkups and other medical tests, and “we needed time to work out the details” of how the tests would be conducted, Bobick said."
And so on. I remember at least one story of a deployed army reserve sergeant getting together with his grandson in Iraq, but I can't find it at the moment.
Here's the grandpa story I was thinking about:
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/35387/deployed-grandfather-grandson-celebrate-fathers-day
See my other comment for felonies and increasing the maximum recruitment age by 20%.
OK, thanks. In the case of the Grandma nurse, she was probably a career person to have made major and I would guess she had her child (children) at an early age. Remember that the career people are usually in for at least twenty years. On the moral waivers, do you recall what level of seriousness of crime was being waived? In Florida there's a huge progressive push to allow discharged felons to vote. Why can't they serve in the military?
Grandma was in the army reserve. She wouldn't have been deployed as a combat nurse if they weren't running very low on personnel. I don't recall what the range of felonies was, only that use of the waivers tripled over the course of a few years. I also remember reading about a National Guard platoon, every member of which failed a drug test immediately before deployment but were deployed anyway. I'll try to find that one as well.