New Way Forward
Nearly a decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan has put an unprecedented strain on the United States military, as enlistment has not kept pace with the needs of the armed forces. In response to this rapidly worsening crisis, the Army in recent years has relaxed enlistment standards in a number of areas. In particular, the Army has dramatically increased the number of enlistment waivers it grants for both felons and overweight individuals. While this has increased the number of new service-members enlisted and current service-members retained, it has also reduced the effectiveness and professionalism of the Army on both the individual and organizational level. In the future, the Army can and should sue alternatives methods to meet enlistment requirements so that it is not put in this kind of ethical and strategic dilemma again.
While the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan obviously put a toll on the United States' all-volunteer military, it was the two surges that truly tested the limits of the military's ability to recruit and retain service-members. In 2007 President Bush order a "surge" of over twenty thousand more soldiers into Iraq, and in response the military was forced to dramatically increase its supply of available service-members above and beyond what had already been required as a result of Iraq and Afghanistan (Korb, 2007, p. 467). Having an all-volunteer military presents the United States with recruitment difficulties not faced by countries with compulsive service requirements, but its all-volunteer status is also what gives it the kind of professionalism and expertise that allows it function effectively in the contemporary world (Korb, 2007, p467-468). Thus, the surge forced the military to find a way to increase recruitment and retainment without diminishing the professionalism of the armed forces. Faced with a seemingly lose-lose situation, the Army opted to lower it enlistment standards by increasing the number of waivers given for a variety of criminal offenses as well as the failure to meet physical fitness standards.
To understand the extremity of the Army's response, one need only compare the number of waivers given for felony records in...
In 2006, the Army admitted 249 new service-members with felony records (Associated Press, 2008). The next year, in response to the staffing demands of the surge, the Army allowed in over twice that many (Associated Press, 2008). While some have defended the practice by noting that many of the felonies occurred while the service-members were still minors, the fact remains that many of these felony arrests are completely incongruous with the Army's value-based force (Alvarez, 2008).
For example, the Army allowed in forty-three individuals with a record of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, as well as new members with records of "kidnapping, making terroristic threats, rape or sexual abuse, and indecent acts or liberties with a child" (Alvarez, 2008). In addition to these more obviously threatening histories, the Army allowed in far more individuals with history of drug abuse, thus increasing the likelihood that drug abuse will become a more serious problem within the Army (Alvarez, 2008; Associated Press, 2008). Allowing more felons to enlist harms the Army on the individual and organizational level by detracting from Army's professionalism and readiness. On the individual level, allowing more felons in diminishes the reputation of those individual who have demonstrated good judgment and character throughout their lives, even before enlisting. This individual diminishing of the cohesiveness and quality of the Army constituent members spreads throughout the entire organization, increasing the likelihood that individual with poor judgment will be needed in key positions and situations. Furthermore, the push to retain these recruits following their initial deployment only heightens the risk to the armed forces by placing high-risk individuals under extra pressure (Alvarez, 2008).
In addition to an increase in the number of waivers allowed for felons, the Army has also relaxed its standards in the area of health and physical fitness. In particular, it has allowed a greater number of overweight individual to enlist, and has begun retaining individuals with medical conditions that previously would have disqualified them…
