Cultural Cuisinart

According to this USA Today article, the Army has been granting waivers for past criminal behavior to new recruits at an increasing rate in the past 4-5 years. Also, the education level is continuing to drop:

In another shift in the backgrounds of new Army personnel, the percentage of high school graduates among Army recruits was 79% last year, compared with 91% in 2001.

This is troubling for a number of reasons. While the Army would have you believe that any idiot can fire a gun and thinking is optional, since your superiors will tell you what to do, don't buy it. The job is more than just running into combat like so much cannon fodder. What makes our military great isn't our superior combat skills, but our discipline and dedication to duty. To me, a person requiring a waiver for criminal behavior or poor education is a serious risk. Both suggest a severe lack of discipline.

Meanwhile, we still reject recruits and existing service members with superior credentials, simply because they are gay. That is just so asinine. It's also pretty ignorant of facts on the ground. While I won't name names, I can say that during my time in the service I met a lot of gay service members from all the branches. I mean A LOT. And I also ran across plenty of straight troops who were gay friendly and wouldn't have a problem serving with a gay person. So the debate about morale and whatnot is completely bull - they're already there, many of them are out, and so far it hasn't led to a single unit's collapse.

To help the Army out, allow me to present this comparison of criminals vs. homosexuals, so they can weigh the benefits of either class of people:

• A criminal will rob your house. A homosexual will help decorate it.
• A criminal will stab your ass. A homosexual will slap it.
• A criminal has weapons experience. A homosexual... well, okay you've got me on this one
• A criminal will steal your woman. A homosexual will take her out dancing.

Okay, a little tongue in cheek, but you get the point. Our recruiting policy is a joke. The Armed Forces are a great option for a lot of people - you don't need to lie to recruits or take only the knuckle-dragging bottom feeders.