A Stitch in Haste

The United States Army continues to humiliate itself by allowing almost anyone — from grandmothers to idiots — to enlist, so long as they're not gay. Because gays are, somehow, bad for morale and some gobbledygook known as "unit cohesion."

Did I mention criminals?

The number of waivers granted to Army recruits with criminal backgrounds has grown about 65 percent in the last three years, increasing to 8,129 in 2006 from 4,918 in 2003, Department of Defense records show.
...
It has also increased the number of so-called "moral waivers" to recruits with criminal pasts, even as the total number of recruits dropped slightly. The sharpest increase was in waivers for serious misdemeanors, which make up the bulk of all the Army's moral waivers. These include aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide.

Giving criminals "moral waivers" — I can just hear the recruiter saying, "Heckuva record, Brownie — welcome to the Army!"

An attorney is never supposed to publicly ask a question he doesn't already know the answer to, but would the median soldier, especially the median combat troopmember in Iraq or Afghanistan, really experience greater morale — and feel more "cohesive" — with a convicted robber or burglar as his bunkmate than a spotless-record homosexual? If so, then the military has even bigger problems than the robbers and burglars.

More thoughts from UpWord.