Join the Army if you fail," Bob Dylan sang in 1965, and his cheeky lyric reflected a certain reality. For decades, the U.S. military - while always attracting a share of high-achieving patriots - was often seen as a place where dropouts, misfits and delinquents could get a dose of structure and discipline. Not so in America's professional, all-volunteer military, where soldiers, sailors and Marines are expected to meet high standards, including a record of obeying the laws of the land they are sworn to defend.
But a war that had to be fought (in Afghanistan) and a war that never should have been fought (in Iraq) have left the Army and Marines today hard-pressed to meet recruitment targets. And so the standards have slipped. Last week, it was revealed that the number of Army recruits admitted on "conduct waivers" - those with criminal records - increased by about 25 percent last year over 2006. Most were for misdemeanors, but the Army more than doubled the number of recruits with felony convictions.
