More felons allowed in military
By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The military is looking for a few good ... felons?

Under pressure to meet combat needs, the Army and Marine Corps brought in significantly more recruits with felony convictions last year, including some with manslaughter and sex crime convictions.

Data released by a congressional committee show the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines brought in with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

Those numbers represent a tiny fraction of the 180,000 recruits brought in by the active duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2007. But they highlight a trend that has raised concerns within the military and on Capitol Hill.

The bulk of the felonies listed for last year's recruits were burglaries, other thefts and drug offenses, but nine involved sex crimes and six involved manslaughter or vehicular homicide convictions. Several dozen Army and Marine recruits had aggravated assault or robbery convictions, including crimes involving weapons.

Both the Army and Marine Corps have been struggling to increase their numbers as part of a broader effort to meet the combat needs of a military fighting wars on two fronts. As a result, the number of recruits needing waivers for crimes or other bad conduct has grown in recent years, as has the number needing medical or aptitude waivers.

Rep. Henry Waxman, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman who released the data, said there could be valid reasons for granting the waivers and giving recruits a second chance.

But he added, "Concerns have been raised that the significant increase in the recruitment of persons with criminal records is a result of the strain put on the military by the Iraq war and may be undermining military readiness."

Many of the crimes were committed when the service members were juveniles.

For example, in several of the Marine sex crime cases, the offenders were teenagers involved in consensual sex with other underage teens. In one Army case, a 13-year-old who threw a match into his school locker was charged with arson and had to receive a felony waiver six years later.

"Waivers are used judiciously and granted only after a thorough review," said a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Withington.

He added that "low unemployment, a protracted war on terror, a decline in propensity to serve," and the growing reluctance of parents, teachers and other adults to recommend that young people go into the military, have made recruiting a challenge.

According to the Army, 18 percent of its recruits needed conduct waivers in the fiscal year ending last Sept. 30, compared with 15 percent in the previous 12-month period.

Late last fall, the Pentagon quietly began looking for ways to make it easier for people with minor criminal records to join the military. The goal of that review is to make cumbersome waiver requirements consistent across the services - the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force - and reduce the number of petty crimes that now trigger the process.