Saturday, July 08, 2006

Another downside of the recruiting decline

We are all well aware that the military is having trouble meeting its recruiting goals. So, I guess it's natural for the military to lower its recruiting standards somewhat. The issue is where the standards should be lowered. I don't think they should be lowered so that neo-Nazis are allowed to join the military and learn how to use weapons effectively. Yet, it appears as though that is what is happening.

The Chicago Sun-Times recently revealed that the percentage of recruits granted "moral waivers" for past misdemeanors has more than doubled in the past five years. While it may, at first, seem innocuous, you can now join the military if you have tattoos anywhere except on your face; many neo-Nazis seem to be covered in tattoos.

An investigator for the Department of Defense claims to have filed evidence on 320 extremists at one base, Fort Lewis, in one year. Several extremists in the military broadcast their views via web sites, interviews and magazines.

Why should this concern us? In 1996 the decorated combat veteran and neo-Nazi, Timothy McVeigh, destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building along with 168 people. That same year a skinhead group from the 82nd Airborne Divisioon murdered two black people. Read any of the publications put out by these groups; they urge their readers to join the military, particulalrly Special Forces, so that they can be properly trained to "better defend yourself, our people, and our culture. We must have people to open doors from the inside when the time comes".

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