I'd like to weigh in on this topic perhaps from another perspective. My son is finishing his training at Ft. Knox KY. He is not a high school graduate, but has his GED. He scored high enough on the ASVAB to go into almost any career field he chose. He chose M1A2 Abrams tanks. He also needed a couple of waivers, mostly for his atrocious driving record, but one was for a misdeamenor possession of paraphenalia charge. His waiver for that took 2 months, and was finally signed by a general at the Battalion headquarters.
Since his enlistment, he has already been awarded a few honors, squad leader, all outstandings in his academics, his physical testing, his marksmanship and most of all...his outstanding in military bearing. He has been recommended for promotion to E3 upon graduation (May 9th) and for tank driver.
Some of these kids just need a chance to prove that they can make it...away from the influences they fell under. My son did...
The article makes it sound like there's a bunch of uneducated felons enlisting...that is not the truth...there's individual stories behind their collective statistics.
TB (who is PROUD of her soldier)
