Good thing they didn't allow those GAYS in that thar military!!

*eye roll*

They allow know gangbangers in and then when they come back they use the tactics they learned out on the streets

"You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight." Barry Goldwater

@2:

Assuming the are able to come back, of course.

Besides, think of all the time saved in Basic - no need to teach teh Crips & Bloods et al how to field-strip a 9mm Glock (granted, not standard issue, but the Army has been considering some sort of update to the M-4 anyway - I think this would be the obvious choice given their "new" recruitment policy); and of course they've already got unit cohesion & discipline practices down pat, along with practice in use of silent hand-signaling.

Plus, they're all used to wearing some sort of uniform already, thus won't require much adjustment to that practice, either.

So now sex offenders and child abusers can go get blown up? I don't see this is as a bad thing.

Better than the draft.

@5,

Even if they abuse Iraqis? Even if they abuse other soldiers? There's a reason the military usually keeps those people out.

And, come to think of it, the Tonton Macoutes were often recruited from the bat-shit-crazy, rapist, child abuser set. It's nice to know that the Bush administration doesn't give a fuck if our military devolves into that.

Well, apparently it doesn't matter what you stand for...as long as you can stand and take a shot...

@7 is right - one of the jobs of sergeants is to weed out the undesireables. They tend to go bat shit at the wrong moments, quite frankly. More of a hindrance than an asset.

cannon fodder is cannon fodder.

is a draft such a bad idea...switzerland has conscription and hasint had a war in age's

i saw this story posted elsewhere and they described it more as burglarers (sp?), thieves, drug offenders and arsonists, with only a few found guilty of sex crimes and vehicular manslaughter or homicide. reading the article from The Guardian also reflects this as well.
http://www.wbir.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=56987

these felons are also more likely to drop out. (that's from the guardian.)

don't get your hopes up everyone.

@11 - they tend to create more problems over there too, which makes them a drag on internal resources for us.

I have no problem with these people going to die in Iraq. But war fucks up a person and if that person being mind fucked was already a nutcase to start then they come back an even bigger nutcase only now with PTSD and a working knowledge of weapons and a taste for killing.

Holy fuck. Of all criminal convictions to waive to clear a path toward fighting them thar trrsts, making terrorist threats!?!? They should be able to arrest the new soldiers for treason pretty quickly though, eh?