Army Not Lowering Standards

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Army Not Lowering Standards
May 06, 2008
Army News Service|by C. Todd Lopez

WASHINGTON - Despite a rise in conduct waivers offered to recruits last year, Army officials emphasized the service is not lowering its standards -- explaining that circumstances surrounding each case and the recent behavior of those recruits earned them a second look.

"First off, every Soldier that comes into the Army is fully qualified for the job they take," said Lt. Col. Val Siegfried, the Army branch chief for enlisted accessions. "Second, we're not letting murderers in and we're not letting in sexual predators."

In fact, Siegfried says, the Soldiers let into the ranks with conduct waivers are of the same caliber as Soldiers without those waivers, and by some measure, Soldiers with conduct waivers perform even better than their counterparts.

The Army's G-1 recently conducted a study of enlistees accessed from FY03-FY06. The study compared 258,270 Soldiers who did not need conduct waivers and 17,961 who did. Waivers are required for recruits with felonies, traffic violations, or non-traffic- related violations.

The study did find differences between the two groups. For instance, the conduct waiver population re-enlisted at a higher rate. The conduct waiver Soldiers also earned a higher ratio of valorous awards and combat badges -- 13.87 percent compared to 12.73 percent. Additionally, the conduct waiver population included more high school graduates, higher scores on the ASVAB, and fewer Soldiers scoring in the "Cat 4" range on that test.


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