Wallace: Waivers do not affect troop quality

[unhappycamper]

Gen. William S. Wallace, commanding general of Army Training and Doctrine Command, speaks at the Association of the United States Army Winter Symposium at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Feb. 29.


Wallace: Waivers do not affect troop quality
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 1, 2008 9:15:48 EST

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Army’s top training commander on Feb. 28 sought to dispel what he termed “rumors” about the quality of recruits who receive waivers to enter the Army and said the Army will continue to use waivers in recruiting.

After more than six years at war, the Army is striving to find innovative ways of filling the ranks and has relaxed some of its more stringent standards to widen the pool of eligible applicants.

Of the 107,410 active and reserve soldiers who joined the Army in fiscal 2007, roughly 21 percent, or 22,186, were granted waivers for medical conditions, drug and alcohol use, or misdemeanors and felonies, according to Gen. William S. Wallace, commanding general of Training and Doctrine Command.

Wallace said he can draw on his own experience from youth: He was arrested at age 14 in Louisville, Ky., for shoplifting. He recalled the experience in an interview with Army Times.

“My parents came, the cops had to load the bikes in the back of the cop car,” Wallace said. He and a friend had switched the packaging of a higher priced baseball with that of a cheaper ball and got nabbed by an observant cashier, he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/03/Army_AUSA_waivers_030108w/



uhc comment: Well Billy, why not just change the rules? Then you won't need all those waivers.