The Few, The Proud, The Bad

A few days ago, I blogged on the disturbing news that the number of waivers that the Army and Marine Corps had granted recruits with felony convictions had jumped in 2007. But I also noted that anecdotally – and based in part on my own experience in the Vietnam-era Army – people with criminal records didn’t necessarily make bad soldiers.

A new study would seem to confirm that. It found that the performance of soldiers who entered the Army with waivers for prior criminal convictions, no high school diploma or other reasons got into slightly more trouble, but assuming they made it through basic training without screwing up, they were more likely to be better soldiers.

More here.