USMC finally gets off its ass: Corps to ban recruits with prior sex offenses

[unhappycamper]

Recruits watch Marines of the Battle Color Detachment, Marine Barracks Washington, Washington, D.C., perform at Parris Island. The Corps is planning to cut the number of recruiters and tighten standards for incoming recruits now that it has achieved its expansion to 202,000 active-duty Marines.


Corps to ban recruits with prior sex offenses
By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Oct 13, 2009 21:04:33 EDT

With the expansion to 202,000 active-duty Marines now complete, the Corps will cut recruiters in the coming year and ban anyone with a past sex offense from joining the service, Recruiting Command’s top officer said.

Maj. Gen. Robert Milstead said in early October that the Corps will no longer allow anyone with a felony or misdemeanor sexual offense to enlist, even if there are extenuating circumstances, and will admit far fewer recruits who perform poorly on the Armed Services Vocational Battery test.

“We’ve tightened up for this year. We just won’t take them,” Milstead said of those with a previous sex offense. “It’s just not worth the churn. Even if it’s a great guy, it’s just not worth it on this playing field with the media. We just don’t need it.”

From October 2006 through June 2008, the Corps allowed eight recruits to enlist with felony sex convictions on their record, according to statistics released by the Marine Corps through the Freedom of Information Act. Milstead said that in some of those cases, the Corps decided to give a recruit a second chance after discovering the crime involved an 18- or 19-year-old having a romantic relationship with a girl who fell short of the legal age of consent. That won’t be happen anymore, he said.

The decision is part of an adjustment to refine recruiting across the Corps. Next year, the mission is to find 35,868 enlisted recruits, the fewest in at least five years. Aided in part by robust retention, the Corps got so far ahead of the curve in meeting the 202K recruiting mission that it was reduced from more than 40,000 to 36,696 during 2009, Marine officials said.


Rest of article at: http://marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/10/marine_recruiting_101309w/

[Solly Mack]

1. ...

"Even if it’s a great guy, it’s just not worth it on this playing field with the media. We just don’t need it.”

Not worth the media attention to recruit sex offenders? Snort.

Oh..don't get me wrong...not enlisting sex offenders is a good thing ( a sort of a "DUH" thing )...but the reason should be because they're sex offenders & pose a threat other marines...and not the reason given (media attention)

[DrDan]

2. this will last only as long as recruitment goas are met

fall short, back to letting anyone in . . . even the criminals

[PuraVidaDreamin]

3. Might last a long time as the economy ain't getting better any time soon.

All of the branches filled their enlistment quotas too easily this past year. The economic draft has
been a phenomenal success. I'm headed back to DC this spring. And not on a weekend.
This warrants mass civil disobedience.

[DrDan]

5. next year is an election year - I expect to see a lot of job creation beginning in the Spring

[FreakinDJ]

4. Due to the slumping economy and massive unemployment

[customerserviceguy]

6. I'm curious about how little it takes to be a sex offender

Is a 17 year old who dated a 14 year old while he was a senior and she was a freshman in high school included (presuming they went all the way)? What about a guy who was seen pissing on a tree in the woods, and charged with exposing himself?

No, I'm not defending rapists and pedophiles, but in as puritan a country as ours, there are a lot of things you can get labeled a sex criminal for, that have nothing to do with your basic character.

[donco6]

7. Well, at least they're safe from gays.

Thank goodness.