Can I Get A Waiver?

It is a proud day in AmeriKa. The military has finally adopted a “total” diversity program in which convicted felons may now enlist. Under the Orwellian term “moral waiver”, the program is meant to take up the slack of recruiting shortages.
Apparently the youth of AmeriKa has seen enough of their brothers and sisters going on repetitive deployments to combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq to realize the damage that’s been done to the troops.
In the beginning there was the “back door draft” and the “stop loss” troops that filled the ranks to fight the dastardly and godless terrorists (aka Muslims, hajji, Arabs, immigrant, rag head, sand ni**er etc.)
The back door draft is the ruthless and unethical recruitment of small towns and urban corridors lacking employment and opportunities for the young people living in those areas. Recruiters don’t so much lie about enlistment as they conveniently forget to tell all the facts about enlisting.
The “stop loss” troops continue to be held prisoner by “executive” order of the President which allows for an undetermined time of keeping troops due to discharge in the military at a time of “emergency”. Approximately 82,000 troops have been “stop lossed” since 2003.
It still remains a mystery what emergency exists. There is little risk to AmeriKa from the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Both have ruined infrastructures and lack capability of being a danger. Still the masters of war persist in trying to tie the events of September 11, 2001 to Iraq and Afghanistan even though the great majority of the bombing conspirators were from Saudi Arabia, ally of the AmeriKan power structure.
The newest policy of the military allows “moral waivers” for convicted felons so they might enlist. Close to 900 have enlisted so far. Among that group were nine or ten convicted sexual offenders. I’m sure the female troops find that reassuring along with the continuous sexual harassment and assaults that already occur with greater frequency than most would guess.
The other issue of this new moral waiver policy is exactly who comes into the service after felony convictions. If we’re to look at the demographics of AmeriKan gulags the large number of non-white inmates would suggest a likely similar percentage will turn to enlistment because of their limited choices on leaving prison. So the newest maneuver of the military to fill the ranks has become the open cell-door diversity draft. Blacks and browns to the front.
For some AmeriKans, I’m sure the use of felons to fight their wars is acceptable since the bias against any convicted felon has become one of blood thirsty retribution and vengeance. So, to have them go to a war zone to be maimed or killed seems like a perfect way to solve the problem of too many felons on the streets without jobs and desperate enough to reoffend.
It still remains uncertain how the new felon soldier fits in with the unit. Since trust is a key concept of the combat units in war it will be interesting to see how much trust there will be for the new “few and the proudest” and “Army strong” troops. Perhaps the military is planning on some form of the “dirty dozen”.
Sadly, the concept of rehabilitation and redemption has never been real big in the AmeriKan prisons. Ex-cons are expected to have gainful employment as part of parole yet few employers will hire them. Just recently a convict here in Colorado was released after many years in the “joint”. During his imprisonment he became a success story for rehabilitation. He earned a Master Electrician’s license from the State of Colorado. His skills were used by the department of corrections to repair electrical problems all over the state. He gained the trust of prison administration and the guards he worked with. Once released, however, the state decided to revoke his license as a matter of policy. They cited the possibility of danger to anybody whose house he might enter to perform the duties of electrician. Prison authorities and the employer the con worked with before the revocation are outraged by such stupidity. I’m sure the Army or Marines would be interested and care less about the license.
There could also be a possible recycling of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from prisons back to the military. Since there’s an 800,000 waiting list at the VAMC and the mental health care of the returning veterans has been abysmal a large number of veterans end up imprisoned. The symptoms of rage and acting out behaviors caused by PTSD often leads the vets to breaking laws and going to prison at a greater rate than the percentage of vets in the general population. About 25% of the inmates of AmeriKan gulags are veterans.
So, once these vets are released and should they remain young enough they do have job skills needed by the military. And maybe their PTSD symptoms have been treated by the penal system mental health team. Not likely but maybe.
Another good place for recruiters could be the youth corrections programs. Maybe they could even set up tables at the schools of the programs as part of the No Child Left Behind law enacted by the Bush and Cheney team. Why wait for the young offenders to enter the adult penal system when they could be trained to kill in one of the wars?
If the military is looking for a really quick fix for their manpower problems they might also set up recruiting centers near public hospitals. Since there are about 30-40% of the AmeriKan population lacking health insurance the military could enlist the uninsured still healthy enough to fire weapons. It would be a win-win situation. Chemotherapy for humvee patrols. Insulin for sniper school. And since the terminally ill have nothing to lose anyway, they’d make great combat soldiers. Especially if they happen to be in the anger cycle of Kubler-Ross’ theory of dying. And the military could avoid paying life insurance for this group by using the “pre-existing condition” clause of their discharge policies. And should this group get killed in action they would leave behind the legacy of being one of the “heroic” soldiers or Marines who gave their lives to protect our freedom. Their family could receive a folded AmeriKan flag as a memento. The other good part of this plan would be the family being able to deny the illnesses of their loved ones and feel the patriotism other families feel when they sacrifice a son or daughter to the wars.
No doubt some will find these suggestions inappropriate but I’d argue if we are to continue killing one another in these endless wars, why not use the people who are a burden on society or their families? Like Dick Lamm once said, those who have serious and terminal illness should have some duty to die for the sake of the rest of us. Why waste those deaths when they could be used to protect our freedom?
As a grandparent I also think the military should enact a substitution waiver wherein grandparents can take the place of their grandkids on the battlefield. Since it is mostly grandparents who begin the wars anyway, why not let them fight them?
All in all, I believe the troop shortages can be alleviated with some creative thinking such as the “moral waiver”. But if we amp it up just a little there can be even more done so all of us get a chance to take part in the wars we’ve all come to love so much we can’t seem to ever stop them. And a bonus will be a thinning of the weaker, an economic stimulus for the arms industry and a return to a whiter and brighter AmeriKa.
And speaking of whiter, Doug Bruce here in Colorado gave me another idea on a source of troops to fight our wars. We can have a guest worker program of some “illiterate peasants” come up from Mexico and other Latin nations to help out our seasonal businesses but instead let them go to the wars to fight and let the troops there now do the field work the peasants would have done. That will also be an excellent way of getting rid of the non-English speakers who have invaded this nation. They won’t have to learn to speak English. They’ll be told they need to learn Farsi, Arabic or some other language of the Middle East. And maybe Doug Bruce will go with them as an interpreter in case they do need some English?
I’m sure there are some who feel I’m being callous and disrespectful but haven’t we already accomplished that with our lust for wars while forgetting the sick and frail of the world. In reality the whole idea of the military having a moral waiver at this time is disrespectful to humanity. AmeriKa has given itself a moral waiver for some time in most of its foreign policy and policies toward other humans. From water boarding and torture at Gitmo to the School of Americas to the endless wars for no other reason than to bully and conquer, morality has disappeared. Bush and Cheney have certainly made it worse than recent memories of most; except those my age who remember Johnson and Humphrey and Nixon and Kissinger.
God bless AmeriKa – more than any other place, please, God. And if you could, Lord…can we get a waiver to get into heaven?

William Terry Leichner, RN
USMC combat vet
Vietnam ’67-69