#Enlisted oath free#

When waivered recruits did get into trouble, it was often because of what they had been waivered for in the first place. By one key measure, reenlistment, they performed almost exactly the same. As a group, those recruits were not across-the-board riskier than any other recruits. Fewer than 1 percent had a history of marijuana use or possession, depression, anxiety, or ADHD. They found that around 15 percent of recruits needed some kind of waiver to get in, most often for health reasons. Then they pulled in personnel records to see how those recruits performed through their first term in the Army. They could see which of those recruits needed waivers they could also search the data for specific references to marijuana or behavioral health problems. Researchers looked at data from every recruit who joined the regular Army between 20. That would block the roughly one-third of American 18-year-olds who say they have used marijuana at least once in the past year. A failed drug test for marijuana, or a single conviction for possession, would also screen people out. Nor could anyone treated as a teenager for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which affects nearly 10 percent of children. Without waivers, people with even mild depression or anxiety disorders-several million Americans between the ages of 18 and 25-could not join the Army. That means more scrutiny, not less-a review process that often takes months to complete.

Policymakers have worried that waivers will weaken the armed forces studies have found that even fellow soldiers think waivered recruits are of lower quality.īut to get a waiver, recruits have to convince the Army that they're a good bet to succeed despite whatever checked box has held them up. “Smoked pot? Want to go to war? No problem,” one news story quipped.

#Enlisted oath free#

When waivers make the news, they're often portrayed as free passes handed out by an Army desperate to fill its ranks with anyone it can get. Without waivers, a failed drug test for marijuana would block the one-third of American 18-year-olds who say they have used marijuana at least once in the past year. “The strongest message of our report is that using waivers has nothing to do with changing quality standards.” “When people hear 'waivers,' they sometimes think the Army is letting people in who really shouldn't be there,” said Michael Hansen, the associate director of RAND Arroyo Center, the Army's sole federally funded research and development center for studies and analysis. The Army could tighten up its policy on waivers, they concluded-but, for the most part, it works. They found no evidence that those recruits were riskier across the board than any others. They looked at thousands of soldiers who enlisted despite past marijuana use and other disqualifying marks on their records, such as depression or anxiety disorders. Researchers at RAND wanted to know, How do those waivered recruits actually perform once they get into uniform? But those who have left it in the past can ask for a waiver, just like recruits who have diabetes, chronic insomnia, or bunions on their feet.

Marijuana use is still a disqualifying offense for anyone hoping to join up. More than half of all new recruits come from states where marijuana is now legal, at least for medicinal use. That should be welcome news in recruiting offices nationwide. Army despite low-level histories of marijuana use perform no worse, overall, than other soldiers.