Track Palin joins the Army. That's a pretty big gap don't you think? And you really believe that juvenile courts can force a child to join the military? I don't think so.
Oh, and by the way, it is against against military regulations:
The Army addresses this issue in the Army Recruiting Regulation, Army Regulation 601-210, paragraph 4-8b: "Applicant who, as a condition for any civil conviction or adverse disposition or any other reason through a civil or criminal court, is ordered or subjected to a sentence that implies or imposes enlistment into the Armed Forces of the United States is not eligible for enlistment.."
The Air Force Recruiting Regulation, AETCI 36-2002, table 1-1, lines 7 and 8, makes an applicant ineligible for enlistment if they are "released from restraint, or civil suit, or charges on the condition of entering military service, if the restraint, civil suit, or criminal charges would be reinstated if the applicant does not enter military service."
The Marine Corps Recruiting Regulation, MCO P1100.72B, Chapter 3, Section 2, Part H, Paragraph 12 states: "Applicants may not enlist as an alternative to criminal prosecution, indictment, incarceration, parole, probation, or other punitive sentence. They are ineligible for enlistment until the original assigned sentence would have been completed."
http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/10/14/28745-army-meets-recruiting-goals-for-quantity-quality/and this:
A New York judge gave Michael Guerra the chance to join the Army to avoid a jail sentence. On those terms, the Army doesn’t want him. When Guerra’s attorney told the judge in the case that his client wanted to join the military, the judge gave Guerra a choice, Murphy said.
But Army regulations say that people facing pending charges are ineligible to enlist, said Army spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty.
“Army policy reflected in Army Regulation 601-210, paragraph 4-32a states ‘waiver is not authorized if a criminal or juvenile court charge is pending or if such a charge was dismissed or dropped at any stage of the court proceedings on condition that the offender enlists in a military service,’ ” Hilferty said in an e-mail response to questions.
Army recruiters are also banned from helping someone get out of pending charges by joining the Army, Hilferty said.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=33904&archive=trueAnd the military is not hurting for recruits - they actually had their best year in history in both numbers and quality. They are not taking ex-convicts - that is an internet myth.
The Army and other services met their recruiting goals in fiscal year 2009, many exceeding both numeric goals and quality benchmarks for new recruits.
"We are pleased to report that for the first time, since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components -- active and reserve -- met their number as well as their quality goals," said Bill Carr, the deputy under secretary of Defense for military personnel policy during an Oct. 13 press conference at the Pentagon. "That's the first time that's been achieved for every component since the start of the all-volunteer force in 1973."
All branches of the service, as well as their respective Guard and Reserve components, met or exceeded recruiting numbers for the period between Oct. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2009. For the active Army, that meant 70,045 accessions in that time period -- or 108 percent of its goal of 65,000 new Soldiers.
The "quality" component of last year's recruiting success refers to both the education level of new recruits and their performance on the Armed Forces Qualification Test, a subset of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB.
The Department of Defense set a benchmark for services, stating that 90 percent or greater of new recruits should have a high-school diploma. Last year, some 95 percent of Army active-duty recruits had a high-school diploma or greater. The reserve components of the Army also exceeded that standard.
Additionally, in FY 2009, 66 percent of new Soldiers in the Army scored at the 50th percentile or higher on the AFQT -- the DoD benchmark being 60 percent. Again, both reserve components, like the active Army, exceeded that goal.
http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/10/14/28745-army-meets-recruiting-goals-for-quantity-quality/