Moral Waivers in Army Recruiting: It Is About Family

America has always had an uneasy relationship with its Armed Forces. The nation expects the few in uniform to be ready and capable of winning the nations wars, but, during times of peace it also expects reductions in the Armed Forces to reap maximum fiscal savings. Yet, throughout history, military recruiting has sought to meet demand in peace and war this has been a perennial challenge. This paper discusses this challenge, asking why, in a nation of 33.1 million youth, very few qualify for military service for reasons of education, fitness, and conduct. The primary purpose of the paper is to examine the opportunities and risks of the Armys use of moral waivers, a recruiting tool that has seen significant use in the last decade of war. To do this, I will not conduct an analysis of moral waivers using an ethical model. Instead, I will give the issue a larger context by approaching it from three vantage points. First, I will frame the issue by citing difficulties facing recruiting today and the factors complicating this herculean task in the future. Second, I will look at the historical and social context in which the Army uses moral waivers. Third, I will look at the difficulties, opportunities, and consequences of our current moral waiver policy. I will end this paper by proposing that strong, intact families are the common denominator behind many of our military recruiting and national readiness challenges of health, education, and morality. I will then recommend broad policy principles that focus on how the nation can bring about constructive change to strengthen this critical component of national security.