Faced with higher recruiting goals, the Pentagon is quietly looking for ways to make it easier for people with minor criminal records to join the military, The Associated Press has learned.

The review, in its early stages, comes as the number of Army recruits needing waivers for bad behavior _ such as trying drugs, stealing, carrying weapons on school grounds and fighting _ rose from 15 percent in 2006 to 18 percent this year. And it reflects the services' growing use of criminal, health and other waivers to build their ranks.

Overall, about three in every 10 recruits must get a waiver, according to Pentagon statistics obtained by AP, and about two-thirds of those approved in recent years have been for criminal behavior. - Topix.net

This seems to be window dressing, at best, just changing definitions. It seems to me that what is happening is that the military will still be taking more and more less desirable people, but disguising the fact by no longer calling them that.

Its not just a hamburger, it's a steakburger. And that's not baloney, it's luncheon meat.