Join the Army or go to jail.

[Salty]

In the old days- a judge would give a young man the choice of joining the Army or going to jail.
Now, t his would not be for major crimes - such as murder, but minor crimes - say, writing a bad check,
shoplifting, ect.

Should those days come back?

 

[Reynolds]

In the old days- a judge would give a young man the choice of joining the Army or going to jail.
Now, t his would not be for major crimes - such as murder, but minor crimes - say, writing a bad check,
shoplifting, ect.

Should those days come back?

Army won't take them. Judges would love the sentencing option.

 

[Deacon]

A snippet from ‘Alice’s Restaurant’

I'm here to talk about the draft
They got a buildin' down in New York City called Whitehall Street, where you
Walk in, you get injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected!

I went down and got my physical examination one day, and I walked in, sat
Down (got good and drunk the night before, so I looked and felt my best when
I went in that morning, 'cause I wanted to look like the All-American Kid
From New York City. I wanted to feel like I wanted to be the
All-american Kid from New York), and I walked in, sat down, I was hung down
Brung down, hung up and all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things

And I walked in, I sat down, they gave me a piece of paper that said "Kid
See the psychiatrist in room 604"

I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I want to kill! I want to see
Blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth! Eat dead, burnt bodies! I
Mean Kill. Kill!"

And I started jumpin' up and down, yellin' "KILL! Kill!" and he started
Jumpin' up and down with me, and we was both jumpin' up and down, yellin'
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!" and the sergeant came over, pinned a medal on me
Sent me down the hall, said "You're our boy". Didn't feel too good about it

Proceeded down the hall, gettin' more injections, inspections, detections
Neglections, and all kinds of stuff that they was doin' to me at the thing
There, and I was there for two hours three hours four hours I was
There for a long time goin' through all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly things
And I was just havin' a tough time there, and they was inspectin',
Injectin', every single part of me, and they was leavin' no part untouched!

Proceeded through, and I finally came to see the very last man. I walked in,
Sat down, after a whole big thing there. I walked up, and I said, "what do
You want?" He said, "kid, we only got one question, have you ever been
Arrested?"

And I proceeded to tell him the story of Alice's Restaurant Massacree with
Full orchestration and five-part harmony and stuff like that, and other phenomenon

He stopped me right there and said, "kid, have you ever been to court?" And
I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty-seven 8 x 10 colored glossy
Pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one

He stopped me right there and said, "kid, I want you to go over and sit down
On that bench that says 'Group W'"

And I walked over to the bench there, and there's Group W is where they
Put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after committin'
Your special crime

There was all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly-lookin' people on the bench there
There was mother-rapers father-stabbers father-rapers!
Father-rapers sittin' right there on the bench next to me! And they was mean
And nasty and ugly and horrible and crime fightin' guys were sittin' there
On the bench, and the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one the meanest
Father-raper of them all was comin' over to me, and he was mean and
Ugly and nasty and horrible and all kinds of things, and he sat down next to
Me. He said, "Kid, what'd you get?"

I said, "I didn't get nothin'. I had to pay fifty dollars and pick up the garbage."

He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?" and I said, "litterin'"
And they all moved away from me on the bench there, with the hairy eyeball
And all kinds of mean, nasty things, till I said, "And creatin' a nuisance"
And they all came back, shook my hand, and we had a great time on the
Bench talkin' about crime, mother-stabbin', father-rapin', all kinds
Of groovy things that we was talkin' about on the bench, and everything was fine

 

[Roy]

In the old days- a judge would give a young man the choice of joining the Army or going to jail.
Now, t his would not be for major crimes - such as murder, but minor crimes - say, writing a bad check,
shoplifting, ect.

Should those days come back?

No. The Army was not a good reformatory when I was in it back in the 70s. There were actually half way houses on Army posts for the poor drug-addicted soldiers, many of whom came into the service that way. Fort Gordon, Ga. was one place that I knew of where you were as likely to get mugged on post as you were on any ghetto street.

At the Ft. Polk reception station, where I first entered the Army, as soon as we got off the bus, we were herded into a large class room, and a drill sergeant greeted us all. He said, "Welcome to Ft. Polk. I realize that you are all fresh off the street and many of you may have what we call contraband here. It may be needles, a knife with a blade over 3 inches, drugs, or weapons. Whatever it is, here is your only chance to get rid of it without getting in trouble. Everyone, place your heads face-down on your desk. Now there is a yellow trash can in the back corner of the room. If you have contraband, get up now and toss it in the can."
I could hear lots of foot steps moving to the back of the room snd stuff being tossed in the can.
We had drug testing, but for the life of me, I don't know why. Lots of soldiers checked positive for drug use, but I never saw anyone punished for it.
I have been told that the Army has cleaned up it's act since those days, but today they have to deal with homosexuals and male and female troops living and working in close proximity.
If you throw criminals into the mix, it certainly won't benefit the Army in any way.

 

[Shoostie]

I have been told that the Army has cleaned up it's act since those days, but today they have to deal with homosexuals and male and female troops living and working in close proximity.
If you throw criminals into the mix, it certainly won't benefit the Army in any way.

The military is being abused to promote the Left's social agenda, which claims that homosexuals and women in combat benefit the military. But, at least, maybe, sending an undisciplined young man to the military isn't about benefiting the military so much as about benefiting the young man and saving prison costs.

 

[Salty]

If you throw criminals into the mix, it certainly won't benefit the Army in any way.

I dont know if it is so much "criminals" that could be the option.

How about, petty theft, joyriding, a minor drug charge, -- how about a guy thown in jail because he cant pay "child support", dorve his POV without insurance, littering, ect.

 

[Reformed]

I do not know about the Army but the Air Force was a different experience. The Air Force rejected 55% of all applicants back in 1979 (the year I enlisted). Most of the rejections were due to low ASVAB scores and criminal/arrest history. In my AFSC (MOS in the Army) a Top Secret clearance with SCI access was required. Lose your clearance and you were either booted out of the Air Force or placed in the mess hall or on the road and ground crew. My first duty assignment was at RAF Chicksands, England. We worked a rotating shift that ended with a four-day break. On the last night of one of our breaks, some guys from my flight went on an all-night bender in the females' barracks. It resulted in over a dozen guys and gals busted by base police. The next day (the first day of our new shift) I saw a number of people from different flights in our duty area. They were there because the individuals who were busted by the base police had their security clearances suspended pending an investigation. The investigation took about two months. During that time those individuals were serving us food in the mess hall and walking around the base picking up trash. Eventually, all of them had their clearances pulled permanently and were rotated back to the States and received general discharges.