Expert: MARK A. HOWELL - 9/24/2009

Question
my husband wants to enlist in the navy,although he would gladly consider all branches of service. Problem is he has 1 felony dui from 2001,we are filing to have this expunged from his record. he is also currently on probation, his officer has agreed to early release do to good behavior and completion of all probationary obligations, Is there anyway he'll be able to enlist even if his felony is expunged? is one branch more lenient when it comes to this stuff? this is something he really wants to do for himself, his family, and his country. please let us know if there is hope, i don't wanna see his dreams crushed.

Answer
Jamie,
Congratulations on getting his record expunged, that's a wise choice and not easy to accomplish.

There's a couple of things you guys need to be aware of.  Just because his record is expunged doesn't mean the military won't see it.  His expunged record will not be seen by the public, meaning it will not come up on a regular police and court records check.  Only a federal government agency can view an expunged record.  And guess who handles investigations for the military?  The FBI, a federal government agency.  Although your lawyer may have said at the time that he never has to admit to ever having a DUI, that's not true when you're dealing with the FBI.  

Everybody was young and dumb once and the military realizes that.  Very few people have led a flawless life before entering the military.  Therefore he's able to apply for a waiver.  If that's his only flaw then he'll have no problem getting a waiver.

According to military regulations he must admit to the Recruiter that he has an expunged record.  The recruiter doesn't need or want all the details.  The Navy WILL accept him with an expunged record if he applies for and receives a waiver.  The recruiter will help him through the waiver process and submit it for him.

It's not going to hurt him any, so he simply needs to admit to it when asked by the recruiter.

However, he should wait until after October 1st.  That's the new fiscal year for the military and they'll be begging for recruits.  He'll have a better chance then of getting a waiver.  The recruiter will process the waiver for him.

Should something go wrong (and I doubt it will), the Army should be his next choice.

He must be off probation before he ships out, and since he'll have a long wait before he actually departs, he'll probably have completed his probation.

I appreciate his willingness to serve.
Good luck to you both.
Colonel H