Expert: Aaron Shifferly - 3/20/2010

Question
Hello Aaron,
  
       My name is Samantha. My son has been working with a lawyer and a recruiter. He wants badly to join the service. He is 24 and has made many mistakes in his life. However, he is ready to make amends. He has approximately 25 charges due to 5 court cases with only one by way of arrest. Several of those charges were dismissed, dismissed upon payment of a fine and continued without a finding for one year in which he did not get into trouble therefore dismissed. He does has several guiltys on his record all of which are misdemeanors. The recruiter told him he has to see if he can get a judge to revise and revoke sentencing but the lawyer says he should not need that. Also talked to the courts and they absolutely will not change the dismissed or continued without a finding as they are not guilty. They told me the Army should not consider them guilty either. Could you please advise on the next step to working this out. This lawyer is getting kind of pricy and he just wants this done. Could you either advise or at the least let us know what the army will consider on his record in order for him to get in. We have worked hard on this since December and still working on it. Please respond to my e-mail address. It would be greatly appreciated.


Samantha

Answer
First things first is that your son has to let everything be over and done with including all of his deferred adjudications and such. Once he's clear of that it depends on the remaining convictions. If any of his misdemeanors are domestic abuse or spouse abuse, he is automatically disqualified. Otherwise, misdemeanors shouldn't harm his chances. If his recruiter is not helping him enough, I would seek another one. There are plenty out there and they all have to make numbers. Someone will gladly help your son join the Army. He may, however, require waivers and those sometimes take time to have granted. Just be patient and I'm certain this will have a good ending.