Expert: Rod Powers - 8/11/2006

Question
The Marines are by far my first prefrence. Will it be "impossible" for that branch?
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Followup To

Question -
I have a record, ive only been convicted of misdemenor cannabis possession, but a few years ago I had felony posession of xanax which I was -not- convicted of (the charges were dismissed) will this hurt me?

Answer -
Hi Ryan,

For which service?

It's going to "hurt" for all the services. But, some services it will make it "impossible," while other services, it may still be possible, depending on the circumstances of the case.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com


Answer
Hi Ryan,

Okay. Nobody can say with any guarantee. For the purposes of joining the military services, not much emphisis is put on whether or not the charges were dismissed, but rather whether available evidence suggests that you actually committed the offense you were arrested for.

In other words, let's say someone was charged with the felony of murder, but the charges were dismissed because a cop forgot to read the accused their 5th amendment rights. For the purposes of joining the military, the services wouldn't care that the charges were dismissed based on any such technicality.  They would look at the available evidence, and if they determined there is a good possibility that the applicant committed the offense of murder, then they would likely not be approved for enlistment.

So, in large part, it's going to depend on whether or not the circumstances of the case indicates to the service that you actually did it or not.

The Marine Corps is going to want to view the arrest record, as well as the court record of dismissal in making their decision. Based on such, they'll decide whether they think you actually committed the offense, or not, and your waiver request will be based on that evaluation.

Assuming a waiver is required, whether or not a waiver is approved is based on several individual factors, including the exact circumstances of the offense, the age of the offender at the time, how much time has passed, the applicants other qualifications (ASVAB scores, college credits, etc.), and how bad that particular service needs this particular warm body, at this particular point in time.

In other words, the more a particular branch needs recruits, at that time, the more likely they are to favorably consider a waiver request.  Assuming a waiver is required, based on the current recruiting situation, the chances of waiver approval for each of the branches (from most favorable to least favorable) are (in my opinion) as follows:

Army National Guard
Army Reserves
Navy Reserves
Active Duty Army
Marine Corps Reserves
Marine Corps Active Duty
Active Duty Navy
Air National Guard
Air Force Reserves
Coast Guard Reserves
Active Duty Air Force
Active Duty Coast Guard

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com