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Careers: Military--Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, Coast Guard/Drug Misdemeaner
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Question
My son is 18 and was recently charged with a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge for approximately 2 grams. He goes to court the end of January to determine the outcome but the charge will likely stick as he has admitted guilt to me and the police, pretty cut and dry. Will this likely disqualify him from most or all of the services? And if so for how long. I retired from the Coast Guard myself and I am not sure but I think he would have a hard time getting into the CG in the near future. This is the only blemish on his record and he is graduating high school in two weeks with a 3.2 GPA. He was seriously contemplating the service and now has to face the fact that he may have screwed that up. Any info or guidance would be appreciated.
Regards
Hi Kent,
No two ways around it, he will need a waiver.
Chances of getting a waiver for the active duty Air Force or active duty Coast Guard are slim. The Air Force is reducing in size, so they aren't granting that many waivers (they have a waiting list for those who want to join, so they don't need to approve very many waivers), and one of the Coast Guard's responsibilities is drug enforcement (as you know), so they rarely waiver drug offenses.
If he gets probation, (in most cases), he won't be allowed to join any of the services until his probation is over. There are some exceptions to this.
His chances of getting a waiver (assuming no other offenses) differ, based on the services, and what their current recruiting needs are. In order (easiest to hardest), it would probably be:
Army National Guard
Army Reserves
Active Duty Army
Marine Corps Reserves
Active Duty Marines
Navy Reserves
Active Duty Navy
Coast Guard Reserves
Active Duty Coast Guard
Air Force National Guard
Air Force Reserves
Active Duty Air Force.
For more information about the United States Military, feel free to visit my military information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com
Hope this helps!
Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com
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Answers by Expert:
Rod Powers
Expertise
Rod Powers is considered one of the premire experts about U.S. Military career information on the planet. He has more than 30,000 articles about U.S. Military career information on the About.com U.S. Military Careers Information website at: http://usmilitary.about.com. Additionally, he is the author of "ASVAB for Dummies," "ASVAB AFQT for Dummies," (available in Dec 2009), and "Veteran Benefits for Dummies," all published by Wiley Publishing. He is also the author of "Barrons' Guide to Officer Candidate School Tests," published by Barron's Educational Series.
Experience
Rod Powers is a retired Air Force first sergeant, with 23 years of active duty service, 11 of those years as an Air Force First Sergeant. He has helped thousands of military members, recruits, and military applicants since he took over the About.com U.S Military Careers Information site in 1999. He has a reputation for "telling it like it is," so questions may not be answered based on "what you want to hear," but will be answered based of the bast available information, concerning the service/situation.
Education/Credentials
Rod is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Noncommissioned Officers Academy, the Air Force Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, and the Air Force First Sergeant Academy. He also holds an Associates Degree in Personnel Administration from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
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