Expert: Rod Powers - 1/12/2007

Question
Hello, My name is Henry and I really want to join the navy. I am 31 years old and when I was 18 years old I was charged with posession of cocaine but then the State dropped charges because the arresting officer made a very big booboo. So I really got lucky. I have one other charge which is dom. violence ( battery ). My wife was going bonkers and wanted to leave the house but she didnt want me to . She was blocking the door. So I grabbed her by the shoulders and moved her out of my way. She got more pissed and called the cops. She told them I pushed her and I told police that was true. So I was arrested. Next day my wife went to state attorneys office and told them she was irate and I shouldnt be charged. So they agreed and dropped all charges. The recruiter was all jazzed up about me when I first met him. I scored a 66 on pre asvab. So he was very supporting until I told him of my two charges both with no convictions. Now every time I talk to him he has an attitude like Im waisting his time. He said I have a slim chance of getting a waiver. I am emailing you to see what your opinion is. I really have nothing else on record. I feel like this is ridiculas to keep me out of the navy for this.  Any info from you sir would be greatly appreciated. Also I talked to the state and they said I definetly could have both expunged.

Answer
Hi Henry,

Waiver approval is dependent on several factors. One of the factors is how bad that particular military service needs your particular warm body at this particular point in time.

Two of the active duty services are currently overmanned (ie, they have more people on active duty than Congress says they can have). Those two active duty services are the Air Force and the Navy.

Because of this, both services currently get more applicants for enlistment than they are allowed to take. So, they get to "pick and choose" and only take the *most qualified.*

To put it bluntly, the Navy (and Air Force) currently have thousands of more applicants each year than they are allowed to accept. Your application requires a criminal history waiver (even if not convicted, you were arrested/charged). Hundreds of other qualified applicants don't require such a waiver. Who do you think the Navy is going to choose?

I should mention here that when it comes to waivers, the military services don't much care whether or not it resulted in a conviction. They don't care whether charges were dropped due to some technicality, or due to someone refusing to press charges. They care more about whether or not you actually committed the offense alleged, and not whether you were charged or not due to a legal loophole.

By your own admission, you did commit these two offenses. You were in possession of cocaine, but got out of it because the cop made a "booboo" during the arrest. You committed the offense of domestic battery, but got out of it because your wife refused to press charges. From the military's point of view, you committed these two offenses.  A waiver for the Air Force or Navy are both unlikely.

The Army and Marines are having a harder time recruiting than the Navy and Air Force. While there are no promises, these two services are your best bet.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com