Post-2001 recruitment pressures led to moral waivers for one in five enlisted troops.

Evidence

The problem of sexual assault appears to have been exacerbated by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There were simply too few troops to fight two wars, so the armed forces relaxed many of their standards to draw in more recruits. By 2006, the military had issued “moral waivers” to one in five enlisted troops, including those convicted of sexual assault and domestic violence. A growing epidemic of substance abuse in what is a stressful work/life environment has also contributed to the problem of physical and sexual violence. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 590

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• SEED: The moral-waiver statistic offers a concrete angle for an essay on how two simultaneous wars degraded military personnel standards and safety.

Related

• By 2006 one in five enlisted troops had received moral waivers (similarity 0.95)
• Military service raises the likelihood of sexual offending while lowering other crime rates (similarity 0.81)
• Military service raises men’s sex-crime imprisonment odds while lowering other crime rates (similarity 0.79)
• Military environments structurally enable sexual assault regardless of recruits’ innate nature (similarity 0.79)