More than 30 years of research indicates that enlistees who are high school graduates are much more likely than non-graduates to complete their first term of enlistment (80 percent versus 50 percent).[Footnote 29] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Services gave high school graduates, including those with alternative education credentials, higher priority for enlistment. In the mid- to late 1970s, the Army, Navy, and Air Force classified GED holders and high school graduates differently because evidence showed that persons with GED certification experienced higher first-term attrition. Today, in all Services, applicants with GEDs need higher AFQT scores to enlist than do high school diploma graduates. In fact, the Services strive to meet a 90 percent Tier 1 benchmark established by Defense Planning Guidance.
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Educational Credentials. DoD implemented a three-tier classification of education credentials in 1987. The three tiers are:

* Tier 1—Regular high school graduates, adult diploma holders, and non-graduates with at least 15 hours of college credit.
* Tier 2—Alternative credential holders, including those with a General Education Development (GED) certificate of high school equivalency.
* Tier 3—Those with no education credential.

The system was developed after research indicated a strong relationship between education credentials and successful completion of the first term of military service.[Footnote 10] Current research continues to show that education attainment of youth predicts first-term military attrition.[Footnote 11] In conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences, the Defense Department developed a mathematical model that links recruit quality and recruiting resources to job performance.[Footnote 12] The model was then used to establish the recruit quality benchmarks now specified in Defense Planning Guidance. Service programs are required to ensure that a minimum of 90 percent of non-prior service (NPS) recruits are high school diploma graduates. At least 60 percent of recruits must be drawn from AFQT Categories I-IIIA; no more than 4 percent of the recruits can come from Category IV. This DoD policy does not prohibit the Services from setting their own targets above these benchmarks. These benchmarks were set by examining the relationship between costs associated with recruiting, training, attrition, and retention using as a standard the performance level obtained by the reference cohort of 1990, the cohort that served in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Thus, these benchmarks reflect the recruit quality levels necessary to minimize personnel and training costs while maintaining Desert Shield/Desert Storm cohort performance.[Footnote 13]www.dod.mil...

‘The military must insist upon a respect for duty and a discipline without counterpart in civilian life,’ in order to prepare for and perform its vital role.... The essence of the military service ‘is the subordination of the desires and interests of the individual to the needs of the service.’ The history of the courts deferring to the judgment of military leaders on matters affecting the Armed Forces is one of the most consistently upheld principles of constitutional law. Furthermore, serving in the military is a privilege and sometimes an obligation, conferring neither the right to serve nor the right to avoid service... (see Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez 372 U.S. 144 (1963)).www.army.com...

Some of the crimes that can keep you out of the army are larceny, assault, rape, drug related and murder. Obviously the more violent the crime, the more serious the crime, the less likely the military is to overlook it. Some minor crimes may be overlooked if significant time has passed since you were convicted and have since had no other felonies. Still, this day and age it's highly unlikely you'll be able to join up, the Army is very picky about recruits and wants the best candidates they can get.

A waiver is required for any applicant who has received a conviction or other adverse disposition for a serious criminal misconduct offense. The waiver approval authority is the Commanding General of the Army Recruiting Command. I should mention here that while waivers are "technically" possible, serious criminal conduct convictions or other adverse dispositions are rarely waived. Applicants will incur a 6-month wait from date of conviction prior to waiver processing.usmilitary.about.com...