{"id":20386,"date":"2017-11-15T17:55:53","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T17:55:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/11\/15\/no-changes-to-standards-army-leaders-take-control-of-waiver-controversy\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:11:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:11:50","slug":"no-changes-to-standards-army-leaders-take-control-of-waiver-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2017\/11\/15\/no-changes-to-standards-army-leaders-take-control-of-waiver-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No changes to standards\u2019: Army leaders take control of waiver controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Army is in full damage-control mode following an explosive story that the service had in August lifted a ban on granting waivers to potential recruits with a history of mental health disorders and substance abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday morning, in a rare appearance together, the acting Army secretary, the chief of staff and the sergeant major of the Army told reporters that the original USA Today story<\/a> misconstrued an administrative change that shifted the authority to grant those waivers from Army headquarters down to Army Recruiting Command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been no change in standards. The Army hasn\u2019t reduced standards or changed standards,\u201d said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. \u201cAnd oh, by the way, the Army couldn\u2019t do that even if it wanted to, because the standards are Department of Defense standards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did occur in August, he explained, is that the Army moved the waiver approval authority back down to the commander in charge of Army accessions, where it was before 2009 and where it is for the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army\u2019s chain of command starts with the president, Milley said, and goes down to the defense secretary, the Army secretary and down to commanders. Senior officials like himself, he added, are considered staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCommanders are people who should be authorized with the authorities to make decisions within the United States military,\u201d Milley said. \u201cSo a decision was made in August to go ahead and re-empower the commanding general with the authority to consider, grant and waive things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the standards are the same, he added, so giving approval authority back to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Snow, the current commander of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, would not make it easier to get a waiver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has long accepted waiver applications for a host of generally disqualifying factors, from sub-optimal hearing to violent felonies. The Army has not, however, approved all of them, based on a list of hard-stops, Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are waivers. There have been, there always will be,\u201d Dailey said. \u201cYour sergeant major of the Army is on a waiver, when I came in 30 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dailey\u2019s waiver pertained to his hearing, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To clarify, Milley read off a list of factors that will automatically disqualify someone seeking a waiver from service:<\/p>\n\n\n\n