You Could Still Be An Officer . . . Unless

CBS 4 in Denver aired an investigation last night into those 'moral waivers' the military has been issuing in order to beef up its ranks. Correspondent Rick Sallinger sent potential recruits undercover, to ask about special exceptions for enlisting. The results are eye-opening, if not downright astonishing:

To see how the policy works, CBS4 sent a woman into local recruiting stations and claimed to have a marijuana possession record.

"You could still be an officer with that," a recruiter told the woman. "It may slow it down a bit … it requires a waiver."

But it gets even more bizarre:

At another recruiting office in Aurora, a different recruiter told the woman that her marijuana possession charge wouldn't keep her from getting into the military.

"It's a waiver," he said and then took his prospective enlistee outside for what he called a "heart to heart."

"I smoked in Amsterdam," the recruiter said. "Since I've been in the Army, I have smoked, but you can't smoke all the time because you will get busted."

If you were a gang member? "You may have had some gang activity in the past and everything, ok, and that in itself does not disqualify you," he said.

Of course, though, if you are gay, the military isn't allowed to recruit you, even with a waiver. Because of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," gay Americans are turned away, while former gang members are welcomed aboard.

You can watch the full investigation here.

- Steve Ralls