It is not unheard of, to have a criminal background and given the option to join the military. When I was in Germany, my roommate came into the Army that way. When he was 19 he stood before a judge in Southern Louisiana facing a drug trafficking conviction. He was also addicted. Basic Training and AIT for 11B infantry is 14 weeks long. It was a fantastic Detoxification for him.

After completing Basic, the Army sends him to Germany. Let me tell you something about Germany -- at least in the mid 1980s. We used to go to Frankfurt the first weekend after getting paid. Within three minutes of coming off the escalators from the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station) I had nine Africans try to sell me Hashish. So my roommate drops 100 Deutsch Marks on Hash every month. He smokes it in the room. I may have tried it once, but that was it.

Years later, I'm in the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning, GA and I run into this guy I knew from our old unit in Germany. I ask about my roommate. He tells me the drug dogs and MPs came through the barracks after I left. They found the Hash in his room and he popped hot on a piss test. Apparently, he failed two urinalysis tests, got an Article 15 (Non-judicial punishment) and was kicked out of the army.

Did he go to jail then? I have no idea. I don't know how the Louisiana courts dealt with that one.