As the conflict in Iraq enters its fifth year with no end in sight, the capability of the country’s armed forces is being challenged by extended combat assignments. At the recruiting office, fewer candidates with high school diplomas are applying.

In a disturbing sign that standards are being lowered to fill the ranks, the number of felons granted waivers to serve in the Army more than doubled this year from last, rising to 511 from 249. Even the Marine Corps, whose slogan is “The few, the proud, the Marines,” accepted 350 recruits with felony records last year, a jump from 208 in 2006.

Offenses waived included convictions for armed robbery, arson and burglary. Both services also granted increases in the number of waivers for misdemeanors. Total conduct waivers for the Army increased 25 percent, from a little more than 8,000 to 10,258.

Military spokesmen insisted the waivers were carefully considered in each case and that many of the violations occurred when the recruits were juveniles. Even so, Army Chief of Staff George Casey told journalists, his top priority is to rapidly expand U.S. forces.

“To take some pressure off the force,” he said, “we can accept some minor degradation of quality.”

However, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., expressed concern “that the significant increase in the recruitment of persons with criminal records is a result of the strain put on the military by the Iraq war and may be undermining military readiness.” Waxman chairs the House Oversight and Govern­ment Reform Committee, which released the data on recruited felons.

A study by the Center for Naval Analyses found that Marine recruits who required waivers were more likely to be separated from the service for misconduct within two years. Those with felony records were most likely to be ejected. Christine Wormuth, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Washington Post that “the numbers seem pretty clear to me that we are lowering standards, and it’s difficult for me to see how that wouldn’t have a negative impact on the quality of the force.”

The U.S. military now accepts recruits who could not serve as Texas police officers. State law prohibits all Lone Star law enforcement agencies from hiring those with felonies or Class A misdemeanors. The Houston Police Depart­ment refuses all applicants with class B misdemeanor convictions within 10 years of the application date.

One reason recruiting highly qualified young people for the armed forces has become so difficult is that they see the unfair and seemingly endless demands placed on our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while the general public sacrifices little. Previous hit-or-miss treatment of wounded veterans after they returned home gives little assurance to prospective recruits that they will receive the best medical care their country can offer should they become disabled.

The United States must maintain and expand a military of the highest quality. Lowering the standards for recruits to include convicted criminals is not the way to achieve that goal. To attract the most highly motivated and qualified applicants, the nation must provide its armed forces with sound missions, materiel and medical support as they defend the nation’s interests.