Would you kindly provide some support about either of those situations. for those claims, because I don't recall ever hearing either of those policy changes.
I will say this however: If the USA had volunteer military recruiting difficulties during the first years following 9/11/2001 we have a more serious problem, than most will care to ponder.
During WWII ten percent of the 160 million population served in uniform. People volunteered, and people were drafted.
Sorry,
@truth_seeker...I didn't see your post until now.
Here's support for the felony waivers:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/21/military.waivers/The Army and Marine Corps are allowing convicted felons to serve in increasing numbers, newly released Department of Defense statistics show.
Recruits were allowed to enlist after having been convicted of crimes including assault, burglary, drug possession and making terrorist threats.
[...]
The Army defended its use of waivers as a response to a changing American society, arguing that only three in 10 Americans of military age "meet all our stringent medical, moral, aptitude or administrative requirements."
[...]
And for the huge bounties:
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2009/01/16/obama-to-confront-limits-of-americas-overstretched-militaryRecruiting, too, has been a considerable challenge for the all-volunteer military engaged in two tough wars. When the Army fell short of its recruiting goals in 2005, it raised the maximum recruiting age to 42 years old, and added sign-up bonuses as high as $40,000. It also began enlisting more recruits with general equivalency degrees rather than high school diplomas. Just over 70 percent of new recruits had high school diplomas in 2007, for example, a 25-year low. Moral waivers for new recruits with criminal histories are also on the rise, nearly doubling from 860 waivers for marines and soldiers convicted of felonies in 2007, up by 400 from 2006. The Pentagon argues that these are modest figures relative to the size of the force, and that 97 percent of Marine Corps recruits in 2008 had high school diplomas.
Yes, I know, I know there was crowing on TOS that they met recruitment goals...but only by paying out bonuses and weakening requirements.
As for Obama reversing these moral waivers, I don't see it anywhere in that timeframe on a Google search. I apologize, as I was absolutely
sure of it -- it had seemed so bizarre that it happened as one of his first things, it stuck with me! But now, perhaps it was a from a dream (or, since it's Obama, that would have been a nightmare!). I apologize for making what seems to be a false claim. It was wholly unintentional. Thank you for asking for support!