History Main / LoweredRecruitingStandards

* Conscription has this effect on armies. The army is forced to accept many barely fit recruits who don't want to be in it either, and is cited as a contributing factor [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar the infamous "Rape of Nanjing" during World War II]], as a number of conscripts were of the "imprisoned or enlisted" variety.

* Conscription has this effect on armies. The army is forced to accept many barely fit recruits who don't want to be in it either, and is cited as a contributing factor [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar the infamous "Rape of Nanjing" during World War II]].

* Conscription has this effect on armies. The army is forced to accept many barely fit recruits who don't want to be in it either, and is cited as a contributing factor [[UsefulNotes/TheSecondSinoJapaneseWar the infamous "Rape of Nanjing" during World War II]].

* Conscription has this effect on armies. The army is forced to accept many barely fit recruits who don't want to be in it either.

* There have been feminists who demand that the standards to becoming a firefighter be lowered so that more women can join, prompting massive protests from women who measured up to the original standards.
* In a similar vein, the "against" camp in the debate on whether or not to allow women into the combat branches of the US Military uses this trope as one of their primary arguments.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''{{Worldwar}}'' series, Sam Yeager is a player for a Triple-I League Baseball team. During the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI Great War]], he tried to join the Army but was rejected on the basis of having lost all his teeth during the Spanish Flu. After the [[TheReptilians Race]] attacks the US (and many other nations), the Army quickly lowers its standards and starts accepting anyone who's willing to fight. Sam and his manager "Mutt" Daniels (who would normally be too old to fight) join up.

* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', the war against the Parshendi has been a sufficient drain on the humans' manpower that ''ten-year old'' boys are being conscripted.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''{{Worldwar}}'' series, Sam Yeager is a player for a Triple-I League Baseball team. During the [[WorldWarOne Great War]], he tried to join the Army but was rejected on the basis of having lost all his teeth during the Spanish Flu. After the [[TheReptilians Race]] attacks the US (and many other nations), the Army quickly lowers its standards and starts accepting anyone who's willing to fight. Sam and his manager "Mutt" Daniels (who would normally be too old to fight) join up.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffen-SS Waffen SS]] during WorldWarII. Initially membership was open to "[[MasterRace Aryans]]" only in accordance with the racial policies of the [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Nazi state]], but the rules were partially relaxed in 1940, and UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler authorized the formation of units composed largely or solely of foreign volunteers and conscripts as the war went on. By the end of the war, non-Germans made up more than 50 percent of the Waffen SS.

* [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic The Austro-Hungarian Army]] (officer corps 76.1% German) was particularly badly affected by this in WorldWarOne, though the situation was still manageable while they were able to use the pre-war Army Reserve to plug the gaps (officer corps 56.8% German). Things only became truly critical when they ran out of these after repeated Italian and Russian offensives in 1916 and had to begin recruiting ''en masse'' from the country's civilian professionals (c.24% German).

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* Happens in ''UnderTheDome'' by Creator/StephenKing. After the town is cut-off from the outside world via SomeKindOfForceField, the town's leaders make the decision to deputize some young adults in order to beef up the police force. These young adults? The town selectman's [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong sociopathic son and his delinquent friends]].

* ''AllInTheFamily'': Archie's lodge is in trouble for not having any black or Jewish members. So he suggests that they invite one black to join - Solomon Jackson. And one Jew - also Solomon Jackson. At the end of the episode Jackson accepts their invitation to join, and promises to invite all his black friends ''and'' all his Jewish friends to join too.

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'' - With the draft on, you get doctors who are against the very war that's being fought.
** A recurring theme in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was that the vast majority of the US Army (being draftees), were unprepared, unfit, and generally had no business being in a warzone.

** A recurring theme in ''Series/{{MASH}}'' was that the vast majority of the US Army (being draftees), were unprepared, unfit, and generally had no business being in a warzone

* The ''WebOriginal/SCPFoundation'' normally recruits its D-class personnel (human test subjects) from death row criminals, and terminates the survivors at the end of the month. In times of need, they start grabbing from lesser criminals, and sometimes escalates to just grabbing civilians and using amnesics on them. Their plans for world-wide apocalypse have several levels, with only the last one planning for the release of superviolent and/or insane criminals if it comes down to there being ''any'' human beings left at all.

* For the most part, averted in ''Warhammer40K'', where manpower is the Imperium's greatest weapon (one general regularly wins battles by sending wave after wave of infantry without armored support against fortresses or through minefields) and they'll let anyone join/get shanghaied. Just about everyone in 40K is a BadassNormal just for surviving to adulthood, and anyone who doesn't shape up fast enough can generally look forward to meeting the Commissar and being sent to a Penal Legion.

* The ''WebOriginal/SCPFoundation'' normally recruits its D-class personnel (human test subjects) from death row criminals, and terminates the survivors at the end of the month. In times of need, they start grabbing from lesser criminals, and sometimesescalates to just grabbing civilians and using amnesics on them. Their plans for world-wide apocalypse have several levels, with only the last one planning for the release of superviolent and/or insane criminals if it comes down to there being ''any'' human beings left at all.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, Harry is accepted in the advanced Potions class because the new teacher has lower standards than Snape's. Unlike most examples on this page, however, it's implied Snape's admittance requirements were too high (demanding the Wizarding equivalent of an A on the exam).

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffen-SS Waffen SS]] during WorldWarII. Initially membership was open to "[[MasterRace Aryans]]" only in accordance with the racial policies of the [[NaziGermany Nazi state]], but the rules were partially relaxed in 1940, and UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler authorized the formation of units composed largely or solely of foreign volunteers and conscripts as the war went on. By the end of the war, non-Germans made up more than 50 percent of the Waffen SS.

* [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic The Austro-Hungarian Army]] (officer corps 76.1% German) was particularly badly affected by this in WorldWarOne, though the situation was still manageable while they were able to count on the pre-war Army Reserve Officers (56.8% German). Things only became truly critical when they ran out of these after repeated Italian and Russian offensives in 1916 and had to begin recruiting ''en masse'' from the country's civilian professionals (c.24% German).

** The Germans had to depend on this more and more as the war turned against them. One of the first examples were the ''Luftwaffe'' Field Divisions, which essentially took auxiliary and non-essential air force personnel and pressed them into frontline service. Their battle prowess was about as good as you can expect. By 1944, anyone who was already declared "medically unfit" was allowed to join the ''Wehrmacht''. At the end of the war, the ''Volkssturm'' was the ultimate result of this. With the ''Wehrmacht'' essentially tapped for any reserves, the Nazis began to conscript anyone who wasn't already in uniform to fight against the Red Army. The majority of ''Volkssturm'' members were old men (many of whom were veterans of the First World War) and children from the Hitler Youth, who were far more fanatical than their older comrades.

* ''JusticeLeague'' does it, when they go ''[[HeroesUnlimited Unlimited]]'', resulting in the recruitment of oddballs who have to be expelled later, like the Huntress.

* In HarryTurtledove's ''{{Worldwar}}'' series, Sam Yeager is a player for a Triple-I League Baseball team. During the [[WorldWarOne Great War]], he tried to join the Army but was rejected on the basis of having lost all his teeth during the Spanish Flu. After the [[TheReptilians Race]] attacks the US (and many other nations), the Army quickly lowers its standards and starts accepting anyone who's willing to fight. Sam and his manager "Mutt" Daniels (who would normally be too old to fight) join up.

* In ''[[Film/TheBourneSeries The Bourne Legacy]]'', a character reveals that his IQ score was raised 12 points by a recruiter so the recruiter could make his quota.