History Main / LoweredRecruitingStandards

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' does it, when they go ''[[HeroesUnlimited Unlimited]]'', resulting in the recruitment of oddballs who have to be expelled later, like the Huntress. There are several members that outright wonder how TheQuestion got in.

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

* PlayedForDrama in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheTwoTowers''. Due to the approaching Uruk-hai army being several times larger than anticipated, Theoden's army is forced to start recruiting old men and children (some looking to be as young as 10) to bolster their numbers.

* Allegations of this phenomenon occuring in education have been levied, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_down dumbing down]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation grade inflation]], but [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment this is all we will say on the subject]].

As anyone in, well any Armed Forces can tell you, this is certainly TruthInTelevision.

** 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.[[note]]At the Battle of the Seelow Heights outside of Berlin in April 1945, the Luftwaffe soldiers were some of the first to break and run.[[/note]] By 1944, anyone who was previously 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.

* In the War on Terror, the US Military's problems have been well documented. Whats not often appreciated is that this also happened with the other major militaries which have been in action, i.e the UK and the Pakistani armed forces have also had to lower standards. As of 2016 as the major troop commitments have wound down, all three have suddenly and ruthlessly reimposed exacting standards.

* During the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, Robert [=McNamara=] started the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000 Project 100,000]], which involved recruiting 100000 persons who had scored in Category IV of the Armed Forces Qualification Test (meaning they were mentally [=and/or=] physically unable to serve): some of them were mentally challenged, suffered from light physical impairments or had weight issues, and others were unable to read, or even speak English. They were soon nicknamed McNamara's Morons and McNamara's Misfits, and suffered worse outcomes, either in or after the fighting, than regular recruits.

* Allegations of this phenomenon occuring in education have been levied, with [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumbing_down dumbing down]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_inflation grade inflation]], but [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment this is all we will say on the subject]]

* ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'', by virtue of the fact that there was hardly anybody left ''to'' recruit by the time of the story.

* This trope is the premise behind the original ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' movie. The mayor instituted the policy as a political move (apparently aimed at achieving racial and social equality, but [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits all kinds of oddballs end up joining]]), and a resentful chief of police cooks up a plan to make the new cadets so miserable they quit.

* ''Film/{{The Bridge|1959}}'': Seven teenaged German boys are thrown into combat in the Western Front in the last days of World War II, after exactly one day of training. Tragedy ensues.
* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/Deadpool2''. Deadpool recruits every single person who signs up for the X-Force, including a random non-superpowered guy named Peter who joined 'cause he thought it'd be fun.

* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's ''Literature/{{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.

* PlayedForDrama in the ''Film/LordOfTheRings'': The Two Towers. Due to the approaching Uruk-hai army being several times larger than anticipated, Theoden's army is forced to start recruiting old men and children (some looking to be as young as 10) to bolster their numbers.

* Defied by Chief of Staff Rumford in ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', who wants to keep the standards of the [[StateSec Christian Marines]] high, since they are supposed to serve as the elite vanguard of the revolution. Even once casualties begin to mount, he sticks to the old formulas, demanding that recruits should not just be military men in good standing, but also [[WarriorPoet men of culture devoted to the philosophical heritage of Christianity and Western Civilization]]. If the Christian Marines ever lose sight of what they are fighting for and why, they are worse than useless in any case; a few true believers are far better than a whole regiment of conscripts.

** During the [[HopelessWar Earth-Minbari War]] [[=EarthForce=]] would accept ''anyone willing'' to man the ships, as otherwise they would be unable to keep up with the Minbari, and then enacted a conscription. As that wasn't enough they started deploying on the battlefield the Belt Alliance (effectively a union-shipping company hybrid with its own anti-piracy security force), as while their ships and fighters, being more primitive that what was used by [[=EarthForce=]], were useless to defend convoys against Minbari raids they could at least serve as meat shields to give the heavier [[=EarthForce=]] ships a very small chance to strike back, or, during the [[LastStand Battle of the Line]], [[HeroicSacrifice keep the Minbari busy for longer while the evacuation of Earth proceeded]]. After the Minbari's unexpected surrender, many of the surviving personnel enrolled during the war was kept in service, just with additional training.

* In ''LightNovel/AmagiBrilliantPark'', the staff is so short-handed and budget-stiffed that management is forced to hire a cast of misfits so weird they make the Magical Fairy People who compose the main staff look comparably sane. (Compare PettingZooPeople and globes-for-heads to a failed mayoral candidate and a normal-looking girl with a perverted serial killer for a brother).

* In ''LightNovel/AmagiBrilliantPark'', the staff is so short-handed, the management are forced to hire the cast of misfits and other rejects that walk in through the door.

* One of the points proponents of allowing gay members of the United States military to serve had against those arguing that allowing gay troops would somehow lower unit morale or effect unit discipline was that when the United States desperately needed people in uniform in the past they tended to be less interested in their personal lives and overlook things no matter how transparent the closet was, and there was no discernible effect even if everyone around a gay soldier knew they were gay.

->''"Didn't know the requirements were just living and breathing!''

* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'': In season 3, Inspector Kido is introduced to a new member of his staff to replace some of the people killed in the previous season's bombing of the Kempeitai's offices, a half-Japanese man born in the United States whose proficiency in Japanese is not up to standards. Kido begrudgingly gives him a chance to prove his loyalty to the Empire.

** An interesting take on this is when the US military started mass recruitment during WW1, they discovered a large percentage were below acceptable standards on UsefulNotes/IQTesting. This forced the authorities to confront the fact that the IQ test itself was skewed by education and cultural bias.