More criminals in US armed forces as standards lower in Iraq war


This video from the USA is called Video Vigilante Catches Military Recruiter with Hooker.

From CBS News in the USA:

U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero’s welcome while home on leave in June of 2004.

“Not only did I love my son – but my god – I liked the man he was becoming,” his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers.

But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive.

When Johnson died, he wasn’t in a war zone, he was in Germany.

“He had finished his term in Iraq,” his mother said. “I talked to him the day before his death. He said, ‘Mom, I’m in the process of discharging out. I’ll be out in two weeks’.”

On July 3, 2005, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the ‘Gangster Disciples,’ a notorious Chicago-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a “jump-in” – an initiation rite common to many gangs.

“My son never spoke of joining a gang,” Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.

Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later.

“I feel like I didn’t prepare him enough to deal with this and I should have,” his mother said. “But how would I have known there were gangs in the military? I could have had that talk with him.”

Evidence of gang culture and gang activity in the military is increasing so much an FBI report calls it “a threat to law enforcement and national security.” The signs are chilling: Marines in gang attire on Parris Island; paratroopers flashing gang hand signs at a nightclub near Ft. Bragg; infantrymen showing-off gang tattoos at Ft. Hood. …

If we weren’t in the middle of fighting a war, yes, I think the military would have a lot more control over this issue,” Glass said. “But with a war going on, I think it’s very difficult to do.”

Gang activity clues are appearing in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. Gang graffiti is sprayed on blast walls – even on Humvees. Kilroy – the doodle made famous by U.S. soldiers in World War II – is here, but so is the star emblem of the Gangster Disciples.

The soldier who took photos if [sic; of] the graffiti told CBS News that he’s been warned he’s as good as dead if he ever returns to Iraq.

Gee, and George W. Bush said on 1 May 2003 that the Iraq war was over …

Military Recruiters Invited To Jail Job Fair: here.

Educational standards for US armed forces lowered because of Iraq war: here.

Atheist Soldier Sues Military for Discrimination: here.

The US Army, Navy and Air Force unwittingly advertised for recruits on a website for gays, who are barred from military service if they are open about their sexual orientation: here.

7 thoughts on “More criminals in US armed forces as standards lower in Iraq war

  1. Gays Banned But Military Recruits Increased
    Number Of Convicted Criminals

    by The Associated Press
    October 10, 2007

    (Washington) The Army last year again increased the number of its recruits who have prior criminal records by granting them special exceptions.

    The Pentagon’s top personnel official defended the policy, saying it’s so stringent that many in Congress would have difficulty getting into the military today, too, because of things they did in their youth.

    The military routinely grants waivers to recruits with past criminal behavior, medical problems or low aptitude scores that would otherwise disqualify them from service.

    In the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 18 percent of recruits needed waivers for problems with the law – up from 15 percent the previous year, Maj. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commander of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command, told a Pentagon news conference. He said 87 percent of those were for misdemeanors such as joy riding or violating curfew.

    Appearing with him, defense personnel head David S.C. Chu said the waiver policy, taken as a whole, is a tough one and takes into consideration the whole person and his or her future abilities, not just mistakes the person may have made in the past.

    One question they are asked, he said, is whether they have ever used marijuana, even once. “If you answer ‘yes’ about one use … it requires a waiver,” said Chu.

    “That’s a pretty tough standard,” he said. “Not to be cheeky about this, but (if) we apply that standard to our legislative overseers, a significant fraction would need waivers to join the United States military.”

    Chu was announcing that the services met their targets for recruiting in fiscal year 2007 – the Army recruited more than 80,400; Marines more than 35,500; Navy more than 37,000 and Air Force nearly 28,000.

    The Army has been struggling to increase the size of its force amid an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.

    Various lawmakers and others worry that the Defense Department is lowering standards to draw in the needed recruits.

    Legislation that would repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ the ban on gays serving openly in the military is before Congress.

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