FBI: gang members joining military

[GreekAmerican]

repost?



Motorcycle and street gang members have joined the U.S. military and served in Iraq, a new FBI report says.

The FBI described the gang presence as a "growing threat," the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
"The military enlistment of gang members could ultimately lead to the worldwide expansion of U.S.-based gangs," the report said.
The Defense Department does not track gang membership in the military. But FBI investigators believe the reduction in enlistment standards -- due to recruitment pressure related to the Iraq War -- has brought more gang members in.

Recruiters are not trained to look for signs of gang membership, the report said. Others ignore criminal records of willing volunteers -- such as the recruiter who concealed the fact that a member of the Latin Kings was awaiting trial for a razor assault on a New York police officer.
The FBI said some gangs recruit veterans or serving members of the military because of their experience with explosives and firearms. Other gang members may join up to get access to weapons and equipment.




http://www.playfuls.com/news_10_10132-FBI-Gang-Members-Joining-Military.html

[Lov3ll]

There was a thread but it was posted around 7 months ago, so I'm sure a lot of people never saw it p-)

http://www.fgia.com/Vids/Gangs%20in%20the%20Military%20-%20Fox%2011%20News%20Los%20Angeles%2005-08-06.wmv

[Five-to-One]

Theres a guy who keeps a photo log of gang graffiti in U.S. military camps in Iraq, ill see if I can find some of his stuff

[IraGlacialis]

Sure, few of them may have reformed, but I wouldn't trust the idea of gangbangers in the military, especially when the mission is peacekeeping. That gives the propensity of another incident, like the teenage girl being raped and killed, occuring again. That is why I believe that recruiters need to be a lot more selective when picking soldiers, especially in "less than appealing neighborhoods". We need to leave a good impression on the minds of others.

[makavelli]

reminds me of the movie called departed, inspired by hongkong movie called internal affairs...

[Firetxmi]

Theres a guy who keeps a photo log of gang graffiti in U.S. military camps in Iraq, ill see if I can find some of his stuff

I'd be very interested to see that!

[gaijinsamurai]

This has been happening for a long time. Since the '90s, Crips, Bloods, and Latino gangs have been joining the military, especially the Guard and reserves, for military training.
I'd read somewhere (perhaps on this forum) that the military was banning people with known gang ties and/or tatoos from joining, but perhaps in their desperation to fill quotas for Iraq, recruiters are overlooking such things.

[Breakfast in Vegas]

reminds me of the movie called departed, inspired by hongkong movie called internal affairs...

The HK film was called "Infernal Affairs" and not internal affairs... justa bit of trivia.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338564/

[alfigel]

Hey, think about it that way: the US forces could start with a whole new concept of fighting the enemy: drive-by shootings! Now they have the experts for that!

[WARPIG]

This isn't some new development. Military enlistment criteria is always just vague enough to let recruits with minor offenses into the service. If an applicant doesn't have any violent offenses on public record.. then their application goes forward. It is obviously more technical than that.. but I won't get into it. Just keep in mind that misdemeanors are "generally" ok while a felony will likely stop your application. This is a general rule of thumb as a single felony for non-violent offenses is often waivable and multiple misdemeanors can often stop an application.

The ENTNAC is also partly responsible for letting Gang members in. Although group affilitation is a section covered in the security questionere.. there isn't really a way to investigate that. Basically applicants don't usually admit to being in a gang. Also, local police records checks are usually all a recruiter is required to provide with an applicants packet. The ENTNAC often does not come back with other results untill after the recruit has already graduated initial training.

Keep in mind gang structure as well. Only a few true gang members are actual "members" of the gangs. Most of the rest of the gang bangers simply associate themselves to the real criminal gang. The majority of those "wanna be" members have juvenile records if that.. and most are not true gang members. If that individual graduates high school, then it is unlikely that they are a true gang member.