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Curzon
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Curzon

Date

June 14th, 2007

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Gangs in the Military

Stars and Stripes has a report on gangs in the military.

Gang activity in the military is increasing, and the number of gang-related crimes involving soldiers and their families nearly tripled from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2006, according to a pair of new reports.

Both studies note that gang members represent only a small fraction of the total force, but say that gangs have become a bigger presence — and a bigger concern — in just the last few years.

“Gang-related activity in the military is increasing and poses a threat to law enforcement officials and national security,”? according to the FBI’s National Gang Intelligence Center report, released in January.

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CTDeLude
June 14, 2007
2:18 pm
Michelle Malkin once reported about this on her blog a few months back. Spoke about how gangs, including the international MS-13, were using the training of the military to actually supplement their gang activities back in the States with troubling results. Seems like much hasn't changed in the meantime which seems par for course lately. And not only is this a problem in terms of gang activity but it also leads to the militarization of the local police forces which has been anything but a good thing for the public at large.
Eddie
June 15, 2007
3:02 am
The system can't keep up with the trends. We've got guys in the service now who have gang tattoos and brag about being in gangs (Japan was the worst, because they would focus on small crimes and generally embarrassing the military on a regular basis with the locals) and no action is taken because (a) no more "conclusive" proof or (b) they're in on those illustrious "moral waivers".
Michael
June 15, 2007
9:35 pm
How much of the problem is with recruitment, and how much is with training? Recruiting someone with an iffy background (criminal record, low test scores, whatever) is one thing, but to ignore that background and give them the exact same training, discipline and supervision as their not-so-iffy counterparts seems nuts.

I point this out because of the elephant herd in the room: the military needs more people than it has to accomplish the missions it's been given. Either they need to give up on some missions (unlikely, since the politicians decide that), or they need more people. If that means dipping into labor pools they normally wouldn't touch, then they need to figure out how to do so and succeed.