Gang Activity in the U.S. Military

Where can I find the FBI report mentioned in this article?

JHC, you gotta be poopin me! I thought military service as an alternative to incarceration was a relic of the Viet Nam era. What ever happened to STANDARDS?

It appears that our military leadership has degenerated to the level of Democrats in office.
Gangs are a product of idle time. IF the child labor laws were to be abolished, it may make a diferance.
What ever has happened to the FBI background checks before enlistment?

DIASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN & TO LATE TO CONTROL.SMUGGLING WEAPONS OFF BASE -PEICE BY PEICE,FINDING ESCAPE. JUST DONT HAVE ANOTHE MASSACAR

How come the report is dated 12 Feb 2007? Is that a misprint or is this report really 3 years old?

Well, the military is merely a reflection of our society overall. Gangs are more prevelent than ever in the US. The economy stinks, were in time of war, it only follows that enlistments of sub standard soldiers is tolerated based on these facts. The real story here is not that there are an ever increasing number of gang members, it’s that the military is unwilling to cut the snakes head off.

Did some moron bad-mouth Democrats and THEN say that child labor laws should be abolished? Wow, what an idiot.

This is crazy, where do people get off thinking the street gangs of America want to infiltrate the military and steal “guns piece by piece”, many people are obviously out of touch with the culture of our youth that live at or below the poverty line, alot of these kids join gangs as a rite of passage when they are coming of age, any gang expert will tell you that just because you see sings of gang activity it doesnt mean that Bloods and Crips are going to move you down at any moment, it’s just like somebody said before, the military is a microcosm of society as a whole, young adults who were active in gangs to whatever degree are going to join our military, period, just like pedophiles, rapists murderers, theives, and sadists (etc), Chances are good that a young person from this background is looking to grow and be productive, so don’t be so quick to label people who may be serving honorably, as their story may be kept silent because of people who will be quick to judge them based on a report, and please keep in mind that if you want to make a case for any thing to be called into universal agreeance you can find a report or study to support your claims, no matter how obnoxious it may be…

I actually have a copy of this article dated 12 February 2007,… it seems that about.com has recylced the old news and is calling it new news.

There really is nothing shocking in this article,… actually, it’s worse now than it was in 2007. Gang members are coming into the military, Soldiers are being recruited into gangs while in the military, dependants are being recruited, weapons are being stolen, gang members are travelling on and off military reservations in CONUS. It’s really a training and education issue, and while we’re focused on training and educating our Soldiers and leaders to fight and win the wars that we’re engaged in, identifying gang members in the ranks is a low priority.

I’ve seen the ‘Train the Trainer’ slides that commanders are supposed to get in reference to identifying gang members and extremists in their units. You can learn more from watching an episode of Gangland on the History Channel.

The Army has regulations for everything, but the word ‘gang’ is not used once in the AR 600-20, and gangs are barely referenced in the AR that covers recruiting (don’t have it in front of me, but I want to say AR 600-15). In that AR it spells out that potential recruits can admit to gang affiliation and still get into the Army (the first ammendment protects freedon of assembly).

The bottom line is that until US Service Members, who are documented gang members, commit a violent crime against innocent civilians, the military will not take notice or action.

my 2 cents
lbrtydg

for anyone putting in their 2 cents, make sure you’re using valid currency. i was a folk gang member, and the bond i have with some of my folk brothers is the same as the bonds i have with some of the airmen in my unit. 95% of the time it has nothing to do with stealing, overthrowing, or putting military tactics to use in the streets. IT’S ABOUT LOYALTY. loyalty is a rarity, and should be respected. a truly loyal person will not ask ask a friend to forsake a vow. my folk understand my objectives for myself and my family, which includes some of my blood relatives, folk, and airmen. saying some one cannot be loyal to two organizations is absurd. “once a marine always a marine”. yet “former” marines can join other branches. don’t forget many join gangs after they sign up and it’s because some people learn loyalty from basic training, and some learn it from the street.
don’t speak up if you’re ignorant on the subject/ stop hatin.

“a truly loyal person will not ask ask a friend to forsake a vow”

You mean a vow to a gang? You can’t be serious in believing that it is wrong for people to want you to give up your gang affiliation. I am going to choose to believe your entire post was sarcastic and nobody can possibly be that stupid. No one can possibly see gang affiliations as anything but detrimental and a cancer in our society.

I think the real problem is the fact that these people are getting in the military in the first place. I think gang identification should begin at the recruiting level.

I suppose the hard question to pose to ROC would simply be…”what is your objective in gang affiliation”? I don’t mean the nebulous loyalty, although loyalty to an entity which one truly believes is to be admired. At the end of the day, so to speak, ROC, what, through gang affiliation, would you hope to gain…that is, what objective(s) would you hope to achieve that weren’t there “this morning”?

By the broadest definition, gang membership could be equated to any number of fraternal organizations…Boy Scouts/Scout Adult Leadership, even civic organization such as Rotary, etc. The military itself, particularly Spec Ops Communities within the military, and let us not neglect religous organizations…each and every one of these outfits stand for clear objectives which, in one way or another, serve to benefit mankind.

If you could enunciate such objectives for your gang, perhaps their might be acceptance and understanding for that which you profess.

Bring back the Electric Chair!

But yeah, let’s talk about New News rather than really really Old News. This would be fine if it were an update with a lot of revised information, as it applies today.

MS-13 however, is almost entirely Illegal Aliens. Why are we recruiting Illegals (especially those usually having criminal backgrounds), from other countries, to serve as our National Security for the USA? That’s just plain absurd!

Get a grip Recruiters! Making quota isn’t that important.

What happens is people get into the military to get out of their previous lifestyle (what could be gangs/unreported things that dont go on their record simply because they were never caught or reported) then they get out, like most people do, and they just go back into what they were doing before (Gangs/unreported things what could be violent) but now they have the experience of their military service, not to say that GOT INTO the military so that they could learn how to shoot better

One important fact that the FBI report failed to mention is that this puts the military brat in danger!

Re-instate the draft, don’t exachange military service for jail time. Do a valid background check. Freedom is not free, why should we put up with sub-standard soldiers? There is no reason to.

The DoD better start getting a handle on this, we military brats are tierd of being put last when it comes to our rights and safety on U.S. military posts and bases.

And yet so many are freaked out about letting gays in. What a joke! Let the Gang bangers in , but kick out the gays?

I have heard from my son that gangs are VERY active and alive in the Army. I was shocked – so what is the government doing about it-besides nothing?

I so agree with the “Re-instate the draft”.

On the topic of resurecting the Draft…I couldn’t agree more. However, reasons for such proposals are many, and some, in my view, make no sense whatsoever. Just exactly how would the Draft have a positive impact on the quality of the enlistee? One would reason that a Draft would open the flood gates to any-and-all potential enlistees, regardless of background. I do agree that pre-induction screening should be more intense.

I would support a “selective Draft” of sorts. Historically, college students have been granted deferments. Yet, the military needs people with some level of demonstrated smarts. I would suggest drafting college grads, those 22-to24 year olds who, before starting their careers in earnest, serve a minimum period of 2to3 years active with a Reserve obligation.

It’s about time the military stops becoming a jobs machine for the masses, and starts focusing on quality. Non-college hopefuls could still gain entry, but the selection process needs to be just a little more through. The gov could afford this “labor intensive” means of recruiting. The immediate savings would be realized in quality alone. Train em well, pay em well, lead em well, and the rest will fall into place

it is a fair credit to all our enforcer. Will just put our trust to them

eD Franchuk : knucklehead what does gangs have to do with Democrats in office..it’s dumbass’es like you that give real thinking people a bad name…The world is not about Democrats or Republicans stupid-its about intelligent thinking people having enough sense to make smart rational intelligent decisions for the benefit of all !!!!

The army along with the FBI do background checks on every person/enlistee. They let in gang members and criminals because that person wanted to join. If the criminal does something bad, like disobey a direct order by a higher ranking officer w/out a reason thats its morally unethical for them to do, or cause disruptions/riots. Then the army can send the criminal back to jail. And depending on how unethical that persons conduct was they could go to Ft. Leavenworth.