Gangs Spreading In The Military

spike

spike

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(CBS) 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.

"It's obvious that many of these people do not give up their gang affiliations," said Hunter Glass, a retired police detective in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the home of Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne. He monitors gang activity at the base and across the military.

"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 the graffiti told CBS News that he's been warned he's as good as dead if he ever returns to Iraq.

"We represent America – our demographics are the same – so the same problems that America contends with we often times contend with," said Colonel Gene Smith of the Army's Office of the Provost Marshal.

The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command reported 61 gang investigations and incidents last year, compared to just 9 in 2004. But army officials point out less than 1 percent of all its criminal investigations are gang related.

"We must remember that there are a million people in the army community," Smith said, "And these small numbers are not reflective of a tremendous, pervasive, rampant problem."

The rise in gang activity coincides with the increase in recruits with records. Since 2003, 125,000 recruits with criminal histories have been granted what are known as "moral waivers" for felonies including robbery and assault.

A hidden-camera investigation by CBS Denver station KCNC found one military recruiter was quick to offer the waiver option even when asked, "Does it matter that i was in a gang or anything?" That is well within military regulations.

"You may have had some gang activity in your past and everything ... OK ... but that in itself does not disqualify...," the recruiter said.

Military regulations disqualify members of hate groups from enlisting, but there is no specific ban on members of street gangs. Sgt. Juwan Johnson's family says such a prohibition is long overdue.

"Just maybe we can save someone else's child ... somebody else's husband ... somebody else's father," his mother said. "I would have loved to have seen him with his child, I really would have -- that part is hard, that part is hard."

This month a military court sentenced two of Juwan Johnson's attackers to prison.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/28/eveningnews/main3107316.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3107316
 
You have to understand that a large majority of the folks in the military are young adults just leaving home. They are, oftentimes, foolish and inexperienced and such gansta menatlities are sure to appeal to some.
 
2minkey said:
hmmm i thought the military was beyond reproach.
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Nope. Thats what you get for thinking. :p

BTW...This 'news' report is about as old as humanity itself. There have always been problems with violent youth activities, and focusing on the military, a microcosm of the US population, serves no purpose except to bash the military. For those who do not understand what I'm saying, or cannot understand what I'm saying, you need to look outside your own doors.

MORE STUDENTS REPORT GANGS AND VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL
The percentage of teenagers reporting gangs at their schools has nearly
doubled since 1989, and more students reported being victims of violent
crime at schools where gangs were present. The percentage of youths aged
12-19 who reported being victims of violence such as a physical attack or
robbery by force, weapons or threats rose from 3.4 to 4.2. That is equal to
about one million of the 24 million youth that age in public and private
schools.

Robert Greene, The Associated Press
"More students reporting gangs, violence at school" as published in
The Seattle Times, April 13, 1998, A3
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Source...
 
Gato_Solo said:
serves no purpose except to bash the military.
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i think yer too quick to jump to that.

in this case it's about "bad guys" in a "sacred institution" - typical sensationalist shit that the media feeds on, for better or... dumber, actually. not really an attack against the institution itself.
 
2minkey said:
i think yer too quick to jump to that.
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Not really. I see this stuff more often than not. Hell...I've been through classes on how to spot gang members.

2minkey said:
in this case it's about "bad guys" in a "sacred institution" - typical sensationalist shit that the media feeds on, for better or... dumber, actually. not really an attack against the institution itself.
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Really? I thought it was more about "Lookie what we've got here. Another thing the military can't handle" from the original poster. :shrug: Of course...the problems with drugs and gangs in the military is a direct result of drugs and gangs in society. We try to keep such 'riff-raff' out, but you can't spot them all every time.
 
Gato_Solo said:
Really? I thought it was more about "Lookie what we've got here. Another thing the military can't handle" from the original poster. :shrug:
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Once again I post a news story and you read all sorts of nonsense into it that isn't there.

Of course...the problems with drugs and gangs in the military is a direct result of drugs and gangs in society.
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Of course but maybe the reason "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" is because:

"The rise in gang activity coincides with the increase in recruits with records. Since 2003, 125,000 recruits with criminal histories have been granted what are known as "moral waivers" for felonies including robbery and assault."
 
Gato_Solo said:
Really? I thought it was more about "Lookie what we've got here. Another thing the military can't handle" from the original poster.
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i'm not certain what spike's motivation was but i don't think that's the overall intent of the media attention, per my original remark.
 
spike said:
Once again I post a news story and you read all sorts of nonsense into it that isn't there.
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Strange. You never seem to post any 'news stories' that applaud the military--such as:

Kabul, Aug 4 (Xinhua) About 100 Taliban terrorists including five senior commanders were killed during an air strike in southern Afghanistan, defence ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi told reporters Saturday.

Referring to the incident, the US-led coalition forces said 'During a sizable meeting of senior Taliban commanders, coalition forces employed precision guided munitions on their location after ensuring there were no innocent Afghans in the surrounding area.'http://in.news.yahoo.com/070804/43/6j0zq.html
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Do you have any insight as to why that is?
 
basilcover.jpg
 
apparently there have been three "best of" compilations.

says something about mainstream entertainment these days, eh?
 
"Foundations of Betrayal"

An interesting read....

The name Phil Kent is familiar to most who have fought in the trenches of America’s culture war for the past several years. Having worked as a military policeman, a writer, a newspaper editor, and a press secretary (for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond), Kent was president of the well-known Southeastern Legal Foundation, an Atlanta-based constitutional public policy law firm, from 2001 to 2003, where he helped score victories against affirmative action and other liberal pet projects, and where he assisted in the omnibus federal lawsuit to overturn the McCain-Feingold campaign finance act. Now the president of Phil Kent Consulting, Inc., the executive director of the American Immigration Control Foundation, and the national spokesman for Americans for Immigration Control – among other projects – he tirelessly to continue waging informational war on liberals everywhere, both in print and on the airwaves.
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More here...
http://www.rightshelf.com/foundations_of_betrayal
 
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