Military Recruiters Cited for Misconduct
By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP National Writer
More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.
A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.
"This should never be allowed to happen," said one 18-year-old victim. "The recruiter had all the power. He had the uniform. He had my future. I trusted him."
At least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005, according to records obtained by the AP under dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests. That's significantly more than the handful of cases disclosed in the past decade.
The AP also found:
(The rest is here.)
AP National Writer
More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.
A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.
"This should never be allowed to happen," said one 18-year-old victim. "The recruiter had all the power. He had the uniform. He had my future. I trusted him."
At least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005, according to records obtained by the AP under dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests. That's significantly more than the handful of cases disclosed in the past decade.
The AP also found:
- The Army, which accounts for almost half of the military, has had 722 recruiters accused of rape and sexual misconduct since 1996.
- Across all services, one out of 200 frontline recruiters - the ones who deal directly with young people - was disciplined for sexual misconduct last year.
- Some cases of improper behavior involved romantic relationships, and sometimes those relationships were initiated by the women.
- Most recruiters found guilty of sexual misconduct are disciplined administratively, facing a reduction in rank or forfeiture of pay; military and civilian prosecutions are rare.
- The increase in sexual misconduct incidents is consistent with overall recruiter wrongdoing, which has increased from just over 400 cases in 2004 to 630 cases in 2005, according to a General Accounting Office report released this week.
(The rest is here.)
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2 Comments:
This is reprehensible, heinous, and utterly unacceptable. Please note also that the military, which I may add, destroys or ends more lives than it saves,spends billions of OUR tax dollars and then calls these crimes "misconduct?" What purpose does the military really serve other than to force the enemy to succomb to the private interests of economic gangsters? The entire idea of defense is archaic, and the military should simply be abolished as it serves no common good.
Oh please. More pat answers mimicking those of dictator bush. Now we're bombarded by recruitment commercials on television, paid for by WE THE PEOPLE, while 35.5 million Americans go hungry in their own country. I wonder how many hungry Americans could be fed with the funds being used to lure young Americans to their death and/or sexual assault/harrassment. And THEN we have the Veteran's Administration. Another shameful farce. Wanna go at that one now? Grrr.
Your, and I quote, "formal and proven system for tracking and reporting potential and actual recruiter misconduct as well as a quality assurance system and program to identify recruiter behavior patterns to reveal irregularities" is not so formal nor proven as the facts and evidence are revealed. IF this were true, none of the above ever would have happened. Nice dogma, sounds like the Vatican talking.
Now about that Veterans' Administration...
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