Army Recruiter Caught Using Scare Tactics

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CBS News

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As CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston first reported, Irving Gonzalez signed a non-binding contract that left him free to change his mind about joining the Army up to the moment he reported for basic training - which is exactly what he did.

"I'd rather just stay here," he said. "Go to college."

But listen to what his recruiter, Sgt. Glenn Marquette, told him would happen.

"As soon as you get pulled over for a speeding ticket, they're gonna see you're a deserter. They're gonna apprehend you, take you to jail. So guess what, all that lovey-dovey 'I wanna go to college' and all that? Guess what? You just threw it out the window 'cause you just screwed your life," Marquette said on tape.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/28/eveningnews/main4301305.shtml

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That recruiter is scum!

[LeftyMom]

1. Recruiters= scum. Always.

Fuck the poverty draft and fuck them.

[Breeze54]

2. That recruiter is LYING scum!

I hope he gets demoted asap... but we all know he'll be promoted. :grr:

[HawkerHurricane]

12. No, he won't.

He'll be punished. A slap on the wrist, anyway. And other recruiters will be warned not to do that. And then, the recruiters who didn't get caught who make or beat quotas will be promoted. That's the pattern.

Get caught, get punished.
Don't make quota, get punished more.
Don't get caught, make quota, get promoted.

[bobd0]

16. OR -- Get caught, get promoted anyway!

From the original story:

But this is not the first time this particular recruiting station has been caught using unethical tactics.

Three years ago, KHOU overheard Sgt. Thomas Kelt leaving a threatening voice mail for a young man who wanted to cancel an appointment he'd made to meet with him.

It said: "you fail to appear and we'll have a warrant."

Kelt did receive a reprimand, but he has since been promoted and put in charge of another Army recruiting station.

I guess even though he was caught and received a reprimand, he still must have made his quotas.

[Breeze54]

23. That's what I said above! -- I knew I was right !

Thanks for posting that article!

Welcome to DU, bobd0! :hi:

[HawkerHurricane]

25. Army's more desperate than I thought.

Used to be if you got caught, they pulled you out of the recruit station, it killed your chance at promotion.
Times change.

[KG]

3. 'blood-suckers' as an architect i knew called them.

[alstephenson]

4. Gee, I hope the recruiter made his quota!!!

Scum is too nice of a word for this jerk.

[deadmessengers]

5. The more that things change...

Yeah, this isn't anything new to any male (and perhaps some females, but males are more aggressively recruited) who was a teenager within the last 20 years or so (maybe longer, I'm only relying on my personal frame of reference here). I had one friend who changed his mind and didn't show up for his physical - the recruiter showed up at his father's job to threaten him. Recruiters are lying scum who would sell their own mothers to be able to scratch one more off their quota, and they will stoop to no level to get you to sign on the dotted line.

My personal favorite recruiter story was when I wanted to get one off my ass and told him, absolutely bluntly and unambiguously, that the Army didn't want my kind because I was gay. The recruiter's response: "oh, that's ok now". This, incidentally, was in 1989, well before DADT.

Lying dishonorable scum, nothing more. That bastard was perfectly willing to lie to me to get me to sign up only for a court-martial later on. Eff them, eff every last one of them.

[The Backlash Cometh]

6. Disgraceful.

[tbyg52]

7. Another point on this - applause for a case of the media actually doing its job! nt

[Stuart G]

8. Send the asshole to Afganistan..and put him on point..

in the worst part of the country...

[Earth_First]

9. JUST the type I want having access to my children in the halls of their institution of learning...

I wish that middle/high school campus recruiting were eliminated, funding be damned.

[MountainLaurel]

10. Next at 6: Sky is blue n/t

[bertman]

13. Now that's funny.

Good job MountainLaurel

[tavalon]

11. My personal story was less harrowing, more amusing

Though that said, I don't remember now, but I bet being two weeks away from college graduation and not having secured a job might have been a bit harrowing. I went to nursing school and living in San Antonio, the recruiters were darn near everywhere. I had a few friends that had been in the military and so I went to talk to a recruiter. I knew I wanted to work in Labor and Delivery and so told him that if he got me an internship, he would get my signature. He assured me it would be no problem. Then, about two weeks before my graduation, he told me that he couldn't get me the internship right away but I should be able to get it within a year. I asked him what part of our agreement he didn't understand? I walked out of his office and never looked back. Lucky for me, because I would have sucked at being in the military, even the Air Force. I'm just not cut from that cloth.

[bobd0]

14. My favorite recruiting poster

[saigon68]

15. MY FAVORITE---"THE MARINE WEDDING

The Few--The Proud-- The Disfigured

[bobd0]

18. Man, that is just heartbreaking

I remember that photo. I know she must still love him but just check out the look on her face. And just check out his face.

War fucking sucks. That's why it's always supposed to be the last resort -- unless you're George W. Fucking AWOL Bush or that draft dodging scumbag Dick Fucking "Other Priorities" Cheney, and all you do is reap the profits while you send someone else's kid off to risk life and limb.

[RamboLiberal]

21. Sadly they divorced

The fairy tale goes like this: they are high-school sweethearts from a small town, Metamora, Illinois, in the American Midwest. He graduates from high school, becomes a US marine and is sent to Iraq. When he returns, they get engaged. He proposes before he leaves for his second tour. She is 18; he is 21. She can’t wait for him to come home.

The tour is cut short. A suicide bomber blows up near his truck and he suffers horrific, life-changing injuries.

A day later he is in San Antonio, Texas, at the Brooke Army Medical Center. She leaves her home town for the first time to fly there with his mother so they can be by his side. She is there for him. His injuries are severe. He will have numerous operations and she will stand by him throughout. It will be a year and a half before they all go home. In the meantime, she will move in with his mother. The homecoming is a triumph. He is a hero and she is his heroine. Their commitment to each other is inspiring and rock-solid. They get married. She is now 21 and he is 24. The wedding takes place on October 7, 2006, and that date is declared a state holiday. Renee and Tyler Ziegel Day. Their romance is covered by The Sunday Times Magazine. They plan to have a family. Love conquers all.

When I tell people that I am going to Illinois to do a follow-up story on Ty and Renee, they are curious. How are they doing?

A little over a year had passed. In January, they got divorced, I tell them. They react with shock and disbelief. What happened? There is more than curiosity in their voice, there is disappointment too. As though it’s personal.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3886348.ece

[desktop]

17. Soon they may have to start shanghaiing bar patrons

Six shots in the bar could get you six years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[bobd0]

19. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

[Monk06]

22. It has been done before by the British who targeted naturalized American citizens.

From Wiki

In 1795 the Jay Treaty went into effect, addressing many issues left unresolved after the American Revolution and averting a renewed conflict. However, the treaty neglected to address British impressment of sailors from American ships and ports, a major cause of complaint among those who disapproved of the treaty.

During the wars with France (1793 to 1815), the Royal Navy aggressively reclaimed British deserters on board ships of other nations, both by halting and searching merchant ships, and in many cases, by searching American port cities. While non-British subjects were not impressed, Britain did not recognise naturalised American citizenship and treated anyone born a British subject as still "British" — as a result, the Royal Navy impressed over 6,000 sailors who claimed to be American citizens. While not directly mentioned as a reason for the declaration of war in the War of 1812, impressment caused serious diplomatic tension and helped to turn American public opinion against Britain.

It is important to note that in the video accompanying the story one recruiter who used threats against a high school student, specifically that he would be charged with desertion, was reprimanded and then
PROMOTED and put in command of a recruiting office.

Also note that these 'recruiters' can only avoid serving in a combat zone themselves if they make
the quota. Nice incentive.

[fiamma mama]

20. if you are a parent of a high school student..

..fight back.

submit an opt out form.
http://www.afsc.org/youthmil/militarism-in-schools/no-child-left-behind.htm

The No Child Left Behind Act requires high schools to give their student's home addresses and phone numbers to recruiters, or the high school loses its federal funding. The only recourse we have is to request, in writing, that our child's name and information be removed from the list given to recruiters. It is very important that this is done the first week of school, or they might refuse it.

[Hugabear]

24. Scumbag recruiter = redundancy

Of course recruiters have to lie and coerce. How else are they going to con enough poor young men and women into signing up?

[elehhhhna]

26. they told our neighbor gal she'd probably be stationed in Hawaii,

not in a war zone, and that she & her boyfriend would be stationed together if they asked. She is somewhat mentally disabled (FAS? Not sure), couldn't pass the H.S. graduation test, and has an extreme curvature of the spine.

She's finally home from Iraq (first tour).