Parents of barely 17 year-old recruit say Army forged their signatures

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=428379

The Army has launched an investigation into claims by the parents of a young soldier from Utah that recruiters used false promises and forged documents to enlist him.

The 17-year-old was recruited from a youth prison in Ogden.

In a coincidence of timing, a Congressional report was released today detailing hundreds of complaints of recruiting irregularity and fraud.

In the Utah case, is it fraud or just a homesick kid who wants to come home?

To take the oath and join the military, a 17-year-old must have parental approval in writing. Steve Price of Brigham City was barely 17 when he enlisted last January. He was recruited while serving time at a youth prison in Ogden.

He's now a PFC at Ft. Stewart Georgia. He told us by phone, he believes his parents' approval signatures were forged.

Pfc.Steven Price: "I want out. Right now. It's all, it's all bull. It's all a game. It's terrible."

[Pierre.Suave]

1. I was wondering how long it woud take

to begin recruiting out of prisons...

[panader0]

7. Actually, I think joininhg the military has been an option for

juvenile delinquents for many years.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

10. It was for one person I know

Back in '82 he was stealing cars and got caught. He had the option of going to jail or joining the Army. He joined the Army.

[mom cat]

36. This is an outrage!

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Yeah, well, I'm sure he did something really bad to get sent there.

Probably got caught smoking a joint out behind the football field, or something.

[Pierre.Suave]

3. maybe

maybe not.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. Either way, the story is disturbing. nt

[Disturbed]

4. How difficult would it be to prove that the

sigs were forged?

[msongs]

5. an army full of criminals. how nice nt

[havocmom]

6. With new school year around the corner, time to remind parents

to be PRO-ACTIVE about schools giving student info to recruiters.

As part of the No Child Left Behind Law, schools are REQUIRED to give personal contact data for students to military recruiters UNLESS PARENTS ACTIVELY OPT OUT.

To opt out usually requires filing paperwork with the school. We hear some schools are good about sending info and even the forms to parents. We also hear some schools impede parents' efforts to maintain privacy for their kids. Find out how it works in your area and GET THE WORD OUT!

This shit allows recruiters to get info on kids at an age when they tend to have issues with the parental unit as a natural course. The can court youngsters, work them like putty then have them primed to sign on the line the morning or their 18th birthday with nod so much as a nod to parents.

Stop this predatory tactic being used on out young people. If you have kids in school, get the forms filled and filed. If you care about kids in your area, find out what the local schools require for parents to OPT OUT and get that info out to parents in your communities.

STOP THE PNACers from preying on our youngsters.

[phylny]

8. This is the first year that our high school has sent a letter home,

before school, with a form and explanation of the "opt out" program.

I didn't do anything about it previously, and the Armed Forces have been calling here every now and again. My daughter acts like she's dumb, or doesn't answer the phone when it pops up on caller ID.

Now, I'm sending the forms in for both girls.

[HockeyMom]

9. Be prepared

I did opt out, but as soon as she turned 18 in her Senior year, they were on the phone DAYS after her birthday.

This was in 2002. It must be a lot worse now.

[survivor999]

11. What???

How did they think they could get away with it?

[Hav]

12. .

Something I don't get:
"He told us by phone, he believes his parents' approval signatures were forged."

As I understand it, because of his age, he needed the consent of his parents. And he doesn't know whether he asked his parents to sign these papers or whether someone else (maybe without his knowledge) did it??

[Donald Ian Rankin]

14. I'm slightly sceptical about this.

"Army recruiter forges signatures to recruit 17-year criminal" strikes me as a less plausible scenario than "parents have second thoughts, claim signatures were forged to get son out".

I find it surprising that the army would want a 17-year-old with a criminal record that much, and I find it very implausible that the recruiter wouldn't reason "either the parents will sign willingly, in which case I gain nothing through this forgery, or they won't, in which case they will know they haven't and there will be an almighty row and massive amounts of bad publicity".

It may be that an army recruiter really has gone mad, or that the story has been garbled slightly in reporting, but it seems more likely to me that the parents signed in haste and have repented at leisure.

[karlrschneider]

15. Your last sentence seems plausible, but the army has never had

many qualms about accepting most anybody with a warm body and the ability to draw an "x" on a form.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. Sure, but there's a world of difference between accepting somebody

when there's no reason not to and actively and knowingly breaking the law in a way that's sure to be discovered to get them - that implies a considerable level of either desire or stupidity, I'd think.

[karlrschneider]

17. Just making a wild guess here...you haven't been around very many

army guys...? A "considerable level of...stupidity" is a fairly notable understatement. No offense,
I've met many officers not only in the army but the air force as well who couldn't shoot a hole in a barn with a shotgun. From the inside.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

24. Most of the army or pre- or post- army people I've met

(I'm a student, so I've known considerably more cadets and retired soldiers than serving ones) have been fairly bright, actually.

That said, I'm English, not American; it's not outside the bounds of probability that things are different in the US.

[etherealtruth]

37. My experience, like yours is purely anecdotal ...

The military officers I have known have been extremely bright.

[Richard Steele]

20. You should Google up the excellent Vanity Fair article on recruitment...

...from last year. You might be in for a bit of a shock
at what goes on EVERY DAY in Military Recruitment.

EDIT: here, I saved you the trouble: http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/051031roco02?print=true

[NNN0LHI]

18. I think the real story here is that the army would even need to recruit...

...a barely 17-year-old kid freshly out of youth prison.

I find that fact alone quite remarkable.

I guess thats why it is called the INFANTry?

Don

[orpupilofnature57]

19. I swear Utah instantly came to mind, Hatch will defend it, no doubt.

[NNN0LHI]

21. I don't think any underage kid should be held to what his parents did...

...or did not sign anyway. That is bullshit. The army should be ashamed of themselves for even taking these kids who are too young to know any better and put them in a war zone. This is the lowest of low. This kid isn't even old enough to vote yet.

Don

[breakaleg]

22. There should be a minimum age of say 21 or something to join

the service. Afterall, if you can't drink until you are 21, you shouldn't be able to hold a gun and all that entails. Some of these kids are just to young to know what they are getting into, or to be responsible in the field under so much pressure.

[yardwork]

23. The military always recruits young people because they are malleable

Most older people wouldn't agree to do the things that soldiers are asked to do - especially in Iraq.

Military recruitment has always depended on getting young people - barely past childhood - and bending their minds and wills to do exactly what their officers ask of them, without question.

[EFerrari]

27. And add to that, the powerlessness of being in prison. n/t

[yardwork]

38. Yes - they go for the vulnerable: young, minority, in prison

They get the trifecta. Very sad.

[marions ghost]

25. when the time came up

for one of my nephews to get recruited, he just said "What?! Do you want me to get killed?!" to them.
And you wouldn't want to argue with my nephew as he will find 50 ways to say the same thing. He could wear anybody down. (Maybe good for psy ops?)

Not soldier material.

[FILAM23]

26. If thet were forged

its a much higher possibility that the kid
forged his parents sgnature and has no had
a change of heart.

[brentspeak]

28. The army recruiter I visited four years ago was completely ethical

and by-the-book. When we reached the medical history portion of my interview, the recruiter stopped the interview after I told him about a medication I was taking. I argued otherwise, but he basically said "rules are rules", he couldn't take me.

So, this recruiter who allegedly signed up a minor sounds like an aberration.

[Breeze54]

29. ha,ha,ha! You're kidding, right?

"Completely ethical"? NOT!!!! The recruiters are ruthless and relentless!
Every recruiter that I've encountetred was a total asshole!!
Disregarded me...THE PARENT...and continued to pursue my son(s)! MINORS!!

Give me a break!
You may have run into one that had a conscience, but THAT was the aberration!!

[brentspeak]

32. No, I'm not kidding. That's what took place.

What am I supposed to do -- make it sound like he was an unethical boob when we he wasn't?

[Breeze54]

35. You claimed it was an aberration...

Your experience was... the exception, NOT the rule!

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

33. That was NOT my daughter's experience

She went down and joined the Air Force the day she turned 18 while I was at work. Her recruiter told her that if she signed up for 6 years instead of 4, she'd get a $6k sign-on bonus. So she did. When she told me this, I looked through her paperwork and told her I saw nothing in writing to that effect. She assured me she'd get it right after basic training.

It was a complete and utter lie.

She finally gets out in February of 2007.

[brentspeak]

34. Did you report the recruiter?

Whoever it was needs to be investigated.

[lonestarnot]

30. hmmm dupe post

[lonestarnot]

31. Oh carry on... The decider has decided to make use of that

slave labor. What's the big deal, he's just a low income criminal juvenile, almost as good as gladiator days. Too bad they don't sell tickets, because you never see it on the TV.