Members of nearly every major street gang MS-13 Bloods Crips 18th Street Hells Angels on US Bases

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.military.com/news/article/gangs-increasing-in-military-fbi-says.html

Gangs Increasing in Military, FBI Says
June 30, 2008
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

A group of nine gathered, ready for an initiation.

Juwan Johnson of Baltimore, Md., willingly took a savage beating to join the Chicago-based gang Gangster Disciples. He was punched, kicked and stomped until he was barely conscious. After the beating, his new brothers put Johnson back in bed where he later died from his injuries.

This did not happen in a back alley of a gang-infested urban city. It took place at Kaiserslautern Army Base in Germany.

In 2005, the decorated 25-yearold Army sergeant was killed after completing a tour of Iraq because he wanted to join a gang -- one he found while in the military.

According to an FBI published report, "gang-related activity in the U.S. military is increasing and poses a threat to law-enforcement officials and national security."

The report, released in February 2007, noted that members of nearly every major street gang -- including MS-13, Bloods, Crips, 18th Street, Hells Angels and various white supremacist groups -- have been identified on both domestic and international military bases.

"It really is not secret that gangs are in the Army," said Hector Ordonez, 39, a former resident of Victorville who was in the Army from 1989 to 1994. "There were a few guys in my unit from Los Angeles and a couple from Chicago."

"We don't have that issue out here," said John Wagstaffe, director of public affairs for Fort Irwin. "It surprises me, based on the fact that we are so close to L.A."

[marmar]

1. Lovely......

I guess the recruiting standards are really in the crapper.

[Recursion]

4. *former* gang members have always been a big part of the military

And by "always" I mean at least back to the Civil War. What's troubling is that current military personnel are joining: the military is supposed to meet the same emotional and psychological needs that a gang does. If kids in uniform are getting beat in, something in the military is broken, and we need to figure out what that is, fast.

[rcrush]

2. This was on Dan Rather Reports

About a year ago. Its a great show. It was either Dan Rather Reports or HDNET World Report.

[seemslikeadream]

3. White Supremacists Found Online, In Military Ranks

http://www.10news.com/news/17849339/detail.html

SAN DIEGO -- You'd expect to find white supremacist gang members at a race riot, or a Klan rally, but in the U.S. military?

"When I wasn't drinking or fighting, I was probably a good Marine, " says TJ Leyden.

He is a reformed white supremacist, a former Camp Pendleton Marine and enforcer of the Hammerskins white power gang.

"The problem was, my allegiance was to my gang," he points out. It was not to the U.S. Marine Corps.

Leyden barely hid his gang ties, in fact he actively recruited 12 other service members into the Hammerskins.

"Everyone totally knew what I was doing," he says.

Ramon Galindo, producer for 10News, was surprised by how open white supremacists in the military are.

He took part in the 10News I-Team's 2-year investigation into military gangs.

"We got a tip that there had been an upswing in the number of white gang members in the military," he says.

First, the I-Team sought out several advisors, including Marines from Camp Pendleton and Camp Legume, and military investigators.

We wanted to see, "what would spark an interest in other Marines who happen to be in gangs," Galindo explains.

From the insight gathered from current service members, we set up a fake profile on MySpace, and a site called New Saxon.

"Once you start putting hate language, such as 'I hate Mexicans,' or 'I hate black people,' or 'white purity,' you start getting responses right away," Galindo noticed.

Posing as a Marine in his mid-20s, we began making online contacts, getting all kinds of hits from active-duty and retired military service members.

[Wapsie B]

5. Why on earth would someone feel the need to join a gang in the military?

[seemslikeadream]

6. They are already in the gang before they join

Gangs in the Military

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgwfVJIoBNM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF12fzjhdik

[devilgrrl]

10. Free combat training and

an environment that nurtures sociopathic behavior?

[MindPilot]

12. Exactly my thought since the military IS essentially a gang.

And this must be a very different military than the one I joined. I was in the Navy in the 70s' and then every moment of my life was regimented and controlled; I couldn't imagine discipline being so lax--especially in the marines--that something like gang activity would be allowed.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. The military is a gang. Think about it.

[ContinentalOp]

7. Gee, you mean criminally minded thugs are attracted to the military?

Who could have predicted that? :shrug:

[NoQuarter]

11. They were actively recruited.

The military was expelling highly qualified translators of Farsi, and other Arabic languages for being gay, while at the same time trying to make up the recruiting quotas with gang members ('former' does not exist in the gangbangers' dictionary) and former inmates.

The standards were lowered to the cellar because no one was buying what they were selling.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. I imagine some might get the "jail or service" schtick from the courts too.

[seemslikeadream]

15. Sarah Palin's boy

The meth addict

[msongs]

8. and then they can take their new killing skills back to the community nt

[47of74]

9. Surprised?

Not really seeing as how far down the shitter recruiting standards have gone since Bush has us fighting wars all over the world.

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. They were talking 2 years ago about gang sign grafitti showing up in Iraq. (Not

sure where on the 'net I read that back then, though.)

[Ghost in the Machine]

17. This is no surprise...

A lot of gangs recruit from the military... others have members join just for the training. It's how they develop militant training skills & regiments.

There were AB members smuggling arms & munitions out of Iraq during the first Gulf War. I'm sure it still happens today. Weapons, munitions & money smuggled out in coffins. I've also heard of a few guys who mailed M-16s home.... one piece at a time... weapons go missing all the time.


Too many people, even some here on DU, have a sad misperception about some of the White Supremacy groups. They see people like the two little wannabes recently busted in Tennessee, or the three arrested during the DNC, and think they're the typical faces of these groups. They just don't know how wrong they are. All 5 of those guys were nobodies. Wannabes. Stupid putzes. You don't hear about the ones involved in the major drug trade, or the human trafficing for sexual slavery. A large part of women, and children, who go 'missing without a trace' have been sold into sexual slavery here or overseas....