The U.S. military is facing a “significant criminal threat” from gangs, including prison and biker gangs, whose members have found their way into the ranks, according to an FBI-led investigation
"“Gang members with military training pose a unique threat to law enforcement personnel because of their distinctive weapons and combat training skills and their ability to transfer these skills to fellow gang members,” the report states. Gang members have been reported in every branch of the armed forces, though a large proportion of them have been affiliated with the Army, the Army Reserves or Army National Guard, it says.
The important question is so what? Has there been any verifiable consequence, or pattern of disruption, home or abroad?
Not really surprised. A gang is a gang… why not join two?
The danger is that gangs will learn skills they are able to use against cops.
“Where you are going up against a former Navy SEAL or former U.S. Marine or former member of the 100th Airborne, you’re gonna lose, not because you’re not a good cop but because you don’t have tactical advantage on your side,” Leydon said.
http://www.cbs8.com/story/15875409/uncle-sam-doesnt-want-you-gangs-infiltrate-the-military
This is a different article on it, but there’s been some incidents:
Among the cases:
¶ In Iraq, armored vehicles, concrete barricades and bathroom walls have served as canvasses for spray-painted gang art. At Camp Cedar II, about 185 miles southeast of Baghdad, a guard shack was recently defaced with “GDN” for Gangster Disciple Nation, along with the gang’s six-pointed star and the word “Chitown,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
This is has also been a big problem in Mexico for a long time(gang members receiving military training). The result is gangs with the tactical skill not only to fight police, but the military itself.
Reporting from Mexico City — Drug traffickers fighting to control northern Mexico have turned their guns and grenades on the Mexican army, authorities said, in an apparent escalation of warfare that played out across multiple cities in two border states.
In coordinated attacks, gunmen in armored cars and equipped with grenade launchers fought army troops this week and attempted to trap some of them in two military bases by cutting off access and blocking highways, a new tactic by Mexico’s organized criminals.
Why would someone still want to be in a gang after they’ve joined the military? It seems like a waste of their skills.
The danger to cops is that gangs will learn skills they are able to use against cops. This brings up another “so what?” if you ask me. I feel much safer around people involved in criminal gangs than I do around cops, based on my experiences with both.
FBI: Gangs have infiltrated every branch of the military
Just think what the Latin Kings can do when they get their hands on some F-22s and Predator Drones.
But really, that’s fucked and another sign of the decay of this sick country.
The danger to cops is that gangs will learn skills they are able to use against cops. This brings up another “so what?” if you ask me. I feel much safer around people involved in criminal gangs than I do around cops, based on my experiences with both.
Some cops may be corrupt, but those gangs are totally self-interested.
But really, that’s fucked and another sign of the decay of this sick country.
Well, its inevitable when you depend on the poorest people to be combat soldiers.
I’m not convinced that gangs are coming back from their pilgrimage in the military to educate their gang brethren and inspire a discipline and efficiency they otherwise would not have had.
I also think Sil’s point was more about how the fact gangs will use f-22s and predators on their gang enemies, not societal decay at large.
If this was a mafia thing or an organized crime syndicate, then I could possibly see the reason to worry. But street gangs? Ha! Nevermind actually getting the security clearance to get into the FBI to begin with, or the fact that pulling a stunt like that even once is a good way to getting everybody and their brother to come down on your gang like a ton of bricks, or the fact that if someone got into the FBI with some dodgy background is probably going to either completely disavow any knowledge of those clowns or bust them for some free brownie points, but the fact that anyone operating on the level the FBI operates on would willingly waste their time on petty turf wars that neither side actually controls is absolutely ridiculous. It’s like trying to invent a nuclear powered super ultra deluxe pog playing machine so that you can win at pog against your buddies. An FBI agent getting involved with a gang’s turf war is peanuts compared to selling secrets to China or selling out to a corporation and only a moron couldn’t see that.
You middle classers are sooooo funny.
And all I can think of is Saints Row: The Third.
I still really don’t get how this is a thing people give a shit about.
More worried about the dominance of radical Christianists in the air force.
Yeah, Colorado Springs will do that. Don’t worry too much, the longer anyone is around them the less anyone listens to them. It’s just simple conditioning, like the button that shocks a chicken if it pecks it, so it doesn’t peck the button. Focus on the Family and their ilk trained everybody to just stop listening when they start talking because everyone knows they could not possibly give less fucks about the sentiment about to be expressed than they do.
This isn’t really new. A few years ago I got a brief from the local police of the post I was at (the town had the highest per capita gang population). During the brief they even showed news stories covering acts of violence. Gangs being in the military won’t have the kind fo impact you guys will see as much. It will mostly affect law enforcement. Where you will see the biggest impact is just in cross fire sort of things. Such as if you have guys going back to gangs and teaching the skills to t=other gang members, you have guys who know how to employ weapons more effectively and guys who know hand to hand combat better. Just a simple example, lets say a gang gets pulled over on a routine traffic stop. Usually it is one officer, maybe 2 in car. Usually people give their information, receive the ticket, and carry on their way. If you have gang members who have been trained to handle weapons and fight, they may use the training to take down the officer and get away. It may involve some shooting, which can cause stray bullets to hit innocent bystanders, or can make things harder for the police department. If a gang is robbing some place, such as a liqour store, they may end up putting up a much bigger fight than police are prepared for and that can cause more police officers to be injured or to be unable to subdue the gang members.
Also, wouldn’t say we are depending on the poorest people. Partly because most people in the US aren’t qualified to serve in the military. Spend any time at a recruiting office and you’ll see how many people they have to turn away because they aren’t qualified. Some of the people I interact with regularly are pretty well off and have good families. Some guys have even taken a step down in pay compared to their families.
http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_a7a94014-e3d2-5881-b251-fe098773bfac.html
CAMP PENDLETON – A Marine private who by most accounts should not have been able to enlist because of a history of autism and other behavioral issues pleaded guilty Monday to possession of child pornography.
Pvt. Joshua Fry, who has been in the base brig since last year, received a three-year suspended sentence and bad conduct discharge after also pleading guilty to desertion and fraudulent enlistment.
The 21-year-old Fry admitted during his court-martial that he downloaded onto his cell phone and computer dozens of images of children engaged in sexual acts.
He vowed to get help by attending a 42-day inpatient program and then moving on to New Mexico to take part in a voluntary program for sexual offenders.
“I’ve made a lot of bad decisions,” Fry said in a statement read by one of his attorneys. “I feel bad for what I did and I realize my actions were wrong and immoral.”
The Fry case has generated questions about the U.S. Marine Corps recruitment process and whether recruiters are signing up less desirable candidates in order to meet enlistment goals.
Court documents contend that Fry’s recruiter knew he had autism and came from a troubled background. Fry was in and out of foster homes while growing up in Orange County and spent 15 months in a court-ordered stay for psychologically troubled youth.
Military officials have denied they recruit people with problems such as Fry’s and say an investigation into the circumstances of his 2006 enlistment is under way.
Fry’s grandmother, Mary Beth Fry, who had raised him since he was 13, was supposed to have OK’d his enlistment, but that never occurred, she and Fry’s attorneys say.
In pleading guilty, Fry admitted to buying a second cell phone and laptop computer and continuing to download child pornography after he became the subject of a criminal investigation last year. The fraudulent enlistment charge stems from Fry’s failure to tell his recruiter he had undergone counseling for possessing child pornography five months before he joined the Marine Corps.
Fry’s sentence was the result of a plea agreement hammered out between his attorneys and Camp Pendleton Marine Maj. Gen. Michael Lehnert, the convening authority over the case.
Fry, who could have faced a 42-year prison term, could still go to jail for three years if he violates the terms of the plea agreement, which includes a requirement that he register as a sex offender. Fry had been in the brig since he was arrested last July, as authorities conducted the investigation and the plea agreement was worked out.
Mary Beth Fry testified Monday that her grandson has faced difficulties since he was born. His parents were both drug addicts and his father died from an overdose, she said.
“Josh,” as he is known, was first diagnosed as having autism at age 8, his grandmother said. Autism is characterized by impaired social interaction, communication problems and unusual or severely limited activities and interests.
“He still has a long way to go and a lot to learn,” Mary Beth Fry told the court as her grandson sat stoically at the defense table.
She also said that the Social Security Administration classified her grandson as permanently disabled on the same day he joined the Marine Corps.
Fry said little during the more-than-three-hour court session. In the statement read by his attorney, Fry said he “never realized I had such a problem. I want to succeed in overcoming these inappropriate urges. I am sorry for what I have done.”
The prosecutor, Maj. Meridith Marshall, had urged that Fry spend two more years in the brig, citing his decision to continue to download and view child pornography after he first came under investigation. The probe was triggered when another Marine saw an image and reported it to authorities.
Fry’s lead attorney, Michael Studenka, told the court that it was dealing with an unusual case because the Marine Corps rarely encounters troops who make it through boot camp with the kinds of issues his client confronts. Studenka said the year Fry has served in the brig is enough time behind bars, and he now needs professional help to deal with his problems.
“Private Fry is not best served sitting in the Camp Pendleton base brig,” Studenka said.
I hear Penn State is hiring.
You can pull up stories of any instance to prove something. I could show the other way and just pull a big name and say Pat Tillman. So what? Besides, in any system you are going to have people that slip through the cracks.