The FBI Announces Gangs Have Infiltrated Every Branch Of The Military

I agree this is a real concern, where gangs send members in to get expertly trained and come back out and train the others.

Now my only question is, has this gotten worse under obamas watch? haha I kid I kid.

Wasn't this always the purpose of the army?
Army is never defending people's interests.
I would like to see FBI's study about gangsters in their own rows.

Old news. I have seen this phenomenon when I was in nine years ago. Flashing gang signs in nightclubs, graffiti on base, flagging while in their civilian attire, getting gang tattoos while in the military, and even getting into altercations with rivals. This is only obvious when judges offer offenders an opportunity to join the military or do time. Most pick the military over going to prison, and along with that they bring the excess baggage from their lives as criminals. Old habits die hard.

The recruiters are just as much to blame as well. Like used car salesmen, they will use anything under the sun to get that potential applicant to join the armed forces. From fudging paper work, turning a blind eye to a suspicious tattoo, or other seedy methods to fulfill their quotas. They have quotas, and if not met; their cozy existence as a recruiter is jeopardize by being sent out to the field. These knuckleheads were indoctrinated long before the military ever got to them, and there is not much the military or any organization can do to change it.

To be fair, some gang members use the military as a stepping stone to better their lives, however, some use it as a means to learn military tactics to use on the streets after their discharge. The report is troubling, but the Department of Defense has known about this for a long time and has done nothing to properly vet potential applicants or strengthen the standards in the recruiting process. These FBI reports have been coming out for years, and yet the problem continues to escalate? That to me says, those who are in the position to fix things are either oblivious to it or are in severe dereliction of duty? This phenomenon not only poses a risk to the civilian population, but also the command and control structure in the military. If these gang members have allegiances elsewhere then they should not be wearing a uniform! That is my take on it. It is clearly a problem that I have seen with my own eyes, but I don't see any drastic measures being taken to rectify it.

Can anyone tell me just what did they expect?

reply to post by missvicky


I am not surprised. Here is a little blast from the past. As Rome began to fall over a thousand years ago, they began to lower the standards for their legions. They began to recruit the services of barbarians, criminals, and the underbelly of society. It looks as though once again, history may be repeating itself?

Originally posted by missvicky
Can anyone tell me just what did they expect?

I expected the DOD to ban troops from belonging to gangs.

Oh wait, they did, but that was in November 2009.

www.rawstory.com...

By Daniel Tencer
Sunday, July 18, 2010

Last November, following a number of reports of gang activity among US troops, the Department of Defense banned troops from belonging to gangs. But both Stoleson and the unnamed Chicago officer told the Sun-Times that the problem appears to be growing worse all the same.

Did they allow gang members to join before Nov 2009? Does the military allow personnel who have gang tattoos to join?

Anyway, it sounds like the ban hasn't stopped the problem.

reply to post by wayouttheredude


And if they can spin this to justify even more use of private Corporate Militaries - they will.

Great catch. S&F&

reply to post by Arbitrageur


No they did not, my husband a retire Marine, told me when I ask the same question that during inspections tattoos were check to see if they were from gangs that would have been ground for release.

Before enlisting tattoos were also check for gang affiliation that is why prior to enlisting the tattoos that are explicit or demeaning are supposed to be erased paid by tax dollars.

In todays military things has gotten wrong, is too much slacking from recruiting offices in order to meet quotas right after 9/11.

And yes the military standards has gone down the drain this days.

Originally posted by marg6043
Before enlisting tattoos were also check for gang affiliation that is why prior to enlisting the tattoos that are explicit or demeaning are supposed to be erased paid by tax dollars.

So they erased offensive tattoos. Did they erase gang tattoos also?

If they do that, then I can see why they have gang members!

This is endemic to the military as long as there have been judges to offer the choice...cannon fodder or jail time....?
Imagine there were thousands of zuit suiters in the previous decades and large amounts of black militants in the Vietnam days etc......
The Canadian Para regiment was disbanded after their deployment to Somalis, because they had trained with the US paras and had become "Skinheads", replete with tattooed nazi schwastikas etc......
Their behavior in africa was the result of that affiliation....
There are lots of Skinheads in the service today actually, and they get the same training......????
You can basically say this of lots of social groups...
There are many aliens elisting for ctizenship and green card thee days too...does that mean the army is gonna be all alien someday?
Dont worry about the troops......they are a cross section of society....like you and me...
But watch the OFFICERS!they come from the elite mostly.....

Sounds like how the SS ran, criminals given top positions, from their prisons.

Gangsters want to get their members into legitimate positions that will enable them to have the edge on civilian positions of executive and legislative power, thus they hone thier members, the ones that never are suspected of such affiliations, into portraying themselves as respectable members of society, who will thus get elected into positions in their local city councils, become police officers, and become lawyers.

It's nothing new, this type of practice has been going on since the beginning of time.

I don't care if they were in gangs
if they passed the entrance requirements for
the service (which is not that easy) then
what is all the fuss about.

This is a non-issue if they are willing to die
for America i can care less what gang affiliate
they are.

You could consider the marines a gang
the airforce a gang and the army a gang
in any sense..

Im surprised by this but then again im not especially since recruiters and MEPS were making it more difficult to enlist. As I was getting out of the Army id see random photos of idiots flashing gang signs and crap like that, they get this good training and then come back here and turn that training on the police. Im hoping the military is able to get a stranglehold on this.Nice find OP

Once the US gangs have a firm footprint in the military, they will be ready for the inevitable incursion into Central and South America to fight the cartels and replace them.

reply to post by masqua


Not bad at all.

But I gotta say that I saw an episode of NCSI from about 2 years ago, and it addressed this problem... FBI kind of slow...?

But your proposition makes me also think of corsairs. Could US bound street gangs become the new "corsairs" of the 21st century? After receiving military training, they could be sent to do the job as you said, and maybe more?

Infiltrations can go both ways... It would be a nice cover... hmm.

They have infiltrated the British Army as well, you know highly trained violent gang members I think they call themselves Para,s

Only joking I have the utmost respect for this fine Regiment

Death from above

If street gangs are so bad, why haven't they been exterminated?

Now that they are in the military why not just draw the overseas war zone men from those who are gang members? This would save our good men.
Logic lacking much.

Originally posted by wayouttheredude

The FBI Announces Gangs Have Infiltrated Every Branch Of The Military

www.businessinsider.com

The FBI has released a new gang assessment announcing that there are 1.4 million gang members in the US, a 40 percent increase since 2009, and that many of these members are getting inside the military (via Stars and Stripes).

The report says the military has seen members from 53 gangs and 100 regions in the U.S. enlist in every branch of the armed forces. Members of every major street gang, some prison gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) have been reported on both U.S. and international military installations.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Hilarious. RT ran a story on this over a year ago - I remember it because I was in Vegas (where RT actually has a channel(?!))

Yeah, I don't recall running into 1 gang member when I served, 2001-2006. Not saying there aren't any gang members, but that article makes it sound as if gangs are gonna take over the military