COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: General
Pentagon to Monitor Recruiters
Associated Press
August 29, 2006
SAN JOSE, California - The Defense Department has announced it will
closely monitor military recruiters and their commanders in light
of two investigations - one by the government, the other by The
Associated Press - that found increased levels of recruiter
misconduct.
"Through this monitoring we are going to evaluate a command's
ability to control, or eliminate, misconduct by military recruiters
as well as the actions taken by commands towards those recruiters
found to have violated the code of conduct with potential
recruits," said Defense Department spokesman Maj. Sean Upton.
Upton said the monitoring will last five to 10 months and that once
the Defense Department has enough data and can confirm its
integrity, officials will consider changes in policy.
Last week the AP reported that one out of 200 frontline military
recruiters - the ones who deal directly with young people - was
disciplined for sexual misconduct in 2005. The cases ranged from
fraternization to forcible rape. Earlier, the Government
Accountability Office released a report that showed overall
wrongdoing by military recruiters increased from just over 400
cases in 2004 to 630 cases in 2005.
Reaction was swift - at the Pentagon, on Capital Hill and in some
small towns where the story resonated with victims.
"The high rate of sexual misconduct by military recruiters confirms
what students and parents have been saying for years military
recruiters should not be given unlimited access to high school and
college campuses," said Rep. Pete Stark, a California Democrat.
Stark said the Pentagon's monitoring proposal doesn't go far enough.
"After three GAO reports and an AP investigation into widespread
violations, the military should take concrete action to prevent
sexual misconduct, not merely bean-count violations."
Several members of the House Armed Services Committee, including
the ranking Democrat Rep. Ike Skelton, have called for a new policy
that would restrict recruiters from being alone with young women
and tougher penalties on those who break the rules.
Several advocacy groups said the crux of the problem is that
recruiters are allowed to be alone with the prospective enlistees
in closed door meetings, government cars and elsewhere.
Olga Vives, executive vice president of the National Organization
for Women, said she was appalled by the reports. She called for the
Defense Department to make significant changes.
Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, a
group that studies military policies, said consensual but
exploitive sex with young women must be discouraged "with firmly
enforced rules against military recruiters being alone with
civilian girls."
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