COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Personnel Crunch
Are Potential Military Recruits Being Misled?
Leisa Zigman, KSDK
Febuary 12, 2007
As the war in Iraq continues and American casualties mount, anI-Team hidden camera investigation reveals how some local military
recruiters are willing to say just about anything to reel in a prospect.
All public high schools are required to hand over the names, addresses and
phone numbers of every junior and senior to local recruiters.
In January, St. Louis Army recruiters fell short of their recruiting goals.
That was the same time we sent two NewsChannel 5 production assistants to
local branches with hidden cameras.
Most young people who enlist are brave and courageous, but after this
report, you might wonder whether potential recruits are told the truth.
NewsChannel 5: If you sign up, how easy or hard is it to change your mind?
Recruiter: It's not hard to change your mind at all. You can pull the
trigger on that anytime you want.
This recruiter blamed the media for making Iraq seem more dangerous than it
really is.
NewsChannel 5: So is it as bad as everybody says it is?
Recruiter: No!
NewsChannel 5: Really?
Recruiter: Let me show you, because I don't want you to think I'm lying.
The recruiter pulled out pictures from his time in Iraq.
Recruiter: Notice the pool and the half naked people ... there's snack
machines and pinball and everything else.
Only these pictures weren't really from Iraq.
Recruiter: This is Kuwait which we might as well say Iraq. It's close.
Lt. Col. Junio-Omaru Barber is the Army recruiting commander for Missouri
and southern Illinois. Barber pointed out that Iraq and Kuwait are in fact
two different places, and that "one is clearly a war zone."
NewsChannel 5 showed Barber how one recruiter said parts of the area were
more dangerous than Iraq.
NewsChannel 5: Don't you feel threatened? You know, when you're out there,
like anything could happen to you?
Recruiter: Have you been to (Illinois) or parts of north (St. Louis)
County? I feel more threatened in some areas of St. Louis rather than I
felt when I was in Iraq.
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) serves on the Senate Committee on
Armed Services. She said she was stunned by what our investigation uncovered.
"We're not selling a used car here. We're asking young people to put their
lives on the line. We owe them at a minimum direct information and truthful
statements," she said.
The I-Team uncovered how some military recruiters turn fact to fiction in a
matter of seconds.
Recruiter: You're about as likely to get murdered here as you are likely to
die over there."
Barber said he had no idea where the recruiter came up with that statistic.
The St. Louis recruiter also wanted to share some photos.
Recruiter: This is my King of Iraq photo. I ain't got nothing on but my
hat. I'm standing over there looking over there at the horizon ... Got a
little Pam Anderson. You know, you need a little Pam in your life.
NewsChannel 5: Oh my gosh.
Congressman Todd Akin is a long-serving Republican on the House Armed
Services Committee.
His son Perry is a Marine now stationed in the Persian Gulf. After viewing
our tapes, Akin said the recruiters weren't exactly "poster boy(s)."
"To have someone in our nation's uniform making statements that are false
is distressing and it's unacceptable, " said Akin.
After learning about the I-Team's findings, Barber ordered retraining of
all 180 recruiters under his command.
"I'm responsible. I take full responsibility for everything that happens in
the St. Louis recruiting battalion," said Barber.
We went to seven recruiting stations in the region. Three out of four Army
recruiters gave false information.
However, an Air Force recruiter in Webster Groves, a Marine recruiter in
St. Ann and a Navy recruiter in Arnold, were upfront about the dangers of
enlisting and the benefits of serving.
Barber does not know how many young people in our community enlisted after
being misled with false information.
However, Col. Barber insists the problems we exposed shouldn't indict the
majority of recruiters, who he said are great Americans.
He said three recruiters may have misspoken statistics but there was no
intent to mislead.
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