COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Recruiting: Personnel Crunch
I-Team: Army Recruiters Follow-Up
Jim Osman, CBS 3
February 21st, 2007
PHILADELPHIA
- While the British are pulling troops out, we are sending thousands of
additional men and women to Iraq. Earlier this month, a CBS 3 I-Team
investigation first exposed exactly how some local recruiters may be
trying to enlist new soldiers.
Because of our initial report, the Army has opened its own investigation into potential recruiting abuses.
In a rare interview, a former recruiter steps forward to tell his story to Investigative Reporter Jim Osman.
As a former Marine, Chris Dugan went to malls and local high schools to recruit new enlistees.
"If I recruited someone - that would count towards points that would
help me become a sergeant before I get out of the marine corps. So I'm
willing to manipulate the truth for these people," said Dugan.
And because of an increase demand for more troops, Dugan says truth in recruiting is becoming a casualty of our times.
"You're a salesman, you have a quota," explained Dugan.
As the CBS 3 I-Team showed when we went undercover into to Army recruiting stations in the Delaware Valley.
When asked if it is it deception or desperation on their part?
A local recruiter said, "I would say a little bit of both."
Half the recruiters misled that CBS 3 undercover researcher, told him
they could bend the rules to get him in...or distorted his chances of
dying in Iraq.
"Your chances of dying is like being out here. You know what I'm
saying? You gonna die, you could fall off your bed and that's it," said
a local recruiter.
"I think it shows the level of pressure put on these guys that they
would jeopardize their own careers as far as lying," said Dugan.
In the military's defense, the Commander of the Mid Atlantic Army
Recruiting Battalion earlier told CBS 3 the rules don't go out the
window because of current pressures to recruit.
"We're a values based organization, we recruit with integrity. We are
recruiting for America's Army," said Commander James Moller.
And Commander Moller promised an investigation after we brought him what the I-Team uncovered.
But Dugan wonders whether the military is truly intent on stopping
questionable recruiting tactics - considering what we found in the
Delaware Valley is the latest in a series of military recruiting abuses
documented by journalists.
"When you're in the military it's about accountability that's the way
treat soldiers so why aren't they held accountable, " said Dugan.
The ex-marine from our report who is speaking out against recruiting is now against the war in Iraq.
As for the CBS 3 I-Team undercover investigation, the Army is now using that report as a training tool.
We're told just last week the Army showed it to new recruiters in California.
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articles culled by members of the Counter-Recruitment List Serve from printed
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material relevant to the work of