Congressman Demands Investigation Of Army Recruitment Threats

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Friday, August 8, 2008

Sgts lied and threatened students with arrest if they did not enlist

Houston congressman Gene Green has demanded that the House Armed Services Committee hold hearings after it was revealed that an army recruiter has been lying to and threatening high school students to get them to enlist.

KHOU 11 News in Houston broke the story last week, revealing that students who signed up to a non-binding military "delayed entry program" were told by recruiter, Sgt. Glenn Marquette that they were bound under federal law to stick to the agreement and could be arrested and jailed as deserters if they did not follow through and enlist.

The network also revealed that the situation was an ongoing saga with the same tactics having been exposed three years ago. Rather than being discharged or demoted, the officer involved in the earlier incident, a Sgt.Thomas Kelt, was promoted to be a station commander, responsible for training and supervising other recruiters.

Douglas Smith, a spokesman for U.S. Army recruiting headquarters defended the action by telling Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! "Just because someone has done something wrong, doesn't mean that they get the death penalty." He refused to elaborate on what if any punishment Kelt had received.

Congressman Green has since sent a letter to the Pentagon demanding to know “Why more was not done,” and “What steps the Army will take to ensure this will not happen again.”

Referring to news that recruiter wrongdoing citations have nearly doubled over the past several years, Green replied:

“That's not what our country's about... There's a problem with the system in the Army, and we can blame the sergeant or the corporal at the Greenspoint facility, but it sounds like they're also hearing it from nationally.”