Friend threatened and directed to lie by recruiter

[thirdrail]

A friend of mine, against my advice, was recruited into the Army. He snuck a phone call today to me to ask me for help. He's realizing he made a mistake, and is getting a break from training because he is ill and in the infirmary.

The way that he was recruited was by a recuiter who was truly predatory. Lots of empty promises were made, he was confused and directionless, had dropped out of high school, and was living with family in one of NYC's outer boroughs.

Apparently the recruiter told him he'd be wasting his time to get a GED, and that if he signed up, the guy would just give him a diploma from another country. He was instructed to put down that he was a high school graduate, and the recruiter told him that he'd kill my friend if he told anyone about what he did.

Clearly the goal was not to just lure the kid in, but create false credentials since he has to have graduated to be able to get into the military, with how he described it.

I'm not familiar with all the details, but this kid is freaking out, realizing he made a huge mistake and is not able to do this. He wants to meet with a JAG and tell them what the recruiter did, which will make it apparent that he technically should not have been admitted and should theoretically get him discharged. The problem is, I'm afraid he'll be charged with purgery because he signed a document with information he knew to be false. But, he was also in a high-pressure situation created by a guy desparate to take advantage of his state in life, a process where he was threatened.

The recruiter committed an act of gross misconduct, directed a kid he was manipulating to lie on forms, and threatened him to never make it public. He also created forgeries and used them to get this kid to give four years (or more) of his life to the U.S. military--something the kid did because he just thought he'd get a nice cushy job in a hospital and probably never be in harm's way, and be given all sorts of free things for doing.

I'm wondering if I should talk to my congressman to see if I can get him to do some looking into it and create a stink. I also have some friends in national media that I can contact to try and make this become public. It could be such an embarassment that the recruiter would be publicly decried and my friend would be seen as a victim and just let slide.

But then, also, it might just be wiser to arrange for him to have legal counsel and make a deal where they promise not to charge him with a crime, but discharge him from the military and protect him from the rogue recruiter.

What do I tell my friend?

[DRTDEVL]

If all of this is true and factual (and you have evidence), you can help him yourself.

If the recruiting station falls under NYC Battalion, call (718) 630-4642, and speak with Major William E. Walker II, the Executive Officer (XO) for the Battalion. If the Recruiting Station falls under Albany Battalion, call (518) 438-0778, and ask for the XO (sorry, I don't know his name).

You will need the following info:

Soldier's Name
SSN (if possible)
Recruiting Station
Recruiter's Name
Approx. Ship Date
Location of Soldier

The Bn XO is required to investigate, and if ANY of this is true, the Recruiter will be relieved of duty pending investigation, and face whatever charges they can bring, whether through NJP, or (most likely) trial by Courts Martial.

Feel free to contact me for any further assistance... I am an Army Recruiter myself, and I HATE for an idiot to tarnish the image of the Army, and these allegations directly violate the integrity and ethics of the US Army Recruiting Command. I would be personally offended if any actions such as these have taken place.

If you do not wish to handle this in the public eye, feel free to e-mail me at james DOT grein AT usarec DOT army DOT mil (avoiding spam, you know the real format).

[thirdrail]

Well, the question is: if he has sufficient evidence that this recruiter is breaking the law, and did with him, what happens to him? If I report this, that will surely involve my friend, and I don't want him to get in trouble for something someone else unscrupulously instructed him to do.

I feel like the kid was preyed upon by this particular recruiter, who obviously is in a desprate position and is very aggressive about his tactics. This kid was deceived into believing this would be some wonderful experience that he could easily handle, without being able to fully appreciate the weight of what he might end up in the middle of.

Before he even talked to me, the only person he has as a friend who knows anything about legal matters and does a lot of reading about the state of things in our society, he was already sold on how he was just going to get a fun job of his choosing and walk away with tens of thousands of college dollars. I tried to persuade him to research more, seek an attorney to help him understand the contract he was going to sign, etc., but to no avail. I didn't know he was also feeling intimidated at the time.

I don't believe he was helped to make an informed decision, and is now terrified that he made a mistake and is considering opening his mouth about it.

Will he be simply be discharged for not having graduated high school? Since he did sign the forms with fraudulent information, is he likely to be prosecuted? He was instructed by the recruiter to do so. Would it fall under criminal courts since he did it as a civilian, or would it fall under military justice if so? And the fact that, with the pressure that's put on you guys, and how many people, to keep from not making their numbers, put intense pressure on potential recruits,

If the contract was signed after he was threatened by the recruiter, in a regular court it would not be a stretch to convince the jury the contract was void in the first place because he was under duress, as he would have felt at risk by not following through after being threatened by the guy to just do as he was told to do. That might not be so easy to prove in a military court however, seeing as the military right now is desparate to make its numbers.

One other thing that concerned me was that he was confident, based on what the recruiter told him, that because he signed up for medical duty, that he would have a job in a hospital, and would not be put in especially dangerous situations, such as being assigned to infantry, for example. Is this true? If he does fulfill his committment is he guaranteed the job he asked for? Seems like that would not actually be possible, since I can't imagine all the people they have out there actually fighting right now went in with specific intent to fight, or did not opt for a specific area of work.

And, how can he prove that all this happened? It could come down to a he said/he said kind of thing.

[fozzy2]

With all due respect to your friend being led like a lamb to the slaughter by an unscrupulous military recruiter, he is going to have to face up to the fact that HE participated in this fraud. And he is going to have to face the consequences of his actions. During no less than 3 times during MEPS processing (no recruiters allowed) he was advised about fraudulent enlistment and told to report any oral promises or paperwork "fudging" by his recruiter. One of these times is during a one-on-one private interview with a civilian. In addition, there is often a "moment of truth" during boot camp where the same warning is made (i.e. "speak now or forever suffer the consequences").

Yes, the recruiter is in the wrong. But your friend planted himself right there along with him. Now he has to make a decision.

If he wants out of the army, it should be fairly easy to do. He can report that he is not a high-school graduate and that his recruiter helped him fake his paperwork, etc. The army will check and determine if this did indeed take place. When they find that it did, two things will happen. First, the recruiter can kiss his recruiting job goodbye and could face everything from serious career-killing paperwork to prison ( who knows what else he has been up to ).

Secondly, your friend will probably be quickly given an administrative discharge or perhaps an entry level separation. If he doesn't want to stay there is no reason to worry about applying for a waiver (doubtful he could get one for non-HS anyway). It is highly unlikely he will face a court martial though punitive article 83 of the UCMJ is applicable. The military will simply want to process him out as soon as possible.

Sometimes there is no graceful exit, just an exit.

[DRTDEVL]

Entry-Level Separation, unclassified (not honorable, gerneral, OTH, Dishonorable, etc because he has not been in long enough), RE-Code 3. 2 years wait if he ever wants to come back.

Other than that... Nothing will happen to him.

But, who's to say he is NOT in the med field, and has a hospital job? If it is in his contract, that is what he will get. If he opens his mouth now, he goes home.

The Military usually places the responsibility on the person of higher rank, the Recruiter in this case. They automatically assume that the kid fresh off the streets does not know any better, and will just send him home quickly... No confinement, no fines, no punishment whatsoever.

[fozzy2]

Entry level separation is not an automatic. If the military choses it can send him to an administrative board for an "Other Than Honorable" discharge, though that would seem to be unlikely unless he has given them good reason (i.e. has been in trouble otherwise, etc.).

[thirdrail]

Well, he's already set things in motion. Tomorrow he was scheduled to leave the infirmary and go back into training, and took action now.

He's a terrified kid. Maybe a little naive, but a good kid. He's 20 now, but I've played the role of a friend and adviser since he was 15--I mainly knew him online, me being in Chicago and him being in New York. I was shocked when he told me suddenly he was joining the Army, after he and I hadn't talked for a few months.

I got more details, and the recruiter, finding out where he was born (it was a U.S. commonwealth), forged up a copy of a high school diploma from this place he hasn't been to since he was just 3. To keep my friend from telling anyone about what the guy was doing, apparently the recruiting commander pulled him into his office, commanded him to look closely at a photo of a little girl, and told my friend "If you tell anyone about what we're doing for you, I swear I will find you and I will kill you. I'm not ****ing kidding you."

My friend never had a copy of the forged document--only a copy of it went into his file. It can easily be proven which high school in NYC he went to and that he didn't complete school.

The recruiter was extremely assertive about getting him through the rest of the process. I'm no legal expert, but I do feel that would probably qualify as a contract signed under duress, as well as his later, misguided affirmations about his enlistment being entirely on the up-and-up.

Apparently the recruiting commander also arranged for him to take that big aptitude test (I forget the acronym) under someone else's name and SSN, promising the guy would push him straight up to E3, but he refused to do that in the end. At least he didn't purger himself to that extent.

Anyway, my friend attempted to contact the JAG. He got through to someone in legal aid. They asked for the run-down. The woman on the phone asked him if he wanted to try and take care of this through his chain of command. He explained he talked to a drill sergeant at the base who told him that because he was already "this far" (he's a month into training), it's "too late." The woman said "That's not true. It is definitely not too late."

She put him in touch with an Inspector General and it's being investigated, and the guy will meet with my friend no later than Wednesday.

I just hope they don't put him through hell for fearfully not opening his mouth about the wrongdoing. He really is genuinely terrified. He seems to think that the recruiter might actually send someone after him, and when I told him he might actually be compelled to provide testimony about it, to stop this renegade from doing this kind of fraud to make his numbers, it sounded like he was going to cry. He's just not in a good way right now.

I also know this wasn't made up. He told me about the diploma before he did all the final signing, but not in such detail. I thought the guy was promising he'll get a diploma like it was nothing, almost as a perk, to get him to sign up. It sounded suspicious, but I didn't think much of it. Only now am I realizing the true intention.

Anyway, thank you for the advice. It's good to hear a couple of voices that seem to know a little bit about how the military does things saying that this kid probably won't have his life ruined because of this whole awful situation. Like I said, he's not a bad kid--just a little lost.

[fozzy2]

In general I wouldn't worry too much about that recruiter. The odds are, if he pulled this stunt with this kid then he's pulled it with many, and I doubt he is going to track them all down and kill them. Of course, one never knows...

The military investigators are usually not that bad in these situations. What they really want is to nail the recruiter and keep this kind of thing from happening again. Unqualified people cost money and cause heartaches all through the pipeline and no one likes to see some blowhard puff up his stats at everyone else's expense.

If I had one piece of advice for you friend, it would be to not panic and not forget that he is still under military control for now. In other words,if he just decides he no longer needs to get out of bed, put on a uniform, salute, etc. then he will no longer be perceived as a victim but as a problem. He can still get into all sorts of trouble while waiting for his separation/discharge. Military holding companies and TPUs (transient personell units) are full of people who are making their situations worse rather than just riding out the last few weeks. And a lot of them are looking for company as they dig deeper and deeper holes...