Most of you already know that the US Army had its recruiters take a day off recently to think about right and wrong.
Faced with declining wartime enlistment numbers and charges of inappropriate or abusive recruitment practices, in an unusual move, the U.S. Army suspended its recruiting activities Friday (May 20) for one day. The 7,500 Army recruiters nationwide were given orders to stay at their stations and take the day to review the ethical and legal guidelines of their job.
In Texas recently, an Army recruiter allegedly threatened a high school student with arrest if the student changed his mind and decided not to enlist. The recruiter didn’t have the authority to threaten the young person with legal action. In Colorado, another recruiter allegedly suggested a student falsify his high school diploma and conceal drug abuse from Army drug testers.
……Still, U.S. Army officials report more than 300 substantiated cases of allegedly improper recruiting tactics last year, a 60% increase in 5 years. Many recruiters reportedly have resorted to aggressive tactics because they’ve had a hard time meeting the Army’s recruiting quota of 2 enlistees a month. Enlistments are down, experts say, due in large measure to the more than 2-year old Iraq War.
But it’s not all bad news for Army recruiters: some are hard working dedicated soldiers, known for seizing the initiative and showing potential recruits exactly what it is that they are getting themselves into.
A U.S. Army recruiter accused of raping a woman who was interested in joining the military remained in the Alachua County Jail with bail set at $50,000 Saturday.
Thursday’s arrest of Staff Sgt. George O. Kirkman, 40, came a day before the Army suspended recruiting efforts after reported excesses by recruiters trying to sign up soldiers.
Kirkman has been suspended pending the criminal investigation, said Ted Jones, spokesman for the Jacksonville Army Recruiting Battalion. He may be transferred to the Army’s custody Monday. It could not be determined whether he had a lawyer.
According to Gainesville police Detective Joe Mayo, the 20-year-old woman said she had gone to Kirkman’s apartment Thursday to take a recruiting exam on a computer. The two were reviewing the woman’s test scores and sitting on Kirkman’s bed when he raped her, according to an arrest report.
Sounds like Kirkman’s just an honest recruiter, trying to help out by offering up a little taste of Army life.