That's A Real FUBAR...
As a fervent viewer of the History Channel (and very few others), I've been following this new series they've been showing on Thursday nights at 9PM called GANGLAND.
The program describes the various gangs currently in America, complete with their beginnings, memberships, locations, codes of conduct, crimes committed by them and their leaders, and much more than even I knew about.
If you live in some lily-white upscale WASP neighborhood, you might find it entertaining, but if you happen to live near an inner city "diversified" area that has all the vicissitudes one comes to expect from living IN a city, then you will find this program highly informative, if not a bit frightening.
Last night's episode, entitled: "Basic Training" featured gang members who have entered the MILITARY, and not only actively recruited others for their respective gangs while in uniform, but also took the knowledge they learned in the military and have applied it back on the streets in their "turf" when discharged.
And what they learn while serving would shock anyone who has not been in the military, or those that don't have any members of their family in service.
All of the information is based on a report that came out in January 2007 by the Department of Defense. People interviewed for this episode included a former (skinhead) gang member who had served in the military, A (now) retired Sergeant that took pictures of gang "tags" while in Iraq, a former criminal investigation agent for the DOD, and other supporting agencies. The FBI has been watching this for some time, and has weighed in on the problem, making recommendations to the DOD as to how to proceed.
It gets pretty scary when you find out that a gang in your part of town MIGHT have acquired certain tactics that will give these members an edge over law-enforcement. Fortunately, we DO have men (and women) serving as LEOs that HAVE had prior military training, but as a rule, strict COMBAT training is NOT taught at police academies.
Any "Urban Warfare" tactics our LEOs learn at the academy are not predicated upon combat scenarios that include fighting other "soldiers", but rather civilian crowd control, rioting and such. One case was mentioned where a former Marine (and a Latin gang banger) ambushed several police officers in Ceres, CA back in 1995, killing one officer and critically wounding another as he brandished an SKS rifle that had been illegally modified to fire FULL AUTO. And let's just say that several 7.65 mm rounds fired POINT-BLANK will do a HELLUVA lot of damage!
The "skills" one can acquire in the military are as diverse and numerous as one could imagine. You can learn to slit a throat, break a neck, torch a building, shoot someone at 500 meters, make household explosive devices, set traps, and basically inflict several kinds of whoop-ass on the "enemy". You learn to KNOW your surroundings (as well as your enemy) and what YOU can put to use to ensure YOUR survival.
You are also COMBAT-TRAINED, which is a whole lot of different than just pulling a gun, pointing it at a burglar and shouting "Police - lemme see your hands".
We're not "cuffing & stuffing" when it comes to real warfare...we're out to ELIMINATE the threat and accomplish whatever mission we were assigned to do. We do it with extreme prejudice, and the smallest amount of life lost (on OUR side). We leave no one behind.
This could also explain some of the left-wing's recent assertions that returning veterans are committing more homicides than before.
Perhaps it's these GANG MEMBER "vets" who are doing the killing, and NOT the other 99% of the men and women who are honorably serving in out armed services that's REALLY skewing the numbers. But they're not telling us the whole truth, are they? Now we have active gang members learning the same thing and with the latest technology and weaponry to boot, with absolutely NO patriotic feeling whatsoever.
Hell, you get some gang-bangers in some quartermaster venue, and they could effectively supply THEIR "hood" with weapons that would outgun most police departments...but that's a worst case scenario we hope to never see.
Paperwork has a VERY long trail in the military, and it's easy to make things "get lost", especially when shipping overseas. Yes, military gang membership is a GLOBAL thing, because our military has bases all over the worlds.
Knowing that gang members in our city could have had some form of military training should send a cold chill up your spine. And don't think because a gang member has not served in OUR army, that they didn't get that training.
The Bosnian gang (The Goon Squad) in Ft. Wayne is basically made up of immigrants, who, if you know anything about Bosnia is one of those war-torn countries that has made soldiers of children, so they grew up with a gun in their hands.
It was interesting to note that the History Channel tried to talk to representatives for both the DOD and the Pentagon...and BOTH declined to be interviewed for the show.
The military has relaxed it's recruiting criteria over the past 20 years, and has gone to an all-volunteer service (recalled personnel not withstanding), so it's a case of whether a commanding officer determines that a gang member is not "active" at time of recruitment which will allow that person to be allowed entrance into the military. And all services are involved, but mostly at the lower enlisted ranks. Let's face it, when you're in a gang like the Latin Kings with a name like Hernandez, your FIRST allegiance is TO THE GANG...screw UNCLE SAM, so the military is NOT going to be your first "career choice".

This year however, legislation is pending to DENY ACCESS to gang members seeking to sign up for the service. I don't know the specifics that it's to be based on, but I would wager any past criminal history, felony or misdemeanor arrest charges, tattoos, family involvement, etc.
So...Moms and Dads...if your son or daughter is thinking of signing up and doing their patriotic thing, best to warn them that they MIGHT be exposed to active gang members while in uniform. And it won't matter if they're stationed here stateside, on a ship in the Med, an airbase in Germany, or a marine base in Iraq.

One thing we DO NOT NEED is to have these "gangstas" soiling the proud and patriotic name of our men and women in uniform!

By the way, if you';re wondering what FUBAR means, it's a military acronym for:
F**KED UP BEYOND ALL REASON
And that's not to be confused with SNAFU which means:
SITUATION NORMAL - ALL F**KED UP
Or BOHICA, which means:
BEND OVER - HERE IT COMES AGAIN
**(editor's note) - The History Channel will be reruning this episode sometime this weekend (usually on Saturday afternoons).
Check the listings for time.
You will be simply AMAZED at what has been going on.