Gangs Spreading In The Military - U.S. Soldier Killed In Gang Initiation In Germany

[ariesgem]

U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero's welcome while home on leave in June of 2004. "Not only did I love my son - but my god - I liked the man he was becoming," his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers. But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive. When Johnson died, he wasn't in a war zone, he was in Germany.

"He had finished his term in Iraq," his mother said. "I talked to him the day before his death. He said, 'Mom, I'm in the process of discharging out. I'll be out in two weeks'." On July 3, 2005, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the 'Gangster Disciples,' a notorious Chicago-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a "jump-in" - an initiation rite common to many gangs. "My son never spoke of joining a gang," Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras. Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later.

Evidence of gang culture and gang activity in the military is increasing so much an FBI report calls it "a threat to law enforcement and national security." The signs are chilling: Marines in gang attire on Paris Island; paratroopers flashing gang hand signs at a nightclub near Ft. Bragg; infantrymen showing-off gang tattoos at Ft. Hood.

"It's obvious that many of these people do not give up their gang affiliations," said Hunter Glass, a retired police detective in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the home of Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne. He monitors gang activity at the base and across the military. "If we weren't in the middle of fighting a war, yes, I think the military would have a lot more control over this issue," Glass said. "But with a war going on, I think it's very difficult to do."

Gang activity clues are appearing in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. Gang graffiti is sprayed on blast walls – even on Humvees. Kilroy – the doodle made famous by U.S. soldiers in World War II – is here, but so is the star emblem of the Gangster Disciples. The soldier who took photos of the graffiti told CBS News that he's been warned he's as good as dead if he ever returns to Iraq.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/28/eveningnews/main3107316.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3107316

[peacebird]

1. great - just freaking great. Those "morals waivers" are working out so well for us, aren't they?

:grr:

[MisterP]

2. oh God, what if they get into the artillery companies?

Bush has turned us into Jiang Kai-shek's China!

[Grandrose]

3. Hecka of job....Bush!

That's all we need is well trained gangsters and hate groups coming home and who would have thought things could get any worse?? Bush has truly opened the gates of hell for Iraq and America!
:grr: :kick:

[Wilber_Stool]

4. Too bad they're not

gay. We could just discharge them and be done with it.

[Help me help Earth]

5. I saw this on the latest forum too.

This story comes out in some form every few years. The first time I heard it it was about white supremacists, now it's usually about Latino gangs. It's usually over hyped and corresponds to whatever "scary" group is currently popular to stereotype.

[Solly Mack]

6. They used to show his picture with a reward money offer here in Germany

He was killed a few months before I moved here.