Ive recently been following stories about former gang members(without crim. records) now serving in marines/army in both theatres of war.
Aside from the crazy who came home and used fire and move tactics to gun down a number of LEO's with his SKS can anyone shed more light on gangs in the US military. Surely gang bangers(once military trained) have an advantage over their fellow new recruits as they may well have already been involved in gun battles/killed before? If not why not? This is a subject I would like to see opened as a discussion and anyone who has firsthand experience of it I would be interested to hear your stories.
US news agencies put the number of serving gang members at 1 0/0 which has got to be an exaggeration? Maybee its all bullsh*t as the US media/news agencies seem to talk a lot of cr*p quite often and there are no gang members in US military but surely then doesnt that erode your faith in the US media and you wonder what else they are making up?
I dont know either way.
Let me have some facts so i can form an opinion.

i remember gangs in our battalion back in germany back in 1997. bloods and crips.

Yeah we were having a gang problem in our battalion too. Nearly went to jail a few times for busting their asses to remind them of the correct line of command.
It's funny because they were almost rewarded by the BN CO because they listened to him well so they would in fact get legitimacy while secretly running illegal activity behind his back. Basically ass kissing to win favors. They got to go attend special training sessions etc. that strengthened their position.
I told the Company CO about this but he had his head so far up the BN CO's ass that he didn't do anything about it.
So I took it into my own hands. Restored order for a while, but it was hard to do when I had only a few days left on my tour. They say it's inevitable that you enter a lame duck status when you're days or sometimes weeks from leaving even when there's no gang problem so I guess I didn't do too bad.
These guys made life hard over there. But I also made life hard for them.
They even tried to undermine one of the LTs but he pretty much threw the book at them. He was a good LT.
this talk of gangs in the military brings back memories.

A good way to spot whether your unit has a gang or not is to see if there's any kind of consistent alteration to the uniform.

In the schools where I work most people have no idea how bad gangs are? I see basically 7th and 8th graders throw away there life's because it carries over into high school. They recruit in the lower grades for high school and sometimes two gangs forces a person to pick or he gets his ass kicked daily until he's choses. If you don't pick both kick your ass, at school, on the way to and from, in front of your family even, and wait for you around where you live. Weekends are no different it's mind blowing and unreal.

I had problems with a few in service gangbangers back in the late 80's while on AD. There was also some noise about some of them getting jobs in supply in order to become a source for weapons siphoned off Uncle Sam and sent back to their homeys in the hood.

Oh yeah.
I'd be surprised if none of them got into supply. Gang or no gang, there's always someone in there selling stuff to make a buck or two.
Gangs are really an epidemic and they are so successful because they have embraced the fact that violence solves everything.

There has always been problems in supply, WWII and Vietnam were notorious for their well-supplied black markets. But its usually luxury or contraband items being siphoned (beer, soda, fresh food, cigarettes, candy, porn, drugs, various equipment of a non-lethal nature) things that people wanted. I wont say there hasn't been cases of weapons being stolen but it is true that the Army does watch out for this sort of thing. Military issue M-16s and M4s in the hands of gangs would most certainly bring the attention of the FBI and ATF if not the MPs.

As for gangbangers in the army, yes its a problem thats growing larger. The NYT did an article on just this subject a few months ago. Part of the problem is that due to manpower shortages the standards for getting in are lower and lower. Case in point Steven D Green (accused of multiple murder and rape charges in Iraq). This is a guy who would never been admitted under normal circumstances due to his runs-ins with the law prior to enlistment.

I just don't see how having idiots like him over there would help... bad people just make work harder. They practically CREATE more work for other people to do.
Once this damn war is over they ought to get rid of these folks if it means halving the size of the Army.
Seriously. I'd prefer draftees rather than these rejects.
I think gangs in America would more easily get weapons through the civilian market than the military though. In any other country where firearms are illegal to the public, an obvious choice of source would be the military.
In Nam Dae Mun market in Seoul you can get all kinds of stuff taken from the US Army. MREs sell for 3 or 4 dollars apiece (though the price has been going up)... but this is just regular stuff. Not gang activity I think.
I hate gangs. Always did, always will. But they have the advantage of flexibility in that the words of the law do not apply to them... until they're arrested. Then they get a vacation in some jail that provides them with a more comfortable life than out with their gangs in the streets... repeat process.

13th Redneck

Frankly I think the army would prefer draftees to rejects as well. Most major wars were fought with draftees, and by and large they acquitted themselves well.

The problem is political, drafting young men to fight in wars, especially unpopular wars is political suicide. Nobody would ever sign such a law.

There is also a question of fairness about the draft system. Since the time of the Civil War the rich have always been able to avoid the draft. They have used replacements, college deferments, political patronage, and even downright bribery to avoid serving.

Our dear president is such an example. To avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War, he was quickly accepted into the Texas Air National Guard jumping over 400 people ahead of him in line waitng for an opening. Daddy was Texas Governor.

Another example is John Wayne who million dollar Hollywood studio lawyers managed to get him a 2A exemption, and whose Hollywood recognition is based on the fact that he got acting jobs because the real actors (those that unlike Wayne had acting ability) were away serving in the real Army. Of course like all Neocons, his own lack of military service didn't stop his outspoken views in getting OTHER people to go fight.

So you see the conscription system is pretty unbalanced.

That happens just about anywhere.
Life isn't fair. Never was, never will be. But despite the unfairness, draft armies have done pretty well around the world. Hitler's army had a lot of draftees in it and they still managed to be a great fighting force despite all the setbacks they had.
South Korean troops in Vietnam included a lot of draftees but they were very effective.
Americans in World War II, World War I, Korea...
Turks in Korea...
The list goes on and on.
The problem now is that in America the volunteer system is now taken for granted. Unless American soil was invaded, I can't see a draft system working.

I actually know of John Wayne. Which is why I don't watch his movies. He had a chance to go, he was a citizen, and he didn't go when the others had actually gone. Typical neocon. I've met a fair share in college. Didn't like the fact that their mouths said one thing and their bodies didn't make an effort to back it up. Believe in the war in Iraq? Then go talk to a recruiter because over there there's a lot of folks who don't want to be there, don't believe in the war, and don't believe in the President. After listening to a few in my German class go on about their damn rhetoric I asked them if they were going to join up. Not one was going to do that. The only guy I knew who was going to join the Marines wasn't very political at all but was on the college rowing team.
Meanwhile I'm busting my ass off here trying to get in. It's a long story and contains information I don't want lingering around in forums. I can PM if you want.

But yeah, gang types are just trouble. Seriously if these guys troubled the combat effectiveness of my unit while at war I'd have them lined up against a wall and shot.