Gangs in the US military

AussieNick, since you're an officer you may actually not be aware of it happening in your outfit. It's very possible, though I don't think Australia has the sort of social divisions like America has... then again, that's something I'm probably wrong about.
But officers tend to realize it real slow or not at all.

Believe me there are no social divisions in Australia like in the US. There are some racial tensions here and there, but those who are the volotile types (often muslim) do not join the military.

As for things in the ROK military I don't know how your officers operate, but in Australia the platoon commander spends so much time with his soldiers it would be very hard for an issue like this to ever develop. Further more the NCO's have such a strong stand on discipline that they wouldn't let anything get out of control, let alone start.

Honestly, these soldiers need some dead ground counselling. They need there heads knocked together by everyone from Cpl upwards. Any differences between our soldiers here have been worked out of them by the end of their training, so by the time they reach a line rifle company they are an Aussie Digger before anything else.
 
We didn't have any issues until towards the end of my enlistment when there was this whole thing about stamping out on abuses etc. Basically the bad eggs suddenly realized that they could get away with just about anything. So a few of these idiots decided to start up a little gang where they would rule supreme and ignore any order that did not come from the Captain or Company Sergeant himself.
It was a f***ing nightmare. Basically the word from all the way from the top was "if you put your hands on anyone, we will jail you for the longest time possible." Discipline was gone overnight. And this was very strange because when I first joined up, discipline was everything. But this is what happens when you have a stupid president, a weak commandant and a brigadier general who's only too eager to please his superiors.
My commanding officer had to kiss a lot of ass to keep me from serving prison time.
They had a changing of command over at the brigade so hopefully the next one in has his s*** together better than the last one.
When you create anarchy, the only thing you've achieved is you've rearranged the balance of power. I was able to bring a sense of order back by dishing out some ass whipping and basically had the "I'll take you all to prison with me," speech down. A lot of the NCOs were quietly thankful (they told me in private)... they were sorry it had to be me but fortunately our CO got that straightened out. My BN CO, a first class w***** who should never be put anywhere near a fighting unit wanted me to hang, completely ignoring the whole situation that was developing at the lower ranks.
It was a DAMN shame because we were a good unit with good people but the higher ups managed to mess that up in a matter of two or three months.
 
You don't need to put your hands on anyone to solve things, retraining does all that with a lot more pain and humiliation. Sometimes people would rather be taken out back and given a few fists. Your section/squad is its own island and if anything infiltrated it then it is your own fault.
 
They didn't infiltrate my own platoon, I wasn't having any of that. But it was in the other platoons and that affected us. There was one guy from the other platoon who was in the gang who moved over to our platoon but I got him squared out.
I spent about 2 1/2 months out because I got injured badly during training and when I got back I found out that the new rules were in place and discipline had gone down the toilet.
I pretty much did all I could but there's just not a whole lot a buck sergeant can do especially if the BN CO is looking for an excuse to hang your ass and you're only a month from processing out and you got a fiancee waiting for you. Ain't worth the jail time.
And by the way the whole humiliation thing fell under abuse. Believe me, I thought up of all kinds of creative crap and like I said, I had restored some level of order but it was still a disaster.
And in a brilliant little maneuver, the BN CO actually empowered these guys by giving them special training. Oh that really pissed me the f*** off.
I swear if there was a war, BN CO wouldn't last a day. It was either going to be them or us.
 
Sure.
It started gradually but they started to ignore orders that were given by anyone below the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. First I didn't act much because a. They weren't one of my men and b. officially disciplining was now a Gunnery Sergeant's job. But it just got plain painful to watch. So I when I got guard duty with one of the senior members of this so called gang I basically used that time on the post to give them a very hard time. That is, I had them stand guard in very painful positions and let them know exactly what was going on.
Example...
I would have one guy standing with his knees bent at about a 90 degree angle and arms stretched out for a long ass time telling him about the various infractions both he and his subordinates had made. (The time Sergeant so and so told them to do what and what and the order was completely ignored... the time so and so failed to show up when I told him to)...
Basically there were so many out of line that I went after the ranking ones to make life hell for them unless they sorted their little gang out for themselves. Oh yeah, I did use humiliation as an example too.
I told one of them while in one of those painful positions, "Tell me Corporal, tell me that you can't control them. That they own your ass. Tell me that and this will all be over. If they're calling the shots and you're just following along, just tell me and all of this will be over."
It actually worked to a degree but it wasn't quite enough.
So one night a few days after one of the gang members transferred into my platoon I told that guy (a communications guy) to report back to me as soon as he's had dinner because his s*** and indiscipline was spreading to the other guys in my platoon. Guess what? Corporal smart ass decided that he'd stick with his buddies and have fun at the PX. I of course had come back after dinner to have a word with him but the guy didn't show. I asked around and some guys from his previous platoon told me they saw him at the PX. Obviously I was pissed off to the max. I ran over, pulled the bastard off his chair and dragged him into the armory (I had a set of keys) where I started kicking the crap out of him. Another sergeant who outranked me heard the ass whipping in progress and ran over and told me to stop. I don't know why the heck he'd do that but maybe that's why there was a discipline problem in the first place. Anyways, that broke that up and I told that little s*** "Consider yourself lucky."
Of course that little s*** ran back to the Company Sergeant and told him that he just got his ass whipped. Which is just great. Obviously these guys had long ignored the Marine code so ratting off to senior NCOs or officers about "abuse" shouldn't have surprised me though it did.
Either way it didn't matter. I ended up being called over to the Company Sergeant's office where that guy was and of course they had cooked up this story about how he was called over to see the Company Sergeant but and that he had spotted a footprint on the Corporal's chest. I know it's complete bulls*** because the commo guy (he was a radioman) reports to the Company CO not the Company Sergeant. And also the Gunnery Sergeant on duty told me the dude had ratted off on me. So the ol' Company Sergeant and the pissed off Gunny were going on about how they were going to have my ass etc etc and I had a light reprimand (basically in a push up position for a pretty uncomfortable length of time) and I was on my way.
After that they conducted this sort of Company wide inquiry about all the other "abuses" I made. Well those guys started spilling it all out and I'm sure they added a lot of sugar frostings on it as well.
So the word got up to the BN CO who basically thought I was nuts and they tried to threaten my ass with possible jail time. The only good news was that because those I "abused" were also very much in the wrong, both parties would have to go behind bars if there was indeed any sort of trial. So basically I pissed everyone off by endorsing this saying that I would in fact spend two weeks or more in a cell. I guess they were expecting me to beg for my life or something. Two weeks may not seem like much except that it goes on your record and it becomes very hard to find a job as a civilian.
So it pretty much came down to "I'll take all your asses down with me."
And like I said, it worked. The "gang" morons decided it was best to lay low and didn't f*** with me again.
Of course these idiots tried to f*** with the 1st Platoon Leader by drinking alcohol in the barracks in front of his face. I wasn't there but I would have paid a million bucks to have been.
I just got sent to various anger management classes after that. Which was stupid. I don't think I had an anger management issue... until something else happened.
For some damn reason, kids that cannot adjust to their units and get dumped out end up under my command. I could take one. I had a handful with two. But when the third one came I f***ing flipped because this was just about the worst reject I had ever seen and now I had three I had to do something about with the damn insane Gunny screaming in my ear that I had no authority to instruct, discipline, reward or reprimand my own guys.
At this point in time though I was just thinking of processing out, getting back with my girl and not going to jail.

So here's what happened:
1) Junior NCOs were largely stripped of all power.
2) Indiscipline in the ranks was tolerated.
3) Because junior NCOs were stripped of so much power the senior NCOs ended up having to deal with a lot of chicken s*** problems and many just couldn't be arsed to do so.
4) There was no motivation to solve any of these problems but to cover them up. BN CO wanted his BN to look pristine from the outside and not affect his chances of promotion. Probably the only real reason our Captain was able to keep me out of jail.
5) Not enough f***ing balls at the junior NCO level. Everyone didn't think it was worth getting locked up for. I guess I just loved my old Marine Corps than most of them.

Anyways, that was the situation.
By the way, 5 of those gang members went to boot camp together. It's pretty damn rare to have that happen but even in the past when discipline was pretty tight, any situation like this was considered a constant source of problems.

BTW: I f***ing hate telling this story.
 
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HAHAHA oh man...

I remember the guys name now that I respect, his name was Lt Paladori, He thought I was totally insane, but he respected the fact that I didn't allow any racism, prejudice, or ethnic jokes in my shops.

Gotta have love for Officers like him, I;m retired and if I ever see him on the street I'll still salute and call him sir.
 
Theres sort of a difference I believe between what could technically be called a "clique" of people and a "gang" of people. The issue that they are addressing is the passing down of semi Guerilla combat methods to urban street gangs. Via gang members going into the service for the reason of passing on the training in weapons and tactics to their brothers back home. The fact that they are combat tested just means they know what works and what doesnt, and what can be improvised to be more effective.

Honestly I believe the reason we see things like this now days like what has been mentioned before me is the change of the face of the general population military over the last 50 years or so steadily. Back in the WWII timeframe things like that were not even a consideration. Racial prejudice was declining and people joined because they saw the need and were proud of what they did. Since then I believe that the military has slowly become ran more like a "business" than a war machine. This idea is more prevalent in some branches than others.

I also believe if the military find you guilty of current gang affiliations after enlistment that it should come with a 10 year prison sentence. If its prooven youve used your knowledge while enlisted to train or further the knowledge of possible militant or aggressive groups I believe the sentence should be even more harsh and with zero tolerance.

But thats just me of course.

And of course.... one other thing... I believe the right for a senior nco to kick the hell out of his junior enlisted for doing things of this nature should be allowed :box:
 
I agree. This "keep your hands and feet to yourself" is bulls***. If a guy deserves a good kicking, a good kicking is what he should get.
 
Well it would be a good place for gangbangers. They can learn small squad tactics and weapons making for free. And with the GWOT they will get a good chance to employ what they have learned. Once they have done that they can go back to the hood and teach there whole crew what they learned and then turn it on other gangbangers and law enforcement.

Also this pretty much goes without saying but they have access to big ass weapons.:biggun: This alone would draw gangbangers like flies to ****. pistols, assault rifles, LMGs, sniper rifles, explosives and all the good stuff. Not only do they learn how to use them. But they can steal the weapons and send them back to the hood.

Also there are a huge pool of people in the military. Everyone of them a potenial new recurit. My godmother is very concerned about this because she is no stranger to the streets and knows how they operate. She told me to be aware of this and watch out. I told her that I wouldn't go joining a gang. She told me that "you don't find the gang, they walk in on you. She told me that with my above average IQ (possibly at genius level) ruthlessness, and creative problem solving skills I would be a juicy recuritment target... Let's just hope I don't mix with the wrong crowd during my service time.

And one more thing they do this all the while getting paid. :shock: So one can see this would be a good place for gangbangers to do business.
 
She told me that with my above average IQ (possibly at genius level) ruthlessness, and creative problem solving skills I would be a juicy recuritment target... Let's just hope I don't mix with the wrong crowd during my service time.

Even if thats true, you kinda just made yourself sound like a tool.
 
Well it would be a good place for gangbangers. They can learn small squad tactics and weapons making for free. And with the GWOT they will get a good chance to employ what they have learned. Once they have done that they can go back to the hood and teach there whole crew what they learned and then turn it on other gangbangers and law enforcement.

Also this pretty much goes without saying but they have access to big ass weapons.:biggun: This alone would draw gangbangers like flies to ****. pistols, assault rifles, LMGs, sniper rifles, explosives and all the good stuff. Not only do they learn how to use them. But they can steal the weapons and send them back to the hood.

Also there are a huge pool of people in the military. Everyone of them a potenial new recurit. My godmother is very concerned about this because she is no stranger to the streets and knows how they operate. She told me to be aware of this and watch out. I told her that I wouldn't go joining a gang. She told me that "you don't find the gang, they walk in on you. She told me that with my above average IQ (possibly at genius level) ruthlessness, and creative problem solving skills I would be a juicy recuritment target... Let's just hope I don't mix with the wrong crowd during my service time.

And one more thing they do this all the while getting paid. :shock: So one can see this would be a good place for gangbangers to do business.

How the hell old ARE you, anyway?

This has to be the biggest post of manure I've ever read.

May I suggest that before extolling us with your magnificent IQ you learn grammar and spelling? And what an "assault rifle" is? And what an appositive phrase is?

Being in the service doesn't require a high IQ. It does, however, require maturity. I'd work on the latter were I you.
 
Well it would be a good place for gangbangers. They can learn small squad tactics and weapons making for free. And with the GWOT they will get a good chance to employ what they have learned. Once they have done that they can go back to the hood and teach there whole crew what they learned and then turn it on other gangbangers and law enforcement.

Also this pretty much goes without saying but they have access to big ass weapons.:biggun: This alone would draw gangbangers like flies to ****. pistols, assault rifles, LMGs, sniper rifles, explosives and all the good stuff. Not only do they learn how to use them. But they can steal the weapons and send them back to the hood.

Also there are a huge pool of people in the military. Everyone of them a potenial new recurit. My godmother is very concerned about this because she is no stranger to the streets and knows how they operate. She told me to be aware of this and watch out. I told her that I wouldn't go joining a gang. She told me that "you don't find the gang, they walk in on you. She told me that with my above average IQ (possibly at genius level) ruthlessness, and creative problem solving skills I would be a juicy recuritment target... Let's just hope I don't mix with the wrong crowd during my service time.

And one more thing they do this all the while getting paid. :shock: So one can see this would be a good place for gangbangers to do business.

Pure gold mate. Don't blow your own horn too loud.
 
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