OGs sometimes encourage young gang members or prospective members to join the military, or try to recruit active duty service members or dependents. That gets them some fast track training in modern mayhem to start with, and later results in access to military stuff to steal, to help equip the homies. Or it provides smuggling and distribution opportunities for drugs. One enlistment later and they are back on the block with some skills to teach and some material to pass out. Plus they have been paid, fed, housed and clothed the whole time.
For example:
http://www.dcmilitary.com/army/pentagram/6_05/local_news/4709-1.html
snip===Rodriguez also addressed the problem of gang members in the military. While it is not uncommon for gang members to join the military to receive military training, he said he does not know personally of gangs recruiting military personnel to join their ranks.
Through other classes he has attended, Rodriguez said he's heard of individuals who are in the military who may have had a past in gang behavior, but were not necessarily coming into the military for gang education ñ to gain more information.
"But once they find themselves in the military, since they already had the mentality and the background of being a gang member, maybe back home they were not the 'top dog,' but once they come to a new location, a new base, maybe they say, 'You know what, if I can start my own gang, I can be the top dog,'" Rodriguez said. "And then he can form his own set and align himself with some other gang.
"Then you may have some obviously coming into the military with the purpose of getting trained, getting educated in tactics, in weapons, in logistics and what not, so they can take that back to their gang, or at least pass it on to make that gang more powerful," he said. ===snip
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http://www.velocity.net/~acekc/CCC Gang Book - Main Text.htm
Chicago Crime Commission
Gangs- Public Enemy #1
snip===GANGS IN THE MILITARY
Military posts are a microcosm of the society as a whole, so it was simply a matter of time before gangs began to infiltrate the military communities. Military dependents are a high risk group in themselves, because their families move often and are somewhat isolated from other civilian families. Dependent children frequently turn to groups which accept them readily. Gangs view the military communities as sources of steady revenue through sales of narcotics or as a pool of potential victims. Active-duty military members are targeted by gang members because of their access to weapons and ammunition. Gangs also use active-duty service members to distribute their drugs. With the potential drug market overseas, gangs are quick to employ active-duty members as couriers and for easy access to military post offices and transportation. Military enlistment standards today are higher than ever before. Most gang members fail to qualify for service, because a background check can reveal criminal activity. However, gang members and others with non-felony criminal records have, in the past, been allowed to join the armed services. The Navy has reported that since November, 1991, four sailors have been shot, eight stabbed, 24 robbed and 48 beaten. In the past year-and-a-half, four sailors have been shot and killed in Long Beach. All incidents were determined as gang-related. In November and December of 1989, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations identified a female gang on a base in Washington known as the "Fly Girl Posse" gang. The gang was comprised of both Navy and Air Force, Caucasian, Black and Asian dependents. In 1991, fifteen USAF dependents on a base in Alabama were identified as associated Crips gang members. In October of 1991, the main gate guard of a California USAF base reported he had been the target of a drive-by shooting by local gang members. In August of 1991, nine people were murdered at a Buddhist Temple. Civilian gang members from Tucson, Arizona were arrested but released for lack of evidence. Two USAF dependents were suspected of taking part in the slayings. They were members of the "After Midnight" gang which is affiliated with the Mexican Mafia. The Army reported that a man arrested by the Minneapolis Police Department was in possession of a Military ID card. The man related that he obtained the active-duty ID card from a member of the Vice Lords. In 1992, an active-duty soldier, stationed in Germany, was involved in a drive-by shooting while home on leave in Aurora, Illinois. The soldier was the unwitting driver of the vehicle in which several members of the Latin Kings gang were riding. The shooting victim was a member of the Maniac Latin Disciples, a rival gang.===snip
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...and so on.
lpl/nc