From KHOU TV (video): “Will Ammons, 20, signed up for delayed entry at the Lake Jackson Army recruiting station last year. But soon afterwards, he fell in love and changed his mind before he ever shipped out.”
“He told me I pretty much had two options,” Ammons said. “I’d go before a judge and get a sentence of 15 years but he had the option to double it. It was either that or they were going to put me in front of seven other people with rifles and shoot me.”
Below, more allegations and retraining mandated for recruiters:
More from KHOU TV:
20-year-old Chris Monarch told us an Army recruiter threatened to arrest him if he didn’t report that day to a recruiting station.
Democracy Now! aired the audio of the voicemail message left by an Army recruiter:
That was army recruiter Sgt. Thomas Kelt leaving a voicemail on a prospective recruit’s voicemail. Kelt reportedly said that threatening to issue an arrest warrant was a “marketing technique.” Army officials confirm the threat was made.
KHOU TV reports that Ammons [PHOTO] was within his rights to change his mind:
Army regulations, we discovered, say even those who sign up for delayed entry, or DEPs, can change their minds.
The regulation reads: “At no time will any member of this command tell a DEP member he or she must ‘go in the Army or he or she will go to jail,’ or that `failure to enlist will result in a blackmark on his or her credit record,’ or any other statement indicating adverse action will occur if the applicant fails to enlist.”
Meanwhile, reports Democracy Now!:
Meanwhile, the US Army announced it will halt its recruiting efforts for one day this month amid widespread national protest and several scandals. The military says the halt is aimed at re-training recruiters. The stand-down will take place May 20 and will affect almost all 7,500 recruiters at 1,700 stations around the United States. The military is currently facing a major crisis in recruitment with rates plummeting in the face of the Iraq occupation and other military operations globally.
Hmm, yes, I do believe I feel a draft.
Might be time. Also wouldn’t hurt to “de-privatize” the military.
On the Daily Kos cross-diary — please recommend — I added this paragraph:
Below, I’ve posted Ammons’ photo. Talk about your typical Texas kid. But, when typical kids get exposed to these threatening recruitment methods, they might start thinking everything’s not okay in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
in all military dictatorships. Probably the most pragmatic solution is for Bush to sign a decree giving legal sanction to the gunmen to seize people for impressment at will.
He can ask for network time to make a speech, presenting it as one of the privileges Americans have, to help fight Terror. And show willingness to sacrifice, and of course, Resolve.
once before, trying to say that it was my patriotic duty to volunteer two years of my life to my country… I think you could have heard a pin drop all across the US, particularly from the ReDublican party.