Recuiters Busted

[ssgtt32]

Marine recruiters busted in exam fraud
Stand-ins took test required of 15 marginal enlistees

By DANE SCHILLER

Here's where the nine Marine recruiters worked:

• Four worked at the Memorial City substation.

• Two worked at the Baybrook substation.

• Two worked at the Houston substation

• One worked at the Lake Jackson substation

Nine Marine Corps recruiters who worked in the Houston area were punished for using fraudulent stand-ins to take military-entrance exams for prospective recruits who might not otherwise measure up, the military confirmed Wednesday.

Eight of the recruiters were reassigned and given non-judicial punishment, which could include fines and reduction in rank. Another, considered the worst offender, was discharged from the service.

"I don't know why this happened here. Obviously, we do not tolerate it," said Capt. John Niemann, a spokesman for the recruiting district that includes Houston. "We learned of it. We investigated it and took appropriate disciplinary action."

Niemann said privacy regulations prohibit him from releasing the names of the recruiters, what punishments they were given or when.

"The bottom line is that it is all cleaned up," he said.

Word of the scandal comes as recruiters are under continued pressure to find people willing to join the military in a time of war.

Although officials are unsure how widespread the practice was or where the recruiters learned of the technique, the fraud was traced to 15 incidents.

Recruits who had the test taken on their behalf faced a range of repercussions, from being kicked out of the service, to being given a chance to take the exam, to in at least one instance, being able to continue on the job. Officials declined to say who the test takers were.

Four of the recruiters were based in Memorial City, one in Lake Jackson, one in Baybrook and two in Houston, according to the Marine Corps.

Tim Hanley, 60, a Vietnam War veteran and president of the Houston chapter of the 1st Marine Division Association, a nationwide veterans' group, said he is worried how this might reflect on the Corps.

"As a Marine, this is really quite disturbing to me. I guess they have bean counters in every profession now — that is a shame," he said of the pressure to meet recruiting quotas.

"You have got to want to be a Marine and meet the standards," he said. "Not everybody can be a Marine. If they could, we wouldn't be so proud to be one."

Harold Hyman, a Rice University professor emeritus of history and a Marine in World War II, said he felt pity for recruiters who broke the law in a desperate race to meet quotas because of the Iraq war. He noted that recruiters have been known for generations to go to great lengths to sign anyone up.

Probe began in April
Although the scam was made public Wednesday in response to a Houston Chronicle inquiry, evidence of wrongdoing began quietly unfolding last April when officials at the Military Entrance Processing Station, located downtown, noticed that signatures of test takers didn't match those on enlistment forms, Niemann said.

It is not clear how long it had been going on, he said.

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery is a lengthy test of aptitudes used to place recruits in military jobs to which they are best suited. It's the military version of the SAT.

Results could determine whether a person meets a minimum threshold to enter the service, as well as whether they may end up marching and firing a weapon or sitting behind a desk.

Maj. Wesley Hayes, of the Marine Corps Recruiting Command headquarters in Virginia, said the test is a basic hurdle.

"It is a requirement if you go into the Marine Corps," said Hayes, who added that about 35,600 people entered the Marine Corps the last fiscal year, just surpassing the Corps' goal for recruitment.

Jack Hirschfield, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican who represents portions of western Harris County, said he believed the scandal was not widespread.

"We see this as a few bad apples and absolutely not representative of the Corps and the tens of thousands of brave men and women on the front lines trying to fight for freedom and security in Iraq and Afghani-stan," he said. "We do not, under any circumstances, believe this is a practice that reaches beyond the nine; this is not what the Marine Corps is about, stands for or represents — we know that and believe it strongly."

dane.schiller@chron.com

[grampsdw251]

It's a real shame when Marines are put in a situation like
these recruiters apparently were, especially when there are
a lot of us older 'prior service' types who would re-up in a heartbeat if not for certain age requirements.
Some restrictions are sensible, yes, but the age thing
doesn't make much sense to me in some ways.
The way I understand it, Your present age minus years
of service has to leave enough time to reach 20 total years of service before age 60.
Who cares about 20 years? Hell, I didn't do 20 years
when I signed up at age 17. I'm 50 now, still in darn good shape, willing, ready and able. I know without a doubt I could return to my old MOS and get the job done.
I may want to do another 3, 4, or 10 years or more.
Enlistments are contracts for x amounts of time anyway.
any of you ever sign on for 20 years? I see no reason a
Marine (or any other branch) can't serve again, as long as
he/she can prove themselves fit for service.
I think the whole of our armed forces are overlooking
a lot of great potential. Just my opinion.

[grampsdw251]

Tried to edit that last post but the time limit got me.
The recruiters aforementioned were,in my opinion, under a lot of pressure to get their numbers. They made a bad call for sure and you can bet they are paying the price. At least one so far has no more chance of a career in service and others chances are severely damaged.
They are Marines and they did what any Marine does in an impossible spot--they got it done anyway.
We got 10,000+ pre trained prior service Marines who already know what the Corps is all about, knocking on the door for a chance to serve again. Answer is NO, get new ones.
Makes about as much sense as sending the National Guard to guard the borders and don't even give 'em any ammo! Go figure. pizesmeoph!

[gutinstinct]

With all do respect I agree with you on everything in your quote Gramps(Including about the age thing. I would re-enlist in a heartbeat), But I feel that if the recruiters lied to get these under qualified individuals in the corps by malicious means they should be held responsible. There is no excuse for lying. Furthermore, If by chance that any of these under qualified individuals made it out to the fleet they would be a possible danger to fellow Marines.

[jahhead88]

[jetdawgg]

Jarhead88 that's funny

On another note, I hope that those Marine Recruiters get the max for what they have done. There is no reason to lie about the Marine Corps. Our history is rich and our traditions run deep.

If you can't sell potential recruits on the merits of being a Marine, then you should not be a recruiter. The experience is long lasting and invaluable

If you become a Marine, you are going to fight

[jahhead88]

THE MAX

[jetdawgg]

Jarhead88 you are now officially off the charts

[jahhead88]

[jahhead88]

Actually rumor has it they went to there doctors and were prescribed these

[Adams2311]

I can intelligently speak on this issue, because I have done a tour on recruiting duty. Let me tell you something, Marines, don't be so quick to pass judgement on these recruiters unless you have been there. Certainly, I do not condone what these individuals did, but I won't shun them either. I can honestly tell you that Recruiting Duty was the worst 3 years of my life. I worked 14+ hours a day Monday through Saturday and Sundays were generally spent on the road driving kids to MEPS to ship out on Monday morning. I had a quota (mission) of 3 enlistments per month, but also had to meet that by sex and component as well ( ie. 1 Reg Male, 1 Reservist Female ground, etc. ) Additionally, recruiters have a quota (mission) for shipping and if you've ever been around a Marine Recruiting office, you will hear the phrase, "Shipping is king!" God help you if you miss your shipping mission. God help you if you miss your contracting mission on a repeated basis. I've seen Recruiter Instructors come down to Recruiting Sub Stations and take recruiters out to bars in their dress blues and make them recruit. I've seen recruiters up in the Recruiting Station Headquarters in dress blues on a Friday night at 8:00pm for phase line training with all their PPCs, PACs, Lists, List contact sheets, etc. and receive phase line "training" until 1:00am!!! After this training, they are sent back to their offices ( some 2 hours away) and expected to return the next morning at 7:00am to begin another day. As a Marine Corps Recruiter, you can expect to have your career dangled in front of your face for 3 years and it used as a tool to get you to perform. Some guys just weren't meant to be recruiters and somehow they make it out of the school and end up on the streets of America and couldn't put a kid in the Marine Corps if he walked in off the street with a completed enlistment package. They see their livelyhood slowly fading away and resort to other than ethical behaviors to put kids in. Imagine working 10, 12, 13 years of your life, leading Marines in combat, and going to work every day knowing your career rests in the hands of 17 and 18 year olds and whether or not they say, "Yes or No". It's a hard pill to swallow!

I know I am going to get some motivated 8412 ( career recruiter) totally fired up and he is going to respond to this posting. He is probably going to call me a bag or turd or something like that, but he will be wrong. I was #2 recruiter in my Recruiting Station and had a very successful tour. I was repeatedly asked to join the 8412 ranks and had every sales tactic in the book tried on me. All of the stuff above, I witnessed firsthand or had to participate in. To this day, I am still amazed that we were treated like that. I rolled a zero one month and got treated like a piece of crap for that entire month even though I gave them 5 contracts the month before. Like I said before, it was the worst 3 years of my life!!

Now, the point of this whole posting is that I don't blame the recruiters for their actions and I don't blame the leadership in their particular Recruiting Stations. I do however blame Marine Corps Recruiting Command and the system in general. They are the ones that have created this kind of environment and they don't even realize it!! I took a management class for my Business Degree and one of the lessons was about Business ethics and Corporate Cultures and I wanted to share an excerpt from a paragraph I read.

"Ethics are not shaped only by laws and by individual development and virtue. They also may be influenced by the company’s work environment. The ethical climate of an organization refers to the processes by which decisions are evaluated and made on the basis of right and wrong. For example, Marsh & McLennan, the insurance broker mentioned earlier for its fraudulent practices, was known for having a secretive culture. CEO Jeff Greenberg’s defenders claim that he inherited problems when he took over. But he did not change the arrogant culture that encouraged the aggressive pursuit of profit and allowed problems to fester. As long as you “made your numbers,” his style was detached and hands-off. But when people missed their targets, heads
rolled. This creates an environment that allows and even encourages
unethical behavior."

Sounds a lot like the work environment in a Marine Corps Recruiting Station to me!!! Lastly, I want to say to the Marines reading this. Unless you've walked a day in the life of a recruiter, don't be so quick to castrate and crucify these individuals.

[jahhead88]

Adams2311. First of all, I couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of stress you were under. I take my hat off to you for surviving it. I don't know all the ins and outs; but I do know that an unfortunate after affect is that the whole Marine Corps will be stereotyped by these recruiters.

It couldn't have come at a worser time, with the liberal media having a field day in Iraq

[jetdawgg]

Adams123 thank you for your service first of all.

I understand sales as I was a Sales Engineer for several years at some very large tech firms. I know that missing your quota is a killer. I generally exceeded mine.

I just don't understand how you can get 'fired' from the Marines. I have seen sales reps come and go and even a few engineers. I know that the USMC is different from general business conditions as you may have to ask someone to sell their life.

Most potential recruits do understand that the USMC is about war and warriors or at least should. I just don't understand about recruits having others sit in for them to take their tests. That borders upon the absurd imo.

Also, is there not some sort of issue when the recruits don't make it thru boot camp? So even if they passed the test or the sit ins passed the testing for them, isn't there still an issue here?

[jetdawgg]

We are going to have to do something with Jarhead88

He must have taken some of those pills he displayed. The ones with the box

[jahhead88]

Jetdawgg:
I'll be good.