Military recruiters preying upon women looking to enlist

This should really help bring more women into the ranks. Sick and sad.

More than 100 young women who expressed interest in joining the military in the past year were preyed upon sexually by their recruiters. Women were raped on recruiting office couches, assaulted in government cars and groped en route to entrance exams.

A six-month Associated Press investigation found that more than 80 military recruiters were disciplined last year for sexual misconduct with potential enlistees. The cases occurred across all branches of the military and in all regions of the country.

The following facts, also from AP, tell the tale of a Pentagon with serious, ongoing issues with recruiters and women.

* The Army, which accounts for almost half of the military, has had 722 recruiters accused of rape and sexual misconduct since 1996.

* Across all services, one out of 200 frontline recruiters — the ones who deal directly with young people — was disciplined for sexual misconduct last year.

* Some cases of improper behavior involved romantic relationships, and sometimes those relationships were initiated by the women.

* Most recruiters found guilty of sexual misconduct are disciplined administratively, facing a reduction in rank or forfeiture of pay; military and civilian prosecutions are rare.

* The increase in sexual misconduct incidents is consistent with overall recruiter wrongdoing, which has increased from just over 400 cases in 2004 to 630 cases in 2005, according to a General Accounting Office report released this week.

* The Pentagon has committed more than $1.5 billion to recruiting efforts this year. Defense Department spokeswoman Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke insisted that each of the services takes the issue of sexual misconduct by recruiters "very seriously and has processes in place to identify and deal with those members who act inappropriately."

* In the Army, 53 recruiters were charged with misconduct last year. Recruiting spokesman S. Douglas Smith said the Army has put much energy into training its staff to avoid these problems.

It should be noted that this sort of thing is what sets off Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, who always uses articles like this one to provide pithy quotes on why women's role in the military should be curtailed, or preferably eliminated. She also bleats endlessly about why gays cannot serve openly ("Servicemen and women should not have to expose themselves to persons who might be sexually attracted to them. It would be unfair to force the homosexual agenda on young people whose lives are difficult enough").