Senators blast Army over recruiting fraud scandal

christiefan915

christiefan915

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Your tax dollars at work...:palm:

WASHINGTON — Senators blasted the Army Tuesday for a recruiting scandal that involves thousands of soldiers and tens of millions of dollars.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., labeled the scandal one of the worst in Army history. It involved National Guard soldiers taking kickbacks for signing up new recruits. They scammed the Recruiting Assistance Program for more than $29 million in illegal payments. The program paid soldiers and even civilians thousands of dollars for helping to enlist a new recruit.

“The fraud investigation is one of the largest that the Army has ever conducted, both in terms of the sheer volume of fraud and the number of participants,” said McCaskill, who called the hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee’s financial and contracting oversight subcommittee.

The scams included soldiers taking credit for signing up recruits who had already enlisted. Five soldiers appear to have netted nearly $1 million in bogus bonuses. In all, more than 3,000 soldiers received payments that appear questionable. In all, it will take until the fall of 2016 for the Army to review all the payment..."

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http://www.militarytimes.com/articl...tors-blast-Army-over-recruiting-fraud-scandal
 
No comments on tens of millions in fraud?

Weird, I can remember of all kinds of threads about Medicare fraud, welfare fraud, etc. Is military fraud sacred or something?
 
christiefan915 said:
It's been in the mainstream media, too. I just C & P'd from the first link I found.
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Ok, I'll take your word for it, THIS TIME.

Anyways, it's not really surprising. Fraud and the military go hand in hand for the most part. Not to make it sound acceptable, but I can understand the temptation. Military pay is well below minimum wage (even without getting taxed, and getting a bunch of additional pay items, my gross take-away from Iraq was $15,000) and recruiters especially have goals that are not always possible to achieve.
 
Unicron said:
Ok, I'll take your word for it, THIS TIME.

Anyways, it's not really surprising. Fraud and the military go hand in hand for the most part. Not to make it sound acceptable, but I can understand the temptation. Military pay is well below minimum wage (even without getting taxed, and getting a bunch of additional pay items, my gross take-away from Iraq was $15,000) and recruiters especially have goals that are not always possible to achieve.
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Just for you Billy. https://www.google.com/search?q=rec...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

But to answer your comments, I've heard fraud allegations before but didn't want to believe it, or at least, that it was limited to stuff like the $700 toilet seats. This is the first I remember about fraud at the recruiting level.
 
christiefan915 said:
Just for you Billy. https://www.google.com/search?q=rec...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

But to answer your comments, I've heard fraud allegations before but didn't want to believe it, or at least, that it was limited to stuff like the $700 toilet seats. This is the first I remember about fraud at the recruiting level.
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The recruiting level is the MOST likely to be fraudulent. You're constantly looking for people to keep your numbers (both for the district and your own station) up, and you usually don't have the best candidates. Additionally, you're on your own. You have no one watching you (or supporting you), so you have to make things 'work'. Especially since Recruiting duty is (for the Marines) required to be promoted, but if you fail you won't get promoted. It'll be something from which your career will likely never recover.
 
I remember the GRAP program. I was actually registered, but I never recruited anyone or qualified for anything. It was riddled with dos/don'ts and these people qualify for enrollment but not these people. There was a guy in NJ who earned $200k one year and turned down a recruiter position because he would have no longer qualified.

Anyway, the program was run by a private company, and it seemed to have difficulty retaining its credentials and legitimacy. No surprise it led to questions of ethics and legality.
 
Failure of leadership....

171-0722165630-obama-general-patton-warmonger-afghanistan-war-commander-chief.jpg

Did you know Obama is the Commander-In-Chief of the military????
 
I first heard of GRAP in 2006 (I know it was older, but that's when it was first pitched to me), and I think I last heard of it in 2008. Trust me, there were plenty of problems and scandals regarding the program before Obama.

I just remembered that I got a blue polo for registering with GRAP that is hanging in my closet.
 
StormX said:
Failure of leadership....

171-0722165630-obama-general-patton-warmonger-afghanistan-war-commander-chief.jpg

Did you know Obama is the Commander-In-Chief of the military????
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Did you know this corruption was going on when your messiah was C-I-C?

"The Army National Guard launched the Recruiting Assistance Program in 2005 to bolster its ranks, which had thinned during the wars. It was later expanded to the the Army Reserve and active-duty Army. In essence, it paid soldiers for referrals of recruits. After audits turned up evidence of potential fraud, the program was canceled in 2012."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ogus-bonus-payments-iraq-afghanistan/5182717/
 
christiefan915 said:
No comments on tens of millions in fraud?

Weird, I can remember of all kinds of threads about Medicare fraud, welfare fraud, etc. Is military fraud sacred or something?
Click to expand...


Well, since Obama is the Commander in Chief over the military I am reluctant to criticize him for fear of being called a racist
 
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