http://stripes.com/07/feb07/gangs/gangs3.html
Posted on 07/28/2007 8:58:54 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Called A Threat To Law Enforcement, National Security
(CBS) -- BAGHDAD U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero's welcome while home on leave in June of 2004.
"Not only did I love my son - but my god - I liked the man he was becoming," his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers.
But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive.
When Johnson died, he wasn't in a war zone, he was in Germany.
"He had finished his term in Iraq," his mother said. "I talked to him the day before his death. He said, 'Mom, I'm in the process of discharging out. I'll be out in two weeks'."
On July 3, 2005, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the 'Gangster Disciples,' a notorious Chicago-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a "jump-in" - an initiation rite common to many gangs.
"My son never spoke of joining a gang," Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.
Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later.
"I feel like I didn't prepare him enough to deal with this and I should have," his mother said. "But how would I have known there were gangs in the military? I could have had that talk with him."
Evidence of gang culture and gang activity in the military is increasing so much an FBI report calls it "a threat to law enforcement and national security." The signs are chilling: Marines in gang attire on Paris Island; paratroopers flashing gang hand signs at a nightclub near Ft. Bragg; infantrymen showing-off gang tattoos at Ft. Hood.
"It's obvious that many of these people do not give up their gang affiliations," said Hunter Glass, a retired police detective in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the home of Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne. He monitors gang activity at the base and across the military.
"If we weren't in the middle of fighting a war, yes, I think the military would have a lot more control over this issue," Glass said. "But with a war going on, I think it's very difficult to do."
Gang activity clues are appearing in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. Gang graffiti is sprayed on blast walls – even on Humvees. Kilroy – the doodle made famous by U.S. soldiers in World War II – is here, but so is the star emblem of the Gangster Disciples.
The soldier who took these photos told CBS News he's been warned he's as good as dead if he ever returns to Iraq.
"We represent America – our demographics are the same – so the same problems that America contends with we often times contend with," said Colonel Gene Smith of the Army's Office of the Provost Marshal.
The U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command reported 61 gang investigations and incidents last year, compared to just 9 in 2004. But army officials point out less than 1 percent of all its criminal investigations are gang related.
"We must remember that there are a million people in the army community," Smith said, "And these small numbers are not reflective of a tremendous, pervasive, rampant problem."
The rise in gang activity coincides with the increase in recruits with records. Since 2003, 125,000 recruits with criminal histories have been granted what are known as "moral waivers" for felonies including robbery and assault.
A hidden-camera investigation by CBS Denver station KCNC found one military recruiter was quick to offer the waiver option even when asked, "Does it matter that i was in a gang or anything?" That is well within military regulations.
"You may have had some gang activity in your past and everything ... OK ... but that in itself does not disqualify...," the recruiter said.
Military regulations disqualify members of hate groups from enlisting, but there is no specific ban on members of street gangs. Sgt. Juwan Johnson's family says such a prohibition is long overdue.
"Just maybe we can save someone else's child ... somebody else's husband ... somebody else's father," his mother said. "I would have loved to have seen him with his child, I really would have -- that part is hard, that part is hard."
This month a military court sentenced two of Juwan Johnson's attackers to prison.
Killed by stupidity. Thin the herd.
I don’t know of any white kids in gangs. Is this problem in the military race related?
Sorry,lady, you set him up when you named him “Juwan”. Just another victim of rapcrap!
You know what, this has been going on for a long time. I remember dip-s$$ts that couldn’t leave it behind, of thought it would be cool to be in a gang when I was in 15 years ago.
There’s plenty of white kids in gangs I’ve seen em.
This gang activity has been going on for years in the military and yes it's race related, that is it's mostly young black men from the inner city.
Oh yeah, they're in the gangs. It's also surprising how many are associated with historically black street gangs like the Crips
I actually live in the Ramstein area and the Sgt Johnson story has been a major episode around here. All of the guys involved (both AF and Army) were from this region. Strangely enough, they needed some type of companionship that had to be gang-related. Even the females associated with this gang...were of the same variety...they needed an atmosphere of a gang to feel protected and secure. Most people I know...can’t understand this necessity.
The fascinating part of the Sgt Johnson story...is that the gang leader...just up and disappeared. Yep...no one knows nothing. The guy was former military but was a civilian at the time of the hazing. They can’t show that he returned to the states via any airline. The military really doesn’t want to even have this guys name mentioned much because they know they can’t even try the guy if they find him...the Germans can...but apparently have very little interest in this episode. The general feeling is that he is still in Germany...living with a fresh new gang down in the Stuttgart or Wiesbaden area. The best bet here...he will triple up the hazing process and eventually have another guy killed just as well.
Yes, I think they are and have have been. For example, from what I have read, I believe, in the 60's and 70's, they were called "hoods."
This mother raised a son who was honorable enough to fight for his country in Iraq. Maybe he was into some wrong things, but she obviously instilled some values in him. His name has nothing to do with it. I know a child named Juwan who is one of the best kids I have ever met.
We used the term “hood” circa 1960 when I was in Junior High in suburban NJ to indicate the type of kid such as “the Fonz” or a “Greaser”, as seen on TV. ( The term “Greaser” was unknown to me until the movie of that name. ) Certainly this is the gang-banger type, but we didn’t associate it with organized gang activity. It was a social classification to us.
I actually remember my sister using the term at the dinner table, saying so-and-so was a “hood”, and my father objecting that a “hood” was a gangster or mobster. This was meaning in the 30s and 40s, and is still used, I think.
Maybe he just couldn’t learn to flip burgers. The damned fool wasn’t smart enough to stay away from the gang crap, and that is for sure. I doubt that fighting for the country, as an ideal, ever entered Juwan’s mind.
Yes.
The kid did something good with his life at least for a couple of years. And getting into the military may be the only way out of gangs for many of these men in dangerous neighborhoods. The ability of kids who are otherwise good to be able to get out of town, get an education and get exposed to different people probably saves way, way, way more lives than any which are lost by former servicemen to join gangs back in the ghetto or barrio.
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