21st Century Wire says…
For those in the media who blindly lionize men ans women in uniform, this story will be a rude awakening to just how potentially corrupt the US military can be. In actuality, when left with piles of taxpayer money, they are no better than the rest of the gangs occupying government, and likewise require heavy supervision.
We all know about contracting fraud from Iraq and Afghanistan, but not a lot is talked about regarding military fraud…
US Army criminal investigators are currently investigating at least 1,200 individuals who lined their pockets more than $29 million. The scam went as follows: US Army National Guard recruiters got thousands per head in kickbacks for supplying names of recent recruits to an outside firm who listed them as false “referrals” before collecting bonus fees from the US military (read the full story below). Nice little scam – but it’s only the tip of the iceberg…
Let’s not forget also, when some genius in Washington got the bright idea of signing off on flying in pallets of shrink-wrapped $100 bills on US military C-130 Hercules aircraft into Iraq between 2003 – 2006, were they that dumb to think that ‘our boys’ and ‘our heroes’ wouldn’t be tempted to skim? Well, until today, the US government still can’t any straight answers out of our heroes – even though hundreds of millions, if not billions, were successfully skimmed off the top. Rumour has it that depending on your rank, if you knew where to line-up, you were entitled to 30K, 50K, 100K, 500K, 1 million… in cash. Not bad. Billions are still yet to be accounted for.
When we see a story like this, it reminds us that men and women of the US military are essentially cut from the same cloth as everyone else – and when placed in a position of power and (un)accountability, they are just as susceptible to open corruption and greed as the rest. This is especially true when handling (and pocketing) other peoples’ (taxpayer) money. Remember that – all you folks who are cheer-leading for a military coup in America right now – do not expect a military government to perform any better than the current kleptocracy.
Raise your hand if you are tired of hearing military sycophantic ravings of FOX News pundit Sean Hannity and friends waxing lyrical: ‘Oh you’re a great patriot’. Followed by ‘Thank you for your service’, and ‘you’re a great American’? No Sean, they’re only humans, like the rest of us – and they are not protecting us to preserve our freedoms at home – as we all can clearly see, we’re losing those faster than ever. Enough already. The US is now bankrupt. Time to sober up, we need to balance our checkbooks…
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Army probes allegations of fraud by recruiters and others in enlistment referral program
Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post
Army criminal investigators are probing allegations that hundreds of National Guard recruiters and others with ties to the military abused an enlistment referral program established at the height of the Iraq war, officials disclosed Monday, describing a massive racket that appears to have gone undetected for years.
While cases of wartime contracting fraud from Iraq and Afghanistan are legion, the recruitment bonus scandal appears to mark the first instance of systemic fraud by military personnel committed at home.
Army criminal investigators are probing the actions of more than 1,200 individuals who collected suspect payouts totaling more than $29 million, according to officials who were briefed on the preliminary findings of the investigation and would discuss them only on the condition of anonymity. More than 200 officers are suspected of involvement, including two generals and dozens of colonels.
The alleged fraud drew in recruiters, soldiers and civilians with ties to the military who submitted, or profited from, false referrals registered on a Web site run by a marketing firm the Army hired to run the program. Suspects often obtained the names of people who had enlisted from recruiters, claimed them as their referrals, and then kicked back some of the bonus money to the recruiters.
The abuse is feared to be so widespread that Army investigators do not expect to conclude all audits and investigations before the fall of 2016.
“It is disappointing that people who wore the uniform saw a way to get one over on the government and they did,” said Sen.Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), who chairs a contracting panel that will hold a hearing on the case Tuesday morning. “It does such a disservice to the majority of people who have served honorably.”
The case stems from a recruitment incentive system called the Recruiting Assistance Program, which the Army National Guard launched in 2005 when the Pentagon was struggling to meet its recruitment goals amid two wars and a strong economy.
Under the program, National Guard soldiers who signed up to be “recruiting assistants” could earn between $2,000 to $7,500 for each person they got to enlist. The program was open to guardsmen who were not on active duty, retirees, relatives and some other civilians. The informal recruiters were paid as contractors of Docupak, a company the Army hired to run the program. A representative of the company did not respond to a phone call seeking comment on Monday.
The Guard promoted the program as an easy way to make money, urging prospective recruitment assistants in a flier to sign up online in “two easy steps” that took just minutes.
Formal Army recruiters were barred from collecting the referral bonus, but many soon realized they could profit from the program undetected, according to documents and officials familiar with the investigation, which was first reported by USA Today…
Continue this story at Washington Post
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