Investigates

Military Command Responds To Investigation

ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) ― The U.S. Army recruiting command is responding to a CBS4 investigation. CBS4 revealed last week how a 17-year-old high school student was told to lie and cheat about his background in order to enlist in the Army.

Despite claiming he was dropout with a drug problem, high school journalist David McSwane of Arvada said the Army was anxious to enlist him. They were apparently so anxious that at the Golden, Colo., recruiting office a sergeant asked him to lie about where he lived. McSwane recorded the call, the transcript of which follows.

Recruiter: "I'd have to do a couple of things and change a couple of things about you because ... an Arvada police check is going to take me about a week to get, but if I change your address to Golden, saying you moved to Golden about a week ago ... "
McSwane: "So I have to move to Golden?"
Recruiter: "Well, I'll take care of that. I'll take care of that part."

Lt. Col Michael Shepard from the Army's military command at Ft. Knox, Ky., reacted to the story on the CBS Early Show Monday.

"We have data mining capabilities, quality assurance capabilities, that look into the records of these recruiters to reveal if there's some sort of pattern of misbehavior ... and so when that happens we get into it early," Shepard said. Shepard admitted that didn't happen in this case.

The man in charge of recruiting in the Denver area, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brodeur said last week "The first thing I have to do is aggressively investigate any improprieties, and there are apparently glaring improprieties."

Two soldiers have been suspended from recruiting since CBS4 alerted the Army to the questionable recruiting tactics. The Army's investigation will be completed next month.

CBS4 Video:

Meeting Mission: Recruiter Says He Was Fired For Quota Failure

Military Command Responds To Investigation

Watch Rick Sallinger's Investigates Report, Part I

Watch Rick Sallinger's Investigates Report, Part II

Full Interview With Lt. Col. Jeffrey Brodeur (8 Minutes)

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