Sometimes the line between being a bully and toughening up new recruits in the army can be a bit fuzzy, but very few of the new allegations thrown at the Arizona National Guard fall in any kind of ethical grey area. In fact, many of the accusations are so far over the line, they should probably result in immediate terminations if proven accurate. Over the last few years, military recruiters and officers have allegedly turned on whistleblowers, sexually harassed female recruits, defrauded the government out of money via forged documentation, systematically transferred wrongdoers rather than punishing them and perhaps worst of all, hunted homeless people.
According to The Arizona Republic, the so-called “bum hunts” occurred at least thirty times between 2007 and 2008. Recruiters reportedly drove around various residential communities in army vehicles along with prospective enlistees looking for homeless people. Once discovered, the recruits were told to fire paintball guns at the bums. The homeless men were then offered chances to dance and sing for money, and the female recruits were ordered to flash their breasts at the dancers.
Over the past few decades, the army has largely gotten less aggressive. Its drill sergeants are supposedly nicer. Its whistleblowers are supposedly treated more fairly. Its boot camps are less demanding. To many, these changes have represented a disappointing and unnecessary acceptance of politically correct ideals, but stories like this are the reason why that change had to happen. If this shit is still going on, imagine how miserable this stuff was twenty years ago. Shooting bums with paintball guns? Ordering female recruits to flash homeless people? Those things aren't even funny. They're just sick and pathetic. And that’s to say nothing of the list of other offenses outlined in the first paragraph.
To read more about how far Arizona went off the rails, head over to The Arizona Republic.
