A story involving an Army recruiter in Texas last week has led to a call for an investigation. The recruiter in Houston was suspended after a recording of his threats aired on a local TV station. The recruiter warned eighteen-year-old Irving Gonzalez that he would be sent to jail if he decided to go to college instead of joining the military.
Excerpt from a conversation with a recruiter:
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: Yeah, he needs—you know, you don’t want whatever is going to happen to him to happen to you.
IRVING GONZALEZ: What’s going to happen?
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: You know, I don’t know. I mean whatever. If he ever gets pulled over or whatever [inaudible], you never know what can happen.
IRVING GONZALEZ: I think I can do better with my life out here than in there.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: You think so? The way the economy is going right now?
IRVING GONZALEZ: I’d rather struggle and be free.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: I have your best interest—what’s that?
IRVING GONZALEZ: I think I’d rather struggle.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: You’d rather struggle?
IRVING GONZALEZ: Yeah.
CPL. LISETTE DIAZ: Are you serious? Think about what you’re saying. The way the economy is going right now and the way it’s going to go for the next couple of years, it’s not looking good. Sometimes you have to grow up and learn how to be a man and to take care of stuff on your own. You know what I’m saying? Do you want to sit there and live with your mom for the next three, four, five, six years or whatever? You know, you want to do something different now to what your friends are doing, because when you come back and you see what your friends are doing, still living at home with mom and dad, struggling, trying to make a job, make money, make a living, you’re going to be like, bam, I’m glad I didn’t. You know what I’m saying? I’m telling you from experience, because I see that.
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