Police fear Fort Sill is home to gang woes
Lawton law enforcement say they have told military officials about their concerns
BY RON JACKSON
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Published: November 9, 2008
Men identified by Lawton police as Fort Sill soldiers flash gang signs in a photo from a social networking Web site. PHOTO Provided by Lawton Police
LAWTON — Soldiers such as Spc. Gregory Darnell King II are emerging as a new kind of face at Fort Sill — a face police claim many high-ranking military officers won’t acknowledge, let alone talk about.
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Growing concerns
The gang unit has a binder stuffed with such photographs, images spokesman Long says "is not proof that the person pictured is actually a gang member.” In one image, King — a reservist who served with the 177th Field Artillery — can be seen flashing a sign affiliated with the 107 Hoover Crips, a nationwide gang known to have members in Lawton. Since 2006, King has been arrested six times by Lawton police on complaints ranging from drug possession to driving with loaded firearms. King was last arrested Sept. 25 for not paying his court fines. Investigators list his gang affiliation as "107 Hoover” and occupation as "SPC-E4.” "I told them about King,” Southerland said. "I was told, ‘Look, this guy is a hero. He pulled someone out of a burning Humvee in Iraq, and we’re not touching him.’ What are you gonna do?” King could not be reached for comment. In January, soldiers David Coleman and Ira Easterling — suspected Blood gang members stationed at Fort Sill — engaged in a deadly clash outside a Lawton nightclub with suspected civilian gang member Ronald Walker of the 107 Hoovers, Southerland said. An argument ensued. Shots were fired. Easterling died. "The argument started with one guy disrespecting the other,” Southerland said. "Next thing you know, guns are pulled. ...”A war within a war
Tattoo artist Rocky White, who operates a shop just beyond Fort Sill’s gates, isn’t shocked by the idea. "Young soldiers come in here all the time asking me to do some gang-related tattoo,” White said. "I sit them down and lecture them on the profound effect it could have on their lives and their military careers.” Recently, White said a Marine recruiter approached him about hiding a young recruit’s swastika tattoo with an Irish clover. The combination is a symbol for the Aryan Brotherhood. "If they are persistent, I just refuse,” White said. "I have a real problem doing any kind of drug- or gang-related tattoos.” Experts claim gangs in the military are nothing new, although the subject always seems to shock the senses of the general population. Hunter Glass, a former U.S. Army soldier who specializes studying military gangs, said the problem is alarming and widespread. "I often encounter people who express disbelief,” Glass told The Oklahoman from his North Carolina home. "And my lectures aren’t always popular. People get angry. I’ve had politicians call me, generals call me ... but people have to wake up. The military is a reflection of society. Why wouldn’t there be gang members in the military? "The world isn’t always Norman Rockwell.” Southerland and his gang task force members are now bracing for the thousands of soldiers who will transfer to Fort Sill with the Army Air Defense School from Fort Bliss by 2011. Police fear the transfers could ignite a turf war among military gang members. The National Gang Intelligence Center mentioned Fort Bliss in a 2006 report, noting authorities had identified more than 40 suspected military-affiliated members of the Chicago-based Folk Nation gang on post. "By their nature, gang members are violent and territorial,” Glass said. "I’d say the likelihood of conflict is highly probable.” There is one more concern, perhaps the greatest of all. "It’s a disgrace to the military,” said Clay Houseman, a gang task force member. "Our veterans didn’t fight and die in wars so these guys could join the military and terrorize our streets as members of gangs. We just can’t let that happen.”
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Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to poor
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'til their judgement day comes
Yeah!
Now in darkness world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees the war pig's crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing spreads his wings
All right now!
A convicted criminal is not a hero - some people have a bad misconception about what constitutes a "hero". Lawton police should be given the authority to lock them up to keep the streets safe in OK. Drug possession is OK in the military? How was Green not discharged before he got arrested 5 more times?
If it isn't illegal to be in a gang, then a law should be passed to make it illegal to join the military if you are a gang member. It isn't safe to have gangsters from multiple gangs in the same army carrying loaded weapons.
A host of other laws need to be passed as well - including anyone proven to be a gang member loses any chance at tax credits, welfare, or government programs. There need to be consequences for their choices or it will continue to get worse.
Illegal gang members are easy to take care of - it just costs money and time to deport them.
That's the military for you. "he's a war hero" and try to make whoever DARED to speak out look like a disrespectful jerk for even suggesting that a revered war hero is a trouble make and bad news. Just because he saved someone's life in Iraq, doesn't make him exempt from the law. The type of behavior reported sounds to me like Conduct Unbecoming. The military is supposed to protect the people of our country...and they can't even do the right thing by looking into these complaints? Sick and sad.
I also love how the Army ducks around the subject by saying "no evidence of gang activity ON THE BASE". Well duh. However, a soldier is still under the UCMJ code of law. If a soldier is affiliated with a gang, even if that soldier is not caught doing anything, s/he is still cohorting with people who engage in illegal activities....and condoning it, if they choose to be a member of that gang. This also seems to me like it would be under Conduct Unbecoming. It certainly seems like a violation of some sort of military code either under UCMJ or even just the ethics a soldier in our military has taken oath to live up to. Shame! Activity on or off base, the military is responsible for these soldiers and needs to quit hiding behind their Criminal Investigation Command reports and actually address the situation!
The army has always been a place where young men on the verge of making big mistakes in their lives can go to turn themselves around. So some guys who used to run with gangs back on the block have joined the army. So what? The old "go to war or go to jail" of our last war has been replaced by the "morals waiver" of this one. But it's basically the same thing.
In case you hadn't noticed, there's a war on. You can't be as picky as you can durng peacetime. And if these men (and women) can straighten themselves out with the help of some military discipline, then God bless them.
Otherwise, there's always Leavenworth.
The last time I checked, it was perfectly legal to “kick” someone out of town, why not clean up a whole culture of gang infested neighborhoods and replace them with working class students and taxpayers that legitimately contribute to the infrastructure of that community?
It has been documented that gang members and fresh army recruits with backgrounds close to gang activity do join the military and when they return back to society, they are more trained and dangerously tied to their respective environments and survival in the streets, is of upmost priority.
Lawton’s law enforcement will only be successful at curbing gang activity when they look at what Los Angeles, New York and Chicago have known for 20 years and what Oklahomans tend to deny about their own communities. Gangs do recruit even in rural towns and use drugs as a form of control by selling and building monopolies that eventually fall from police raids or “changing the leadership” through murder or transfer to another sleepy town.