'We Have Very Little Gang Activity On Fort Lewis'
It's a war on gang and extremists in the military.
Officials at Fort Lewis are downplaying recent published reports that gang activity is on the rise in the military. To the contrary, they say that gangs and extremist groups have no chance of getting a stronghold in the military.
An Army reservist had a photo taken to show that gang influence has made its way from the streets of America to the streets of Iraq. The photo showed the soldier standing next to a wall marked with gang slogans.
And a former Army investigator at Fort Lewis says he identified more than 300 gang members in the past 4 years at the fort alone. Scott Barfield told the Chicago Sun-Times this was the 'tip of the iceberg.'
The top cop at Fort Lewis was quick on the defense.
"We actually have very little gang activity on Fort Lewis and no recent extremist activity," said Col. Katherine Miller, Fort Lewis provost marshal. "And we want to keep it that way."
The provost marshal says she has identified 126 gang members at Ft. Lewis and either got them turned around or drummed them out.
The same is true if any soldier is found to be an active leader in extremist groups. There is zero tolerance for troops involved in rallies like the recent 'Neo Nazi' gathering in Olympia.
"Participation in gang or extremist activities is counter to the military culture and counter good order and discipline," says Col. Dan Williams of Fort Lewis. "And it is not tolerated in the military nor is it tolerated specifically here at Fort Lewis."
Army leaders insist there is just too much close supervision, constant drug testing and 24/7 training for street gangs or extremist groups to gain a stronghold here.
"You can see that gang activity is just not going to take root in a community like this," Col. Miller said. "We have people who come to us from different walks of life and we're going to occasionally have somebody who is going to misbehave. We find that out and we take action."
The Army says it's hard enough fighting a war. They don't need to be fighting against each other.
Fort Lewis says of the 126 identified gang members, only five of them committed a crime; the most serious of which was two soldiers with gang ties fighting each other. All 126 have either left the gangs or left the military.
But there's still concern that if a gang member lays low during his stint in the military, he'll come out of the service as a well-trained street fighter.