By: E&P Staff McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT) is offering a Sacramento Bee investigative series related to how the U.S. military -- in trying to maintain troop levels during an unpopular war -- has signed up people with troubled backgrounds.
For instance, the series discusses an Army sergeant with a 10-year criminal record who was accused in Iraq of beating prisoners and conspiring to plant rifles on dead civilians; a lance corporal with a background of trying to commit suicide in high school, assault, and other problems stabbing an Iraqi private to death with a bayonet; and an Army specialist who had been convicted twice on felony charges and arrested four times who went on to be convicted of stealing a pistol at Abu Ghraib prison.
During its yearlong examination, the Bee studied the civilian and military backgrounds of hundreds of troops -- focusing on those who entered the military since the Iraq War began and those linked to in-service problems.
The four-part series, which includes photos and graphics, can be published July 13-16. It's available to all U.S. and international subscribers to MCT, and can also be purchased a la carte.
MCT is marketed by Tribune Media Services.
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