06:35 PM CDT on Wednesday, May 11, 2005

By Jason Whitely / 11 News

Click to watch 11 News Defenders Monday night report on recruiting

Click to watch Jason Whitely's 11 News report

More people are coming forward with Army recruiting horror stories after the 11 News Defenders investigation that exposed a recruiting scandal.

They're sharing similiar stories about military recruiters using hardball tactics to persuade young people to enlist.

KHOU

Will Ammons, 20, says a recruiter threatened to put him in jail or have him shot if he didn't enlist.

Will Ammons, 20, signed up for delayed entry at the Lake Jackson Army recruiting station last year.

But soon afterwards, he fell in love and changed his mind before he ever shipped out.

That's when, he says, Army recruiters crossed the line and started harrassing him.

"He told me I pretty much had two options," Ammons said. "I'd go before a judge and get a sentence of 15 years but he had the option to double it. It was either that or they were going to put me in front of seven other people with rifles and shoot me."

This is the second time this week that young men have made similar allegations about Army recruiters going too far.

20-year-old Chris Monarch told us an Army recruiter threatened to arrest him if he didn't report that day to a recruiting station.

Monarch never enlisted.

Ammons backed out, too.

Army regulations, we discovered, say even those who sign up for delayed entry, or DEPs, can change their minds.

The regulation reads: "At no time will any member of this command tell a DEP member he or she must 'go in the Army or he or she will go to jail,' or that `failure to enlist will result in a blackmark on his or her credit record,' or any other statement indicating adverse action will occur if the applicant fails to enlist."

The officer in charge of Army recruiting in southeast Texas thinks these incidents are isolated.

"I'm not saying that it didn't happen, but if it did it was wrong. I don't condone stuff like that," said CSM Frank Norris, U.S. Army recruiter. "If there's any kind of substantiated proof out there, I'll definitely take swift action on things like that because I don't condone that nor does the commander."

But the Army says no proof has ever been offered and no recuiter has ever been disciplined.

Because of the Defenders' investigation and other similar allegations, the Army will hold a nationwide stand down on recruiting on May 20.