I had to submit an SF86 when I joined the Army and my recruiter was the one who filled it out. I just sat all gullible in the chair while he asked me questions and typed answers in for me. His station was having issues with recruitment so they would lie on paper and do whatever they could to get soldiers into the military. When he asked me about prior drug use and I told him about my prior use. He said that’s fine, it’s nothing to worry about. Fast forward a few years later and I’m trying to change MOS’s and need to get a TS/SCI. I have to resubmit a new SF86 but the old one is on file saying that I have never partaken in drugs. Not really sure what to do or if I let some E6 ruin my future. I’m damn sure not about to ride that out and submit a new one falsely on purpose. My best defense is negligence and that doesn’t help at all.
Ultimately it’s my document and word but I definite didn’t have the intent to lie or deceive. Am I screwed or is there a chance I would be able to get past that?
Update #1: I’m going to go talk to JAG today to get legal counsel and protect myself. After speaking to them I’m gonna go talk with my security manager and see what I can work out as far as correcting this.
I’m gonna keep this form updated just so that anyone whoever ends up in this circumstance has some idea. I’ve seen 1 form post about something like this and it’s not really helpful at all for the soldier dealing with this kinda thing.
Agreed. I’m a former BI and had to file several recruiter falsification complaints over stuff exactly like this. Whenever I had to meet with recruiters for any reason I’d always strongly suggest to them that they always let the recruit fill out their own forms and only step if there was a technical issue or something like that.
I’ll have to check to see if I signed it or not, I’d assume so but I’m not sure.
I’ve never had an interview for any clearances. My ERB doesn’t have a clearance listed so I may not hold one but I believe I do and that specific paperwork is messed up do to clerical errors.
How did the recruiting falsification claims play out or work if you don’t mind me asking?
I’ve also been looking more at the old SF86 on file and it’s missing a ton of stuff. More than I realized, even my birthplace is wrong. I don’t know how the hell my recruiter managed to screw that up considering he had my birth certificate. I’m hoping that due to the extra issues, when I submit a new SF86 my investigator will see my issue take me trying to fix it all into account.
Yeah I know. And when you go to JAG. You’re essentially self-reporting misconduct that the command can after you for. I’ve lived it. Survived, but if I had to do over again, I would have consulted with an attorney specializing in military justice and had him or her advise me on the best path forward.
This is so very very common amongst recruiters at least for the last decade. There are just not enough computers given to recruiting offices to allow for recruits to fill out their own. Sometimes it’s not about falsifying it’s about getting recruit’s info wrong. I’ve asked young enlistees if their mom’s name is “Mary Smith” as listed on their case papers and they will reply “No I have no idea who Mary Smith is my mom is Jane Doe”. It’s a sad situation that recruiting command just can’t seem to get fixed. We just can’t assume that every young recruit has the internet and a computer capability to fill out their won.
What ever you do, be honest on your current form. You will be grilled but okay if you did not have a Subject interview from any previous investigation. Lying about the information in previous Subject interview will haunt you. Always.
My concern having to deal with recruiters over many years, and knowing several personally, is the military recruiter is considered a trusted agent in the Trusted Workforce program… yet they are a huge security risk as they have different motivation (than the security process) and no security training other than what any normal military person.
Update #2: From what I’ve been told JAG is a bad idea so I cancelled my appointment and will be looking elsewhere. My security managers are all on leave currently so I have to wait for them all to get back. Hopefully tomorrow I can sit down and have a conversation about my situation with this old SF86.
Thankfully my immediate leadership has been really supportive and helping me through this instead of trying to crucify me. By far the biggest help to me is the fact that I’ve busted my ass for the entirety I’ve been at my unit and that work ethic has been returned to me when I needed help. If anyone ends up in this situation, for the love of god I hope you are a good soldier because if your not this will be their excuse to get you outta their hair.
I was talking to my current platoon Sergeant and he said the same thing happened to him when he enlisted. Super messed up form, missing info, other info is incorrect, he’d never even heard of an SF86 similar to me until he had to resubmit a new one. He’s experience was resubmitting a new one. He made sure it was accurate and explained his circumstance to the background investigator. It happens so often he said most investigators expect it from young soldiers because recruiting command has so many bad apples. Hopefully this will apply to my circumstance but he was successful at dealing with this.
After talking to a lot of people and hearing from people in this forum I feel a lot better, it’s one of those things that stresses you to max so I can’t say how appreciative I am for this forum and other people.
Recruiting process has the recruiter inputting data into the recruiting database which spits out many forms… one of them is the eqip. I’ve had two recruiters, that I know and trust, try to explain to me the process and I try to explain how the process wastes money and leads to many recruits having delayed or denied clearances.
i.e. 2 1st termers, each about 2 1/2 year into their enlistment - without a secret clearance - when i was finally able to hunt them down on a TDY (preCovid teleESI). Both had the same recruiter - same battallon, different companies - both had the same issue - parents listed as undocumented aliens living in the US. Both said the same thing to me during their interviews - who the recruiter was and that neither of their parents were illegal aliens - they were able to produce the request documentation.
Almost three years not being able to fully work their mission because we used to have to do these interviews in person (they are/were assigned to remote non-CONUS location) and their recruiter was too lazy/impatient to have them provide the required documentation.