And it seems that some recruiters have resorted to threatening recruits. In late April in Houston recruiter, Sgt. Thomas Kelt, threatened to have a prospect arrested if he resisted recruiting efforts. Kelt left a voice mail message on the cell phone of 20 year old Christopher Monarch ordering him to show up for an appointment — under the false pretense that Monarch would be violating the law if he didn’t. This is a recording of that voicemail obtained by Houston TV station KHOU:

“Hey Chris, this is Sgt. Kelt with the Army man. I think we got disconnected. Okay, I know you were on your cell probably and just had a bad connection or something like that. I know you didn’t hang up on me. Anyway, by federal law you got an appointment with me at 2 o’clock this afternoon at Greenspoint Mall, okay? That’s the Greenspoint Mall Army Recruiting Station at 2 o’clock. You fail to appear and we’ll have a warrant. Okay? So give me a call back.”

That was army recruiter Sgt. Thomas Kelt leaving a voicemail on a prospective recruit’s voicemail. Kelt reportedly said that threatening to issue an arrest warrant was a “marketing technique.” Army officials confirm the threat was made.