In 1997 the Navy investigated a recruiter who arranged for a recruit to hide drug use from a routine urine test by drinking a 'kidney cleanser'.

A spokesman for the US Navy's New England recruiting district in Boston said the investigation into the Holyoke recruiting station is focusing on one incident. But Petty Officer Robert Natereli, who was assigned to the Holyoke office at the end of May and reassigned in August, said in a recent interview that other officers at the recruiting station arranged for at least two others seeking to join the Navy to take the drug-concealing drink.

In something of a ritual in the office, Natereli said, recruiters would drive the 20 miles to Enfield, Conn., to purchase 16-ounce bottles of the substance, which the manufacturer says is a health-food drink that flushes toxins from the kidneys. The product was used at least twice successfully this summer by recruits to mask drug use, Natereli said.

In the case of his recruit, Natereli said another recruiter drove the young woman to the store in Connecticut, purchased the substance for $ 42, and told her how and when to drink it. (Boston Globe, Sep. 15, 1997)

CONCLUSION:

• More proof of going to extremes to get kids into the military and meet quotas!
• Long history of these misleading recruitment practices!
• Small punishments