RETRACTED

Army Pulls Ad After Learning Featured Soldier Is a Child Rapist

The commercial only ran for a week.

The U.S. Army pulled a recruitment ad this week after learning one of the soldiers featured in the commercial was a convicted rapist, Business Insider reported Thursday. The ad began airing nationally on May 8 and was pulled just a week later, on May 15, about an hour after Army officials learned one of the soldiers was convicted of child rape in 2015. The soldier in question, who was not named by Business Insider, wasn’t acting in the commercial, but a picture of him was used in the spot. “All soldiers, civilians, and family members are vetted prior to filming in any national or local advertising effort. However, participants are not usually vetted a second time if images are later used,” Maj. Avon Cornelius wrote in an internal memo.