Army duped

A TEXAS man with no military experience tricked the army into letting him enter a reserve unit as a noncommissioned officer earlier this year, a deception that placed an untrained soldier in a leadership position in a time of war, a probe has found.

The revelation comes just months after the army drew criticism for failing to flag the suspicious activities of the army psychiatrist now charged with killing 13 and wounding dozens of others at Fort Hood.

Jesse Bernard Johnston III, 26, joined the Army Reserve in February as a sergeant and was assigned to the Corps Support Airplane Company. But he wasn’t qualified to hold the rank. Records show his only military experience was attending part of a 12-week Marine officer candidate course in 2004.