DALLAS (AP) - The Army is instituting a new procedure for checking the backgrounds of enlistees who claim prior military service after a report that a reservist duped the military into believing he served as a Marine.

Army recruiting spokesman Douglas Smith told The Associated Press on Thursday that recruiters can no longer simply accept discharge papers as proof of service. They now must also seek to verify the documents through a military data base, he said.

The directive follows an AP story detailing how a Texas man apparently tricked the Army into allowing him to enter a reserve unit as a noncommissioned officer earlier this year.

Records show that Jesse Bernard Johnston III, 26, was given the rank of sergeant even though he did not have a military background other than a training course.

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