ENTERING THE MILITARY is an appropriate time for a recruit to think about life insurance needs, especially when facing Iraq or another war zone.

Unfortunately, it’s also a good time for a scam.

Military personnel, some away from home and making their own financial decisions for the first time, long have been targets of the unscrupulous; a war just makes this more likely. That’s a sad fact. But for lax Pentagon enforcement and congressional interference to make the swindles possible? That’s outrageous.

Some Army recruits told The New York Times of filling out documents at a mandatory meeting during basic training — despite Pentagon rules banning such on-base salesmanship to a captive audience. Many did not realize that they had signed up for a complicated form of insurance with a small payout compared to its cost. Other questionable products being pitched to the troops include mutual funds with ridiculous commissions — up to 50 percent of the first year’s investment.

Basic training emphasizes following orders; this made enlistees susceptible to the sales pitches, sometimes conducted in the guise of counseling by ex-military types. “It’s an environment where you do what you are told,” said Capt. James A. Shaw of Fort Bragg.

These scams — which also take in more seasoned personnel — are even less excusable when you consider that about 94 percent of military personnel get $250,000 in low-cost life insurance when they enlist. For most — especially recruits without dependents — that’s enough.

Officers at the Pentagon and individual base commanders have tried to crack down. But there’s been no consistent effort from the Pentagon; it has not documented how common the abuses are, though the available evidence is worrisome.

Sometimes when military officers have tried to curtail the practice, companies accused of unscrupulous pitches have gotten their home-state U.S. representatives to lobby for them. In effect, the Congress had been on the side of the salesmen rather than the troops.

That may be ending now that these deals have come to light. A bill would prohibit the exploitive mutual funds and give state regulators more power over insurance sales on base. This bill is the very least that can be done by the government to protect the young people who have stepped forward to serve, and South Carolina’s delegation should back it strongly. Those with particular military ties, such as Sen. Lindsey Graham and Rep. Joe Wilson, especially need to be heard.

There is a more drastic proposal: to ban private insurance pitches on bases entirely. There are reputable agencies that cater to the military; the radical move of a ban would throw out the good with the bad. But that might be necessary, rather than allow such exploitation to continue. State regulators may not be able to get a grip on companies that target bases in different states, and may not, after recent fiscal troubles, have the staff to address this. If the problem can’t be fought with other measures, a ban will be necessary, and service families who need more insurance will have to accept the onus of seeking it on their own.

The military — and the Congress that oversees it — has a responsibility to take care of the people in its command. Such unethical sales pitches unleashed on bases, thereby carrying the implicit endorsement of the military, must be stopped. Those in power in Washington need to protect those who protect America.