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Hello Gentlemen,
Sorry for not being a frequent user of this board, I have not really considered it my place, not being military myself, to post here. However, my wife of 17 years has been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom now for 11 months. I have a concern that I would like some insight into from those of you who are familiar with military conduct and administration. My wife has been OIC for a field hospital unit on one of the larger posts in Afghanistan. She is an 04 with 15 years in, so she is young, though quite cabable and very gifted in her field. Recently she returned from a mission of providing medial care to several small villages, to find that one of the soldiers on her team to have "died in his sleep", a few days prior to her return to post. (I personally believe that this person took his own life, I'm not buying what the unit is releasing as info on the incident, though I do not have any first hand knowledge to back that up.) Anyway on to the issue at hand. Seems that some subordinates have leveled some unsustantiated accusations at my wife, alleging misconduct (drinking on post). Add to that the unnatural death of one of her soldiers, and now it seems that her command is going to remove her from her command, and for what grounds this is being done, I do not know. She has been run through the meat grinder by CID and there has been no evidence to support the claims of her accusors. Still it seems that she will be stripped of her command. Now, I really have no say in the situation at all, but I have a tremendous amount of my life invested in her and supporting her and all of her endeavors, ie, staying home on weekends to tend to the kids when I should be out hunting, let alone the sacrifices made to support her deployment, annual training, and the list will go on until you are tired of hearing about it. So, I would like to know what channels of grievance might she have at her disposal to call her command to task to discipline those who only seek to discredit her in hopes of making themselves appear more fit as a soldier. How do you get a commanding officer to develope a spine?

The releif for her unit has been mobilized already, so the bulk of the work has been done for whoever assumes her command for the duration of this deployment (how nice is that?) to have all OER's complete, plans for new hospital buildings and facilities finished, all new SOP's written among other things that only my wife would know about. I think it terribly cowardess of her command to treat her this way and humiliate her when I know what kind of person/soldier that she is. She has been considered outstanding in carrying out her duties, awarded for her accomplishments many times, and is an unbearable perfectionist when it comes to the performance of her job, her professionalism, her knowledge and her courtesy. So what could it possibly benefit her command to proceed with this and risk losing such a dedicated and talented soldier? I ask because I really like all of you guys that post on this board and will trust your judgement in the absence of first hand knowledge for myself.
Thank you for listening, God Bless.
Tim

Suggest to her to get a lawyer (Judge Advocate in her case) and discuss options to include a near immediate transfer.

Even if she is tainted in some way by this and gets a $hitty job upon return (not booted out), she should be abel to recover on the second job. However, the military sometimes has a long memory. If she wants to ride it out or hold out until the retirement mark (reserve or full duty), it should not be too difficult and the benefits are tremendous for you, her and the family.

Be supportive either way and I hope she returns safely.

Kirt

Bend,
Right now I don't think there are any intentions of "booting her out" she is a deployed reservist. Will JAG persue action on an administrative decision? Are there certain grounds that have to be met to remove someone from command like they are doing with her?
Thanks for you thoughts and well wishes. I am hoping that she will be back home with me and our 3 boys by the first of April. She will (already does) deserve a nice long break. Thank you,
Tim

"Will JAG persue action on an administrative decision?"

Maybe and maybe not but at least she will have someone unbiased or attentive to her wellbeing to discuss options. At least it will get CID off her back and maybe present her case to her superiors in a rational manner.

"Are there certain grounds that have to be met to remove someone from command like they are doing with her? "

Offically yes, unoffically no. That's why she needs to talk to a lawyer to cover her butt. Either way you look at it she is still alive and has the love of her family. Worse things could happen. I know that this is callous but its what matters, right?

We might want to take this offline if this is to get more serious.
Kirt

Bend,

That is very well stated and I have not overlooked that very fact. Everyday I am grateful that she has not been assigned to a more forward area. For her to return home safe and breathing is what I should be focusing on the most.
Thanks,
Tim

I agree with Bend - and a JAG in her corner prob isn't gonna hurt her. It seems to me that when something happens - anything the military can be like anything else - they want to assign blame - and the Skipper is the first to be hit.

Look at the CO of the Navy sub that hit a mountain while submerged. The mountain was miss-labeled on his charts (I am assuming he got them from the Navy in the first place) - the relieved him of his command - said he jeapordized his vessel and crew. Seriously - if the map is wrong what could he do?

I hope it all turns out for the best and please thank your wife for fixing our guys up.