Unrelated shorts – Sullivan dies, St. Louis arrest

| January 6, 2024

GEN Gordon Sullivan died at age 86 on January 2.  Not sure who he was? The good general had a unique distinction  – Army Secretary and Chief of staff – simultaneously.

Retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, who served as the Army’s 32nd chief of staff from 1991 to 1995 and oversaw pivotal post-Cold War transformations, died Jan. 2 at the age of 86, according to the Association of the U.S. Army.

Sullivan, who began his Army career as an armor lieutenant in 1959, is the only person in modern Army history to have served simultaneously as the service’s chief of staff and acting Army secretary. President Bill Clinton tapped Sullivan as the acting secretary of the Army for a three month period in 1993 after the last person holding that post, John W. Shannon, was caught shoplifting from the base exchange at Fort Myer, Virginia.

His tenure as chief was marked by significant troop cuts — a 600,000 soldier reduction in the years following Desert Storm — and political controversy over gender integration and the introduction of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that permitted closeted gays and lesbians to serve in the military. Sullivan, who opposed women in combat arms units, told interviewers in 2002 that in retrospect, he believed “the Army did not to a very good job of executing” gender-integrated training policies. Amid these other efforts, the Sullivan-era Army also deployed soldiers for contingency operations in Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda and the Balkans.

Asked about the experience in a 2002 oral history interview, Sullivan quipped that “life was very easy because I didn’t have a secretary of the Army between me and the secretary of defense.”  Army Time

Respects to the rank and his career. To be frank, though, if I have to list Army debacles in the ’90s, his fingerprints are on most of them.

H/t to JeffLPH for this one

And now to the dark side:

Brett Leary, 42, of St. Louis has been charged with stealing $36,000 from a veteran’s fund.

Leary is accused of stealing more than $36,000 from the Gateway Warrior Foundation while he served as vice president. Investigators say his father found (sic) the organization back in 2014, and it aims to provide service dogs and other resources to wounded veterans.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, Leary became vice president of the organization earlier this year “due to restructuring of the foundation’s leadership.”

The foundation kept funds in a bank account at a Commerce Bank branch in Eureka, but shortly after the leadership change, that account closed.

Court documents indicate that Leary opened a new bank account in Eureka and was given full authority to make online transactions. He reportedly had a debit card connected to the account and checks sent to his home.

Investigators say that Leary admitted to stealing funds from the organization, then offered a $36,716.44 check to cover the funds he allegedly misappropriated. Court documents state the check came back for insufficient funds.

Leary turned himself in to the Eureka Police Department earlier this month and was charged on Dec. 21. He had a criminal setting hearing scheduled for January 29, 2024, per Missouri court records.  Fox2

Stealing from a vets charity? Anyone else for making “kneecapping a mandatory first-offence penalty, or is that too Irish of me?

Category: Army, Crime, fraud

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Sapper3307

It was a long life.

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26Limabeans

That Norwich smile to the end…

USAFRetired

So he is the Army equivalent of ex-CSAF McPeak, who’s fingerprints are on some of the USAFs debacles. (and endless uniform changes)

Green Thumb

Never forget the Army’s “Jerk Off” Jack Tilley and his great beret idea!

Green Thumb

Brett Leary, 42, of St. Louis has that “Phildoesque” quality about him.

Solid All-Points Logistics hire.

Hack Stone

Did Doctor Rachel Levine attend to to him while he was hospitalized?

5JC

Doubtful, he did recover.

Hack Stone

Someone needs to hold a Chili Cook Off to help raise awareness on Veteran Charity Fraud. Anyone know some organization that could make this happen, preferably in the Elko Nevada area?

President Elect Toxic Deplorable Racist SAH Neande

Kneecapping sounds like a perfectly suitable idea. Just be sure to use one of those pickaxe handles from the pioneer kits. Large flared end, extra long, heavy and hefty.

Imma thinking a DeWalt Drill…with a dull bit.

RGR 4-78

Use the masonry bit.

Roh-Dog

With a hammer drill that is Tourettes afflicted to Yoko Ono’s “greatest hits”.

Have Exit to Eden playing in the ‘recovery room’ for the douchenozzle (do NOT google images that).

KoB

How Roh-Dog sleeps…

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Roh-Dog

Sho’nuff.

Good-Meme-Comrade
jeff LPH 3 63-66

Always be leary about someone named leary and never buy a barn next to someone named O’Leary unless your home is sprinklered and you own a 2 and a half gallon pressurized water can…

fm2176

RIP GEN Sullivan. He was well before my time, though I can’t help but agree with the statement about the legacy he left for the Army to deal with.

I’m all for kneecapping that Leary guy. For some reason–probably because both involved a person in a position of trust embezzling money from a good cause–it reminded me of “GI Joke”, although with much better results: The secret life of ‘G.I. Joe’ | CNN.

I was fixated on that case. While my brigade was sweating it out at Fort Polk, I was acting as a receptionist 16 hours a week in the Marne Advocacy Resource Center, doing College Algebra, and not much else. This happened during that time, and it was a big event. Well-known and respected career cop chases three men into a swamp and is murdered with his own service weapon. Only, no. Corrupt thief who capitalized on both his police and Army Reserve service takes the easy way out when his house of cards comes tumbling down.

Leary will have his day in court and might even be able to turn his life around. GI Joke is rotting away having never faced his crimes. He died a hero, buried with honors and lamented by many. Within two months his deception was uncovered and his legacy turned around 180 degrees. Joe Gliniewicz: How investigators unraveled Illinois cop’s suicide plot – CBS News

Luddite4change

Like most of us, GEN Sullivan was faced with more issues than there were hours in a day. Having lived through it, his execution of the Army drawdown (after serveral other GOs passed on the job a CSA because they didn’t want to deal with it) was pretty good, even if he left a broken OER and selection system in place for his replacement to fix.