Saturday Shorts
Monolith, we hardly knew ye
Well, we’ll lead off with a recent one – been a few articles about then-MGEN Michael J. Turley, the Utah National Guard general who was accused and convicted of having an affair with a subordinate. He was basically forced out as a lieutenant colonel, a three-grade drop. Seemed cut and dried – he dipped his pen in a subordinate’s inkwell and was cut loose, right? Maybe not.
The Army demoted Maj. Gen. Michael J. Turley to lieutenant colonel when he retired this month, a service official confirmed this week, after an Army Inspector General investigation substantiated an allegation of an inappropriate relationship.
Turley, though, claims in a lawsuit filed last week that both the Army Inspector General and Utah officials did not interview the soldier with whom he allegedly had the relationship prior to drawing their conclusions. He also cites a second investigation by Utah officials that found “no basis” in accusations of improper conduct.
“When interviewed, that soldier, like General Turley, adamantly denied any sexual misconduct and submitted a detailed sworn affidavit indicating as much,” according to the lawsuit, which Task & Purpose obtained through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER system. Task and Purpose
Lot more here than the usual he-said/she-said you would expect. This story may have legs – go read the article. Four years of investigation and never interviewed one of the principal actors? Hmmm…
You may recall Ed writing about Jinchao Wei, an enlisted Navy guy who was arrested two years ago for selling secrets to the Chinese.TAH
A US Navy sailor was convicted Wednesday of espionage after a jury found him guilty of selling sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence officer.
The sailor, Jinchao Wei — who was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage and “unlawful export of, and conspiracy to export, technical data related to defense articles” — will be sentenced on December 1, according to a statement from the Justice Department. CNN
Y’know, eastern Kansas is known to get real cold in the winter…
Russia carried out a drone raid that hit an American owned plant in western Ukraine this week.
In its overnight attacks, Russia launched a total of 574 strike drones and 40 missiles on Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday, hitting as far west as the city of Lviv.
Missiles also struck an American-owned manufacturing company, Flex Ltd., in the western region of Zakarpattia, in an attack that injured at least 19 people, Ukrainian officials said. Flex is a American-Singaporean company that provides electronics manufacturing services and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. CNN
Flex (formerly Flextronics) is one of the largest contract assembly businesses going. One article said this plant makes a variety of items, such as coffee-makers and remote controls. While I sympathize with the 6 injured there, and Flex says they do not make military weapons, if Ukraine is repurposing any of their products in their weapons systems it’s hard to fault their legitimacy as a target.
Category: China, Crime, National Guard, Russia
Reimagining products to use in warfare? So what does an attack coffee maker look like and what is the blast radius?
“what is the blast radius?”
Depends on the brew. I like the Maxwell House dark brew.
I tried the Chock ful-o-Nuts because it comes in a can but it
is just to weak.
I like “Chock ful-o-Nuts” because it reminds me of this place.
Coffeemaker made by Flex.
I believe Flex makes solid state ham radio RF amplifiers.
Vacuum tube amps are getting rare as Russia stopped
making the replacement tubes for half the price of an
Eimac original.
It’s the Eimac/Svetlana war going on “under the radar”.
FYI…
The National Guard, being “the Governor’s Army” for each state, is not totally bound by the laws or rules for the active components. For example, a Governor could appoint his campaign manager as the Adjutant General (the two-star billet that is the highest ranking member of a state’s National Guard). The appointee need not have any military background whatsoever.
However, the federal government need not “recognize” the rank and position of the state appointee (in fact, that applies to enlisted members of the Guard as well).
To be federally recognized the member must have the education (military and civilian), time in service, etc. required.
In other words, the Governor cannot appoint a Lieutenant Colonel, even if a good buddy, to Adjutant General with two stars on his collar, and expect the federal government to recognize that rank.
A more telling issue is the fact that the MG was required to go before a “grade determination board.” In other words, at what grade should he be retired (for the purposes of pay and privileges)?
And here two separate issues arise:
1 – What grade was he authorized by his actual education, TIS, TIG, etc.
2 – What grade did he “satisfactorily serve?”
As an example, consider a Lieutenant Colonel who performed well, then started an affair with his enlisted driver after promotion to Colonel, then BG, and then Adjutant General (Major General). A grade determination board might find that the last grade he “satisfactorily performed” was as a Lieutenant Colonel, before he started the affair.