Update on Former AFRICOM Commander Brouhaha
For those interested: a redacted copy of the DoD IG Report of Investigation relating to GEN Ward is available. I’ve only read the first 30 pages or so – but let’s just say that it doesn’t present the General in a particularly good light. YMMV.
No, the misconduct doesn’t rise to the level of that shown by COL Johnson. Then again, tawdry bigamy cases are fairly rare. And total dollar amount wasted by GEN Ward appears to have been much higher.
It’s sad to see things like this happen, and I’m not naive enough to think it’s anywhere near the first time a 4-banger has pulled something like this. But at least this time it appears there will be some consequences for doing so.
(Edited by Hondo to add: I’ve now read the rest of the report, and it’s not good either.)
Category: Military issues
Brouhaha? This is outright criminal activity and this guy ought t go to Leavenworth. The TDY abuse, misuse of funds, the plantation servant mentality with regards to his wife and the special staff, and the prioritization of race related causes over his duties as the the Combatant Commander indicate leadership in the tradition of the POTUS. Apparently this command was a vehicle to further his personal interests and post retirement income opportunities more than anything else. And the cowardice on the part of his personal staff, particularly the XO, IG, and SJA border on criminal. If anyone doesn’t think that his entire command was aware and were disgusted by this behavior then they haven’t spent any time in the military. Reading this report made me want to vomit on my keyboard.
Send them to jail, fine him for all costs, and strip him of his rank and retirement. And if you think this started at AFRICOM then you’re naive. Utter bullshit.
I remember seeing commercials with “Kip” in them when I worked in the KSA (we had access for AFTRS TV and radi0) – dude struck me as being an arrogant ass in his spots. Just finished with the report…. waste, fraud and abuse to the nth degree. Looks like “Kip” and the Misses thought they were royalty (kind of like a certain occupier in a residence in DC), with their own “servants”, unlimited travel expenses and justifying going to events as “official” travel.
The sad thing is that he will probably be reprimanded and retire as a two-star with a good retirement… maybe have to repay the money for the wife’s travel “at coach expense”. I’d like to think that this was just ignorance on his part, but it looks like he barked out orders about wanting to go somewhere, and the staff made it happen, and he just didn’t bother to ask someone (Chief of Staff, IG, SJA) if it was legitimate.
Elric – I agree with you…. he had probably been pulling this crap for years (like when he was a LTC or COL), and the wife strikes me as being one that wore his eagle/stars to get her way – probably was not afraid to call him whenever she didn’t get her way.
HMCS…. having been an aide to a two star I know this guy wasn’t ignorant of the rules. They all receive training and so do their staffs. The SJA and IG have specific, personal duties to protect commanders from going off the the rails inadvertently. Based on his on the staff “guidance” he issued, the way he structured his TDYs to obscure the nature of his travel. and his evasive responses to the investigators it is clear he knew exactly what he was doing. GOs regularly have their TDY audited…it’s subject day one at the baby generals school. So in addition to his hubris, sense of entitlement, and criminal intent this character was just plain stupid to think he wouldn’t get caught. Oh… except as we both agree he had that overwhelming sense of entitlement he shares with our soon to be ex POTUS. No doubt he figured that “he’ll get his” while in the position to do so. This kind of behavior starts small…claiming expenses under the no receipt $25 claim limit on TDY and growing as the criminal increases in rank and authority. That’s how little turds grow into big stinking mounds. Some times it doesn’t get noticed until they are pretty large ones and are difficult to flush.
I’d venture to say that this investigation didn’t originate in the AFRICOM IG Office. Best guess is someone went to their congress critter. That of course is a guess, but given the shitty command climate this sort of abuse creates it wouldn’t be surprising.
Totally off-topic, but I’ll post the question anyway.
Does anyone know how GEN Ward qualified for his CIB? I’ve read his bio, and I’m curious. He doesn’t seem to have deployed to combat with the 82nd – so unless it was DMZ Korea or Somalia (the latter as a Bde Cdr) I can’t figure it out.
#3 Elric: on target. I also was an ADC for a 2 star. They are taught big time. Mine was fanatical about doing the right thing and the JAG/IG were pulsed regularly if there was any doubt.
I recall one incident: the PX manager called and said Mrs. L’s Christmas Tree light bulbs were in. That was strange because she didn’t do that. But, I called her and told her. I then received a lengthy blast of indignation because she had grabbed the PX manager by the stacking swivel because weeks before Christmas and there were no bulbs and that needed to be fixed because, in those days, a lot of the troops did not have cars to go off post to buy them plus the expense. She had already bought hers downtown. But, there were people that thought she was demanding bulbs for herself.
#5- SJ- So you know the drill. GOs ignore it at their peril. My boss was adamant that I err on the conservative side and run anything even giving the appearance of fudging through the CofS to the SJA and never overrode them. Made it personally painful as we’d cram 5 days worth of activities and travel in the middle of the night to avoid extra days on per diem. Even as a division cg the boss only took myself and the driver when going to observe training in the field, a CTC, or overseas. Otherwise we’d coordinate through installation protocol at the far end and drop the boss at the airport.
IMO, this guy is as jacked up as the day is long. No excuses…
Glad to hear that others (I actually think most) are like your boss and not like ol’ “Kip”.
I worked for Ward in Bosnia when he was COMSFOR in 2002-2003. My recollection is that we (staff) rarely saw him around the HQ, and rarely saw him doing much outside the wire either. (I was in the CJ9, so we should have been part of anytime he went out to meet with local leaders, etc.)
COMSFOR two Blackhawks on the ready pad with long-range fuel tanks fitted. They really weren’t needed around the Bosnia, so shortly after I got there I asked about the tanks. I was told they were so the choppers could reach Germany without stopping to fuel. I never verified that, but I recall that the birds seemed to disappear on Thursday or Friday afternoon and reappear on Monday morning, most weeks. I wonder if it was related to the current brouhaha?
Moral of story – don’t treat a Generals staff as your personal servant to buy snickers – it’ll piss them off and when you leave the command, you’ll get turned in
#6 Elric: I don’t think this is the case in this matter (after reading the IG Report) but sometimes our brethren Aides assume a little bit of power. We had to go to the Philly office from Monmouth every Wednesday and took a chopper from our Avn Det (this had been blessed by IG/JAG/CG of higher). I asked the Avn Det CO why we used HU1’s with 3 crew members etc when a LOH would do fine? He said the Gen didn’t like LOH’s. One day I asked the Old Man about it and he said he never said he didn’t like LOH’s. Turns out my predecessor didn’t like LOH’s and used the bosses name. Without saying anything to him, I had them switch to LOH’s and the boss was very happy.
#9 SJ- Ooohhh….using the boss’ name is definitely a big no no. Definitely a good way to piss people off when the find out (and they will) that you’re going down that road. I’m sure you had subordinate commanders always trying to get a read on the boss on important issues when talking to you. A good way to get burned, especially if you have to go back down to the line to find work when your tenure is through. Anytime you confuse your duties with your personal importance you’re headed for deep shit.
#10 Elrich: I was proud of myself because I made it a point to always inform the “guilty bastard” of why the Gen was requesting their presence so they could get their story straight as they walked the Last Mile. My predecessor, I’m told, did not. I succeeded because after I got my boss his 3rd star 🙂 and he moved on, I stayed on for 6 months and all those COL’s I helped treated me very nice.
Since I had been a student at the SigO Advanced Course for a year, I had a list of grievances about how Monmouth was being run. That list was with me during the entire tour and I checked them off as the boss and I rode in the car. My favorite was “Steve…why don’t the CPT’s from the advanced course frequent the Club? Well sir, that’s because the Club is an Old Folks Home and caters to O-6 retired farts. Have you heard the bands? Lawrence Welk knock offs. As luck would have it, that night was a Hail and Farewell in Dress Blues and Tennis Shoes (I still can’t believe this is today’s duty uniform, but I digress). And the Boss was primed. Damn, the band was from Scriven Hall where they played stuff for company grade folks. But here at The Club, they were playing Lawrence Welk. The boss told me to get them to play the young stuff. They would not because the Club Manager said they could not. The Gen had to intervene and it was a good Hail and Farewell.
Geeze off. I do that a lot here. Gotta stop that…but I feel comfortable with you folks. Airborne!
Every time we drove by the golf course the boss would sigh and express his fondest wish that we could plow under the post golf course and turn it into a stress fire range, which I thought was a fabulous idea. Really, he would just get so pissed about retired O-6s bitching that they had to pay more than an E-3 who was married and living on post. He finally did threaten to tear it as part of asbestos abatements when we demolished the old army hospital adjacent to the course. That shut them up for awhile.
@12, Sounds like an old quote from Jeff Cooper (I’m paraphrasing here), “Every time I see a golf course, I see a perfectly good rifle range wasted.”
#12 The Golf Course! I said I’d quit geezing but you threw raw meat out there!
One day the boss asked me to get him a T-Time (he rarely played). I called and the Pro asked if he was playing in the “Member-Guest Tournament”? He said it was going to cost a couple of hundred bucks. Knowing the boss was tight, I said no. The Pro said there were only tournament T-Times that weekend.
I told the boss and he said: Get COL ? in here (the Chairman of the golf club). As always I warned the COL why he was being summoned. He reported and the Gen kept reading some papers. Without looking up he said, “George, I hear it’s going to cost me $200 to get a T-Time.” George mumbled, smiled, pawed the earth, and then stepped on his crank with golf shoes on when he said: “Sir, you can get a T-time whenever you want without paying for the tournament.” The boss looked up; then got up; then pointed at me sitting in my door chair, and said: “But can CPT Johnson do that? Can any of the hundreds of CPT’s at the Advanced Course do that? Can any of the enlisted troops on this post do that?” Poor George melted and crank stepped some more saying “but Sir, this is the 5th annual member-guest tournament”. The boss said “there won’t be a 6th”! He then told George that he was to report Mon AM with a tally, by grade, of who played in the tournament and that he was betting it would be predominately retired field grades and GS’ers with no active duty company grade or enlisted. Let’s just say that George had a bad Monday morning because the tally was exactly as predicted.