Lieutenant General Ron Lewis, another SHARP casualty
Ron Lewis was promoted to Major General in January 2015. He got his third star in June and started working alongside the Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter as Carter’s senior military assistant. Then this happened according to USA Today;
On the night of Nov. 5-6, 2015, on a trip to Hawaii with Carter, Lewis consumed 11 alcoholic beverages with a female enlisted service member, who was also drinking heavily, the report said. Witnesses said they saw Lewis and the woman on the beach near their hotel with Lewis’ arms around her. Afterward, another female official on the trip told Lewis he was “being really stupid” and tried to get the enlisted woman away from his hotel room, the report said.
Allegations about Lewis’ conduct in Hawaii were forwarded to Carter’s staff on Nov. 9, the report said. After a preliminary investigation, Carter was told on Nov. 10. Carter’s chief of staff told the inspector general a day later that Lewis would be fired, which happened on Nov. 12.
The article continues that in April 2015 the good general put a night on “Hooker Hill” in Seoul, Korea on his government credit card. That makes me wonder how he got the job alongside the secretary.
Anyway, you Army guys are all going to catch shit for this guy during SHARP training and Lord knows you deserve it.
Thanks to Jarhead, David and Devtun for the link.
Category: Big Army
Naturally, it’ll be SHARP training for Company grade and below…
And another round of Alcohol Abuse Awareness from the DAPA…
And just for good measure, race relations class. 1970’s style.
Yeah… I remember the wonderful “race relations” classes in the 70s… yikes!
Another idiot thinking with his dick! Pa always told me, you never shit where you eat! I guess he could always get an assignment with the Secret Service? I hear they like the hookers too!!
Q: What is the favorite television show among Secret Service Agents?
A: The Big Bang Theory!
“That makes me wonder how he got the job alongside the secretary.”
Here are your answer choices. choose wisely:
1) He’s Black
2) He’s Black
3) He’s Black
4) He’s Black
AC you forgot #5 He’s Black…
#6 All of the above.
Absolutely no argument about why he got that assignment. But my question is was he a good officer who would have deserved the assignment had he been of another race? He could not have been too bright to use a government credit card in Korea and really dumb to pay the high prices at Hooker Hill when there is more cost effective pussy at the MI compound club. I used to say cheaper pussy but when I attended the warrant officer course they taught me to say “less expensive”.
“…really dumb to pay the high prices at Hooker Hill when there is more cost effective pussy at the MI compound club.”
Thanks for the reality check! LOVE it! BWAHAHA!
No doubt that was a major consideration, but I’m guessing he polished a fair amount of knob along the way as well. You know how this administration loves nutless sycophants.
He’s black under the Obama Administration. Surprised he hadn’t made General as quickly as he went from 2 to 3 stars. What a fuck up!
Air Cav, you are not up to date on the proper description of color. He is not Black, he is dark skinned! That and a Negro!!!
Sorry. I can’t follow the name-for-a-day business. Of color, colored, black, Negro, African-American. But my all-time favorite is Canadian.
Actually, I know him. He was a great officer–one I would have happily served with or for again.
This is a fuck-up of monumental proportions.
Sad.
It’s that dick thing. Ya just can’t trust it, especially when there’s pickled blood in it.
Yet another prime example of how one massive ‘aw shit’ wipes out all of the previous ‘attaboys’.
And GTCC mis-use. So we’ll get more training on how to use our travel cards. And more levels of approval will be required for any TDY.
Dude spent about $1700 in the Chica Chica Boom club in Rome also
I’ll betcha that ol’ Ronnie here has been playing at this for quite some time, and he just now got caught.
When General Officers get caught pulling crap like this, very seldom is it a ‘first-time event’.
By the way, I wonder how many soldiers’ careers he’s crushed along the way for doing much less than this?
Every single one. His advancement depended on it. And, no, at his age he didn’t just discover that he is a horn dog. (BTW, who counted the number of drinks he had, I wonder.)
By the looks of his decorations, he HAD a stellar career.
Those stars got him some Sex and that sex got his stars
They got to teach these boys at flag knife and fork school that “it’s the rank, not the crank” that makes them so allegedly irresistible…and people are just waiting to bust them out…
Incorrect; once he pinned on the stars, the magic mirror told him he was fairest of them all.
He missed a spot to pin on one more geegaw; just there on his right shoulder below the rank insignia.
This is another not very flattering view of the “leaders” this administration chooses to stand beside. Ash Carter is a fucking douche bag, I’m fairly certain that’s not even up for debate amongst reasonable people.
He’s so fucking worried about being politically correct that he’s failed to be humanly correct in choosing subordinates, much like his president.
So now we have another example of a shit head in charge fucking everything within range and misappropriating government funds to sex clubs in foreign lands….here’s hoping he’s dismissed and deprived of a lifetime’s pension.
Fuck. That. Guy.
If by “dismissed and deprived of a lifetime’s pension” you mean “retired at 2 star rank and glides right into a cushy 6 figure job” then I think you’re correct.
What is it the religious types say at this moment?
Oh yeah….God Damn It….
Ash Carter is just another of the many smelly turds who show up for the Cabinet meetings. If Hillary loses, it’ll take Trump 4 years to clean out Obama’s shit house of appointees. As soon as he were to be elected, they would be easy to find though. Every time Trump takes a shit, one will be there to lick his ass and that line will run down the hall and out the building.
Agreed. Fuck this guy who had a cushy job and great pension and let his dick do his decision making for him.
If the General would have just grabbed her by the pu$$y he wouldn’t be in this mess.
Rule No. 14 – Don’t get drunk when you’re on the job.
Rule No. 22 – Don’t do stoooopid stuff when you’re drunk.
Rule No. 32.5 – Don’t get caught doing stoooopid stuff.
Rule No. 33.7 – Don’t use gubmint cards for any personal shit or entertainments.
Rule No. 33.8 – Use cash for everything.
P.S. Can I judge this dorkwad by his character? ‘Cause his character sucks the bag! Big Time.
You know darn well it’s not dorkwad but dickwad. Sparks loves it when you talk dirty.
Isn’t dorkwad about 10 levels below dickwad? Or do I have those two mixed up?
Rule No. 32.6 – Drunk and Stoopid go hand-in-hand.
You got that right, Old Trooper!
The main rule – Nothing good happens after midnight, as a former 1SG of mine used to tell us.
#GeneralsCareersMatter
#GeneralsNeedPoontangToo
Great. Can’t wait for all the Tasker messages that are going to come down for this one. Thanks for the upcoming “fun” briefings…….turd
I’ll give him some credit, the brother knew how to party
Wow. He got that third star in less than two years.
I wonder what the rank was of the female em.
This would not happened if he were a Marine because his two road guards and cadence caller would have shielded him on the beach from public view. Look at his weight. How could he even stand after consuming 11 alcoholic beverages and WTF was his gopher de camp?
How does anyone get stars in the short window he did? This smack of Gen Powell’s career (who never commander a division). Check. Corps command 6 months. Check. As a retired Soldier who knows the field gets more SHARP and credit card/ethics training from this-geez
It was explained to me once that there is no “time in grade” requirement for flag officers. Not only that, there is no requirement that they hold every rank on their way up. IIRC Gen Haig was never a 3 star, for example, I believe he went from 2 straight to 4. And he wasn’t the only one, either.
Powell held V Corps and FORSCOM commands. Not every General gets a Division Command.
There is a time in grade requirement for BG to MG, but it is only a year. All promotions above that are tied to the position.
The real crime here was not wearing the PT belt properly.
They are using this SOP for Officers to cover it up…
Dumbass.
(sigh) Once again, the truth of the old adage “two heads, but only enough blood to operate one at a time” is proven.
No sympathy from me. It’s been apparent for a couple of decades that stupid sh!t that used to be survivable . . . now isn’t. And the same goes for stupid sh!t that’s survivable as a young, junior officer or enlisted troop.
And while I don’t much care about the “drunk and stupid” or sex parts (those are between him, the Deity, and his spouse if he’s married) – I DO care, bigtime, about the abuse of the govt credit card. That’s not only wrong, it’s incredibly stupid. For that, IMO he deserves to be hammered – as in court-martial.
I think I have the solution to the whole SHARP problem in the military. And I have to credit my cat Punkin Squawkypants for the idea, because when she comes in heat, she goes after my big boy who is neutered and thinks she’s an atrocious little catslut.
She yowls, she grovels, she carries on like a starving honeyko from Angeles City. She does everything possible, including turn belly up, and my big alpha male neutered boy smacks her.
So this is what you do. First, you go back to saltpeter in the mashed potatoes in the mess hall/chow hall/whatever you call it now. Second, neuter all the alpha males the minute they turn ‘alpha’. They’ll stop shedding ‘boy’ hormones and women mostly won’t be interested, evne when blind, stinking drunk.
Then they won’t be spending taxpayer cash on hookers and booze, and the budget can be revised. And take those gubmint credit cards away from them, too. They don’t need those. They can spend their own money on hookers and booze like the rest of the troops/sailors/GIrines.
That should take care of the problem.
Oh, yeah – almost forgot the SPEW WARNING!!!
Actually, Ex-PH2, they ARE spending their own money when they use a govt credit card. It’s not the same as a government purchase card, where the govt does indeed pay the bill.
With a government credit card, the individual gets the bill and is responsible for paying it out of their own funds. They are reimbursed for official expenses by submitting a voucher; receipts are required for any expense above a certain threshold.
Policy prohibits use of a government credit card for personal expenses. (I’m pretty sure the government guaranteed that as part of the negotiation with the credit card company to issue the cards to govt employees based on duty position vice personal credit score, if so, it’s necessary to avoid violating the contract.) Using it for same thus violates Article 92 of the UCMJ.
And using it leaves a paper trail – which can be audited, or obtained by the press.
Yeah, but since when is Hooker Hill an official expense, EVER? Since when is getting skunked with an enlisted cow on a gubmint credit card an official expense, never mind inviting her back to his hotel room for a bit of hide-the-flashlight?
He should have been neutered, like I said, and since he’s a drunk, too, how come he gets a senior-senior rank. He has to fill that hollow leg and then do other stoooopid things, and this makes him qualified for what?
Nothing. He can empty trash cans from now on, for all I care. I have a right to know that the people in charge are something besides braindead boozing bimps who can’t keep their pants zipped or their brains dry.
Obviously in this case, his brains went dribbling down his left leg.
Tell us how you really feel there, ex-PH2…
It’s not, obviously. And that’s why using the government travel card is a huge NO GO for such.
Someone who pulls a stunt like that still has to pay the bill out of pocket for everything on the bill – including invalid stuff. But they won’t get reimbursed for the invalid stuff unless they file a fraudulent voucher.
Doesn’t really matter in terms of discipline, though – except the fraudulent return will likely get the individual hammered harder. The use of a govt travel card for unofficial stuff is still a violation of policy and regulation – which for those in uniform triggers Article 92. If I recall correctly, that can get someone 2 years in confinement and a DD/dismissal if they’re “maxed” on sentencing.
You can legally use the card for lodging, meals, and incidentals.
That includes dinner and drinks, but NOT the tips for the hostess(es) and other ‘wait staff’.
He can and probably will be retired at the last rank at which he honorably served. Another question is whether or not he is a >real< three star… many of them are appointed to that rank but are not actually in that rank due to the Congressional restriction on the number of GO/FOs.
Quite often they wear the stars, but aren't actually promoted to the rank until the day they retire, so it doesn't effectively count against the cap.:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/526
Confirmed by the Senate via voice vote on 23 June 2015 to the rank of LTG.
https://www.congress.gov/nomination/114th-congress/559
I was speaking with my colleagues in the office about this earlier today. 20 years ago the two most avenues of being busted for doing stupid stuff (misuse of the GVT travel card and misuse of the govt. internet) really didn’t exist. If you went TDY and needed an advance, finance gave you cash (80% IIRC) and how you spent outside of hotel bills was your business.
As a contractor who frequently went TDY, cash advances were the rule back then for us too. When that stopped around 15-20 years ago, the games started.
I understand your point about about it being the cardholder’s money, but in this case the good general claimed the Hooker Hill charges were not his. He submitted an “unauthorized use” claim,, Citibank wrote the charges off and issued him a new card. The IG report is easily found on the interweb and it is full of breathtaking serial foolishness.
Link, please? Haven’t seen that, and I always like to review primary sources when they’re available.
FWIW: if that’s true, the man should be sweating bullets. That appears to qualify as fraud (against Citibank vice the Federal government) if in fact he actually made those charges. If he made that claim to any investigators, that’s also lying to a Federal investigator.
And if that’s the case, they should go after him bigtime. As in GCM.
[PDF]Report of Investigation: Major Ronald F. Lewis, U.S. Army
http://www.dodig.mil › DODIG-2017-001
Hondo, here’s the link.
Thanks. Very interesting – and damning – reading.
He should consider himself damned lucky if all that happens is he retires at a reduced grade.
Good grief. Using a govt credit card in the “Cica Cica Boom club”? Damn.
11 drinks ? possibility neither head may have been functioning
what a dumb fuck, but that seems to be the SOP of this current administrations policies of PC promotion & demotion
I can’t help but think this is not a new pattern of behavior for the good General. He just raised the bar as he progressed in rank and power and increased his flock of minions covering his ass.
I think it might be time for choir practice. Hymnals will not be necessary, we only know one hymn.
Any bets on what his final retired rank will be?
I’ll put my money on O-6, as it doesn’t appear he has enough time in grade as a BG between his promotion in October 2012 and the report of the first incident in April 2015.
Could easily be the case, L4C. And while that’s not hard time, it’s a pretty healthy whack in the . . . wallet. (smile)
Doubly so if he’s married and his wife decides to drop him – and take a big chunk of what’s left in a divorce settlement.
I could be wrong, but once an officer gets advanced to say MG as an example, the previous rank of BG becomes “permanent” regardless if he/she only wore the rank for a day. Maybe Hondo knows.
–When BrigGen Joe Dunford was leapfrogged to LtGen, he was simultaneously also confirmed as a permanent major general.
–Back in 1939, BG George Marshall was advanced directly to 4 stars as the CSA, and was simultaneously also promoted to permanent major general.
Different systems back then. Under that system, the active duty grade (AUS) and the permanent grade (RA) were often vastly different. The former was tied to position; the latter, to availability of a permanent officer billet. However, even then promotion to a higher rank did NOT automatically make lower intervening ranks permanent. That was a second promotion action – RA promotion – and often lagged FAR behind their active (AUS) promotions. As I recall, Eisenhower’s permanent (RA) rank for a time when he was in charge in North Africa was either LTC or COL – even though he was wearing either 2 or 3 stars (AUS) by then. Had he been relieved, he’d have reverted to that much ower RA rank. To further muddy the water, only part of the officers serving were “Regular” Army. There were also a large number of Reserve officers serving on extended active duty. They had a USAR rank vice an RA rank. (I believe they also had an AUS rank while on active duty, which corresponded to their USAR rank.) A USAR officer wishing to become a “regular” had to submit an application to do so, be boarded, and be approved. My understanding was that that process was fairly competitive. Under that system, postwar downsizing was accomplished by a combination of reversion to permanent grade and REFRAD of any non-regular officers over and above operational requirements. The theory was that the “regular” force formed the trained officer cadre, and the “reserve” force provided a pool of trained manpower allowing for initial expansion – both officer and enlisted. Both would be involved in training new inductees. That system persisted through Korea and Vietnam. It remained in effect until DOPMA became effective for the active component – in the early 1980s, as I recall. (The RC analog, ROPMA, became effective in the mid 1990s.) Since then, officers have had only one rank – their permanent rank. That becomes official on Presidential approval of promotion for ranks not requiring Senate confirmation and on Senate confirmation or formal promotion (whichever comes later) for ranks requiring Senate confirmation. For… Read more »
“Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.”
And thanks, sir, for the time wasted in extra meeting when we could be getting some work done, from all my fellow members of the E-4 mafia!
And don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
The only sympathy I have for him is found somewhere between “SHIT” and “SYPHILIS” in a dictionary.
According to Google, a Major General receives a monthly basic pay salary starting at $9,946 per month, with raises up to $14,339 per month once they have served for over 34 years.
In addition to basic pay, Major Generals may receive additional pay allowances for housing and food, as well as special incentive pay for hostile fire and dangerous duties.
So if he’s making THAT kind of money, why in the HELL would you put that on a Govt Travel Card? What a dipshit!
Per USA Today, his debut card was not working.
Not surprising. Bank fraud departments don’t like large international transactions at strip clubs, or he even might have been overdrawn. You’d think the knucklehead would have a back up credit card (or two).
Personally, I think the worse part was claiming the charges weren’t his and making Citi take the loss on the charge dispute. Dishonest, lack of ethics, and material bank fraud? What in the world was he thinking, and he set a pattern of this behavior.
Does anyone have a count of how many generals/admirals have suffered this same fate?
I can research it myself, but thought one of you may have been keeping count.
I then wonder how many of those were appoint by the current POTUS.
Yeah, I know I’m being lazy, but I have three sons all playing football at different levels (different teams) and now have three foster kids too. I have found some semblance of peace in my master bedroom latrine but I’m afraid it won’t last, they’re everywhere!
He is not the SHARPest knife in the drawer….
Heheheh…very nice!
Obviously. (smile)
Good decision making and being shit faced are not compatible. Before the first drink, it’s, “Are you crazy? I would never do that!” After one or two, the idea is still stupid. After five or six, the idea is intriguing. After nine or ten, it’s “Let’s go for it!”
[…] Jonn Lilyea at This Ain’t Hell, a superior military blog. (Reading between the lines, it looks like Lewis’s real problem was that he hit on an enlisted woman that a female military officer had already chosen as her own). […]