Two more plead guilty in “Fat Leonard” case
Two more Navy officers pleaded guilty in the scandal known as the Fat Leonard case according to Stars & Stripes;
Cmdr. Jason Starmer pleaded guilty to willful dereliction of duty, patronizing a prostitute and adultery. He was sentenced to 60 days restriction at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, fined $3,000 and will receive a punitive letter of reprimand. Military judge Navy Capt. Robert Monahan also sentenced Starmer to forfeit a total $3,000 in pay, but he will not face that as part of a pre-trial agreement. Starmer will be administratively separated from the service as part of that agreement.
Capt. John Steinberger pleaded guilty to willful dereliction of duty and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. Navy Capt. Charles Purnell sentenced him to receive a punitive letter of reprimand and a $10,000 fine. Steinberger also will be administratively separated as part of a pre-trial agreement.
Starmer and Steinberger’s characterizations of service and retirement grades will be determined later by the secretary of the Navy.
Jeez, I hope their wrists aren’t bruised after that terrible slapping.
Starmer and Steinberger are the two latest officers to plead guilty in military court. During a non-judicial punishment hearing, or admiral’s mast, on Feb. 27, Lt. Peter Vapor admitted to violating a lawful order, conduct unbecoming an officer and making a false official statement, according to U.S. Fleet Forces Command spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Allen. Vapor received a punitive letter of reprimand and a $2,000 forfeiture of one month’s pay in exchange for the Navy dismissing charges against him.
Slapped wrists everywhere. That’ll teach ’em /s
Category: Navy
Not slapped, more like love tapped.
I need to add a OC category: Officers Crankstepping.
Graybeard,
I like that one! What does the Platoon Sergeant think of this?
Wait… you’re talking about things like this article right…? Not things like LT’s getting lost, ummm sitting on cacti, falling off the tank, falling off the APC, when pulling their goggles off their glasses come off too…
Normal LT stupidity attributable to inexperience and hubris will not be counted. In fact, the way I’m thinking of it, an LT would have to Barnathian Level Stupid to qualify.
Above LT (or equivalent – I’m not that familiar with how Zoomies and Squids designate their children) they should know better, so any crank-stepping should count.
WHEW! Having been guilty of some dumbass 2LT things in my life, even though I started out as an EM, I was wondering. I usually had issues in the “tact” department. On several occasions, I would come out of the CO’s office and the 1SG would be there with a great big grin on his face, a consolation cup of coffee, and then its back to work, usually the PSG would say something to the effect of damn Sir, what am I gonna do with you… 🙂 I loved those days.
This was while I was in the Guard or the USAR. Can you imagine the trouble I would have gotten into if Id been on active duty????
Graybeard:
Quick reference, since I assume (1) you’re talking officers, and (2) you are familiar with the Army’s officer rank structure.
USAF: same as Army, with slightly different abbreviations for ranks.
USMC: same as Army, with slightly different abbreviations for ranks (as well as slightly different from the USAF).
USN:
Navy Ensign (ENS) is equivalent to Army 2LT
Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) is equivaent to Army 1LT
Navy Lieutenant (LT) is equivalent to Army CPT
Navy Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) is equivalent to Army MAJ
Navy Commander (CDR) is equivalent to Army LTC
Navy Captain (CAPT) is equivalent to Army COL – and yeah, this one causes problems due to the other services having a much-more-junior rank called “Captain”
Admirals, AKA Flag Officers (FOs): equivalent to General Officers (GOs) – not going to detail all 5 now, but can if necessary
Enlisted side of the house is quite different – several differences between Army/Navy/USMC in these (as well as a load of similar titles that don’t match up in grade), plus many that do. I sometimes really need to consult a chart for those to make sure I get it right. And I swear the USN encrypts their enlisted rate structure, so no one really knows how those equate to the rest of the military. I think they do that on purpose. (smile)
Hope this helps.
Hondo,
Always keep ’em guessin’! Sea Story Alert, there I was on a cross country helo flight with two LT pilots, staying overnight at an Air Force base. I was a salty AW3 at the the time and wore my crow and chevron on my ball cap. All the Zoomies saw was me in a flight suit with two O-3s, wearing what they thought was a full bird on my hat.
Good times!
And don’t get me started on your alfa-numeric MOSs. I think I have 11B down, but as for the rest…
I was saluted (as an AMH3) at Nellis AFB during Red Flag. It was kind of fun, but finally it was like Dude…I’m a Petty Officer, heavy on the Petty.
I did a cross country with HS-1 from Jax to the Philly Shipyards. I was an Airframe Trouble Shooter for the squadron at the time.
We were going up there to be the Helo Det for taking CV-67 out of the yards, and down to Mayport.
Two things stick out from that trip.
1) Watching the crewman (AW2) try to go out the PAX door with the gunner belt on.
2) The HAC and Co-pilot about spinning us into the Delaware River because they got to bullshitting, and forgot who had the controls.
I “may” have on occasion forgot to release the ICS cord from my helmet prior to egress, resulting in minor whiplash- a decidedly uncool maneuver. Never tried to unass the bird while still in the gunner’s belt, though.
Army enlisted MOSs are actually pretty easy to decipher once you know how they’re formed.
They’re 5 alphanumeric characters. First 2 denote the career field; the third denotes the specific job within that career field; the next one shows skill level (rank/grade); and the last shows selected special skills for which the individual is qualified.
Example: 11B4P – the 11 denotes the fact that the individual is an Infantry soldier (11 = Infantry career field). The B shows he’s a Rifleman. The 4 indicates the individual is skill level 4 (SFC/E7). (For completeness: 1 = E1-E4, 2=E5, 3=E6, and 5=E8/E9.) The last character, P, shows he’s Parachutist qualified (it would be a 0 if the individual didn’t possess specialized qualifications such as Pathfinder, Ranger, Parachutist, etc . . . ).
At least, it would be simple if the Army would freaking quit combining/changing/inventing career fields. Unfortunately they seem to do that periodically, so you have to re-learn parts – sometimes BIG parts – of the MOS structure from time to time.
Or you can use the “Easy Button”: just ask someone what their MOS is, then look it up in the current Reg. You already know what to call them (Sergeant, Specialist, etc . . . ) – because those ranks/titles are the same regardless of MOS. (smile)
While rate structure in the EM end of the Navy is a mystery to the uninitiated, it is not, as some seem to think, a secret club with strange noises, weird clothes and code words to enter.
All you have to do is go down to the Navy recruiter’s office and make him happy by signing up (even if your mommy objects to it) and going off to an isolated place called RTC. It will always be near a large body of water.
Once you crack those codes and some of the special insider’s language, you’re good to go.
Like Bulkhead, Geedunk, Port, Starboard, Fore, Aft, Fantail, Scuttlebutt, Decks, Ladders, Sweepers, Black Shoes, Brown Shoes, Snipes, Airdales, Zeroes, P-way Secured, and Helos…I could go on and on.
I vaguely recognize these words as english, but it must be some weird dialect I am not familiar with. 🙂
Here are some more good ones.
Tilly, Yellow Shirts, Grapes, Blue Shirts, Ordies, Pri-Fly, Air Boss, Mini Boss, Foul Line, Scupper, Hatch, Scuttle, Overhead, Auto Dog, FOD Walk, Call Your Father, Report Mother in Sight, Starboard D, Overhead D, Hot Drink, State and Souls, Steel Beach, Rope Yarn, Midrats, Integrity Watch, Paddles, Bug Juice, Minutes to Splash, Parrot, Marshal Stack, Charlie Time,
…and the best of all…,
the Barney Clark Slider.
More available upon request.
You forgot Turd Shirt, rollers, Shot Line, 5MC, 1MC, Shaft Alley, Officer’s Country, Admiral’s Passageway, CIC, AFFF, Yoke, Zebra, Circle William, MARDET, Admiral’s Barge, Captain’s Gig, Motor Whale Boat, Camel, Sponson, and yes there is still more
You forgot, Dog Zebra.
I shall print this out, laminate it, and affix it in a prominent place for easy reference.
I’ve tried to keep up with the rank achievements of “my kids” (biological and Scouting) as they’ve progressed in their military careers, and always ended up as lost as a shave-tail LT on a land-nav exercise. That they have been in every military service we have, that’s been pretty easy to achieve.
As far as anyone’s MOS, I only know what 11B is because my son are one.
Us grunts will tell you that 11B is the only that matters!
(jokingly of course)
‘Cause everyone knows that all the other MOSs are support for the 11B’s, right VOV?
And even 11Bs need some support from time to time – and appreciate all they get.
Absolutely. (From an 11B5M) Formerly and for awhile a 00F4B.
O-1 Ensign (ENS) Lost.
O-2 Lieutenant Junior Grade (LTJG) Can correctly identify inanimate objects 3 times out of 5
O-3 Lieutenant (LT) Finally acquiring a salt crust, the better ones have learned to listen to CPO, LPO.
E1: Seaman Recruit, Airman Recruit, Constructionman Recruit, Fireman Recruit, and Hospitalman Recruit
E2: Seaman Apprentice, Airman Apprentice, Constructionman Apprentice, Fireman Apprentice, and Hospitalman Apprentice
E3: Seaman, Airman, Constructionman, Fireman, and Hospitalman
E-3 and below ‘strike’ for a rating. Some go to A-Schools to be Designated Strikers. For instance, when I got out of A-School I became an AMHAR (Aviation Structural Mechanic, Hydraulics Airman Recruit.
Some enter the Navy with no guaranteed Rate. That means they go into the fleet undesignated. They will figure that out when they get out there.
E-4: Petty Officer 3rd Class (A Crow with one upside down chevron…with your rating insignia in between the crow and the chevron.) In my case, I became a AMH3, my rating insignia was crossed mauls with wings on them)
E-5 Petty Officer 2nd Class, same as 3rd Class, except a second Chevron in applied. I became a AMH2 at this point.
E-6: Petty Officer 1st Class same as 2nd Class, except a third chevron is applied. AW1Ed was one of these.
E-7: Chief Petty Officer, on the Dress Blue Uniform the Chief wears a rating badge with Three chevrons and a rocker above the crow. Most all other uniforms the Chief wears an Anchor. Chief’s are the go-to guys, the subject matter experts in their field. They run the divisions for the division officers…and in my day mostly wore Khaki.
E-8: Senior Chief Petty Officers, they have the same rating badge as a Chief, except a star is located above the rocker on the dress blues. All other uniforms the Senior Chief wears an Anchor with a star on top of it. HMCS(FMF) is a retired Senior Chief.
E-9: Master Chief Petty Officer has same rating badge as a Senior Chief, except it has two stars above it. We have our resident MCPO here on this page. Don’t fuck with Master Chiefs…they can make life miserable for everyone except the Skipper.
Well, that means the only Navy rate abbreviations ever used are SR, SA, SN, PO3, PO2, PO1, CPO, SCPO, and MCPO – for E1 through E9, respectively. Right? (smile)
Seriously: you Navy types just like screwing with the rest of the services regarding rank/rate abbreviations. Admit it. (smile)
Yes
No, that’s just a bonus.
*grin*
Adultery is a venal sin, not an illegal activity. Polishing the old torpedo goes on everywhere, doesn’t it?
Patronizing a hooker? Hey, working girls have bills to pay, too, y’know!
According to the UCMJ it is.
We all know the rules…
Served in the reserves with an officer (O-5) who lost his squadron command for adultery. Since it was during the month when he wasn’t on orders there was no UCMJ violation, but the group commander was still pissed.
I don’t think it’s too much to expect your senior officers to behave morally and ethically, both personally and professionally.
“I don’t think it’s too much to expect your senior officers to behave morally and ethically, both personally and professionally.”
Agree 100%. As age and rank increase, standards ought to increase as well.
I think it was GEN Creighton Abrams that said the higher you go up the flag pole, the more your ass hangs out for all to see. Also he definitely said “While we are guarding the country, we must accept being the guardian of the finest ethics. The country needs it and we must do it.”
I’ve seen a version of that quote attributed attributed to GEN Joeseph “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell, too. Not sure if that’s accurate or not though.
Check your CCC! Adultery is a mortal sin.
And yes, although adultery is not listed as an offense in the UCMJ, it is still punishable under Article 134:
Interesting in that Adultery is sandwiched between “Abusing public animal” and “Assault with intent to commit murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, robbery, sodomy, arson, burglary, or housebreaking”
¯\_(シ)_/¯
So he’s toast … and is being rendered simultaneously unto Caesar and God.
While the Catholic Church may consider Adultery a “grave matter” (and thus a mortal sin), the UCMJ doesn’t seem to.
Under the newest MCM (2016), the max punishment for the UCMJ crime of adultery is 1 year (though a DD or dismissal can also be included as part of the sentence). That means it doesn’t qualify as a felony under Federal law, since Federal law defines a felony as a crime for which someone could have received a sentence of more than one year. (Receiving a DD or dismissal carries additional legal baggage regarding firearms ownership due to a different provision of Federal law.)
Caesar apparently is more lenient regarding adultery than the Almighty. (smile)
Cesar is more lenient in all matters except pardons
Oh yeah?? The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has no problem with adultery 😉
I say R’amen to that!
Really….Is the concept of airborne sentient pasta any less ridiculous than a talking bush, a zombie savior, a virgin birth???( my fave)
I think not
A fellow Pastafarian? I live by the Loose Cannon.
Finally! I stirred the hornet’s nest.
I owe myself a stiff, amber glass of something fragrant with a great mouth to it.
What pay grade will they be retiring at with full benefits?
TBD. The SECNAV will have the numbskulls face a grade determination board. So whatever rank they last satisfactorily served at. A loss of one rank will cost them several thousands a year in retirement pay – boohoo!
retirement pay is not determined by your rank, but by your “high 3” years of service pay rates.
Unless the board specifies a retirement pay, they will receive a percentage based on years of services x average of the highest 3 years of base pay.
So the punishment is really that your blue ID card won’t have “CAPT” on it…
An O-6 over 20 would be about $5032 per month give or take based on actual time of service, DIEMS date, etc.
This is all assuming, of course, that the officer actually has 20 years of service.
Might want to double check on that.
What you describe was indeed the case until SMA McKinney got court-martialed and lost a stripe with near-zero effect on his retired pay. Title 10 was changed afterwards to allow for retired pay to be reduced in cases where an individual was held not to have served satisfactorily at their highest grade. I’m pretty sure that applies to any reduction via a grade determination board due to a determination that an individual did not serve satisfactorily at one or more grades – as evidenced by misconduct leading to a court-martial conviction.
I was at Bragg when McKinney the turd was on trail. He was all happy with the UCMJ until his threatening phone call to the witness leaked. Then he hired new attorneys and started yelling #DatRazist and it the Army’s fault.
good times!
Un. Fucking. Believable.
With the exception of Steinberger, Starmer and Prunell received a slap on their wrists and will be allowed to retire. At what rank?
Don’t forget about that Lt. Peter Vapor. He admitted to violating a lawful order, conduct unbecoming an officer and making a false official statement. What did he get? A reprimand and a fine. Cripes. It’s a wonder he wasn’t just given a 30-minute timeout to ponder his misbehavior. “To get to you, they have to go through us.” Tough talk. Freakin’ weasels.
I almost forgot about that guy.
The fact any of them are still lurking around wearing the uniform of an officer (let alone ANY branch of service) is beyond me.
NJP for an officer is going to be a career ender. Most likely he’ll either resign or be administratively separated – and unlike the other two there’s no retirement in the cards for him.
Do these pogues lose their pensions?
Both will be administratively separated. Any pension will depend on whether they have enough time (20 years credible service) to qualify for retirement.
My understanding is that if they qualify for retirement, yes – they’ll get their pension based on their retired grade as determined by DoN. (I suppose part of the plea agreement could be to forfeit pension rights, but if so I’d guess that fact would be in the article.) If not, they leave with nothing other than pay for any remaining accrued leave (and possibly entitlement to a final PCS to HOR).
It’s a cinch a CAPT has 20 credible years of service. A CDR may or may not, depending on precisely when he was commissioned. Don’t know the specifics in this CDR’s case.
Cmdr Starmer is a mustang, so I will conjecture that he has his 20.
The use of the phrase “administratively separated” led me to wonder whether loss of pension might be part of the deal too – but a subsequent paragraph in the Stars and Stripes article stated that they will retire, with the grade to be determined later by the Navy.
Thanks – hadn’t seen that. But since BNG observed that the CDR was a mustang it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that both had 20+ years service and were retirement eligible. Only question I had was whether or not they’d agreed to waive it as part of the plea deal.
I do wish more military judges would be cold-hearted when it comes to senior officer financial misconduct – and nail a few money-grubbing bastards to the wall. I’m convinced that hammering the dogcrap out of a handful would do wonders “pour encourager les autres” in a very positive way.
Heartily concur. It -should- be “the greater the rank, the harder the spank”.
The final PCS does not have to be to the HOR. It can be to anywhere within the United States and it’s territories. I retired out of Camp Atterbury, Indiana and my HOR was 3 hours North of there. The Army still did my final PCS to interior Alaska. I’m not sure when the rules changed or if it’s just retirees or applies to people who just ETS.
Twist: yes, a retiring member of the military can PCS anywhere within the US. But unless they’ve changed the DoD finance regs, the final move entitlement (e.g., what DoD will actually pay for) for a final PCS move is (or formerly was, perhaps) limited to the cost of a PCS move from the individual’s last duty station back to their HOR (or where they last entered active duty, whichever was more beneficial). If their desired retirement location was closer than the most distant of the two, no issue; DoD simply saved the difference. However, if it was farther technically DoD could ask for the retiring member to pay any cost overage.
Not sure I ever heard of anyone getting billed for that, but “them was the rules” some years ago. And since packing, temp storage, and unpacking is a huge part of the cost of any PCS move it might be a very rare occurrence. As you note, it’s also possible DoD policies in the area might have changed.
I’d still keep all the paperwork for that final move until 7 years have passed, though. Pretty sure that’s the limit on how far back Uncle Sam can ask for extra $$$ he gave someone by mistake when there’s no fraud – and I believe I have heard of TDY audits happening some years after the fact, so it’s possible they might do the same for PCS moves.
The rules changed sometime prior to 2014. I was trying to PCS as far away from my HOR of record prior to retirement until I asked a whole lot of questions. No worries about keeping paperwork. Heck I still have my LESs from when I was a PFC in 1994.
Great. Once again, DoD changes policy after I can’t use the new, more favorable policy. (smile)
I retired out of JBER in Alaska to Missouri and my HOR was actually Alaska and they paid for my PCS. Not sure if that is because Alaska was considered overseas though.
Charged for Adultery??? What is the punishment, 12 hours in the pillory? Tar and feathering?
That is one of the WTF things I find about the US military, as well as charging those who survived a suicide attempt
I can’t speak to every state, but suicide is a criminal offense under my state’s statutes. Can’t say I ever heard of anyone being charged for it though.
My personal view is that the crime of attempted suicide should be a capital offense!
Yes, except they would keep them on Death Row long enough that they WOULD change their minds.
Charged for Adultery???
It’s an Article 134 offense, which means it’s an offense only if that specific act of adultery tended to have a bad effect on good order and discipline, or to bring the Armed Forces into disrepute.
Example at one extreme: NCO sleeps with the wife of one of his Soldiers. Now you’ve got a Soldier who’d rather “frag” his NCO than listen to him, and plenty of extra hatred you don’t need for unit cohesion. Crime.
Example at the other extreme: Female Soldier’s civilian husband has been in prison for 2 years. The divorce paperwork hasn’t gone through yet, but she sleeps with a male contractor. Yes, she’s committed adultery; but it has no effect on the military mission or the military in general, and finding anyone who gives a damn would be a hard mission indeed. Not a crime.
I should add that “self inflicted wounds” to avoid service are chargeable under malingering…and rightly so. It’s a classic way of avoiding duty.
Self-injury (whether or not a suicide attempt), when it is not an attempt to avoid duty, is another Article 134 offense. Thus it is a crime if it’s offensive to good order and discipline. (The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces declined to create an exception for “genuine suicide attempts” a few years ago.)
These things make more sense than it may seem.
Thanks for clearing that up for me Alb.
It certainly makes sense
These guys deserved dismissal. Fortunately for them, the military judge here didn’t drop the hammer.
Unfortunately, their crimes under the UCMJ all seem to have 1 year maxes – so they’re likely not even convicted felons.
I’m guessing that the prostitute was a foreign national. Did these guys fall asleep during the PowerPoint regarding security clearance responsibilities and contact with foreign nationals? Even a dumb ex contractor like me cared about our country and its National Security more than these fifteen-year-old clowns. At the end of the day, I guess they can be thankful they didn’t have photographs of a nuke sub engineering room on their phones.
One has to wonder if all these senior officer shenanigans were caused or enabled by the Obama purges of the flag ranks. Seems like there’s a serious and pervasive lack of real leadership in the commissioned corps lately.
Another round of Death by PowerPoint for the fleet!
My retirement ceremony was 10 years ago today… and I’m glad that I don’t have to deal with shit that I’ve seen since then.
When in the hell is Admiral Ted ‘ Twig’ Branch going to receive punishment?
He was Navigator on USS Forrestal during my first cruise in 1989-90.
All these guys need to be’Flogged around the Fleet’. It was used in the time of Bligh and Nelson and was a deterrent to further bad actors. Google it and beware.
These senior officers bring in multiples of what average Joe Sailor makes, but it isn’t enough. Gotta try for that that ‘little’ extra in addition to selling out the country and being with skanky prostitutes. Except for the fact that many/most are married, I would be for taking all pay, allowances and retirement. They sell out their country for a few bucks. Fuck them. I’m for having some mechanism that would provide health care and other benefits for their spouse while depriving the same from these crooks. Fuck. Them.
Moroons!
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Best boss I ever had (and the toughest) said when I reported for duty: when you make a decision or do something, consider how your mother will view it if on the front page of the Washington Post.
Great advice COL W. RIP sir.
I served with and was friends with one of the flag officers (then a Navy LT) implicated in Fat Leonard affair (not these two) and I am actually shocked as I held him in the highest regard. That was back in the late 80s and I have frequently mentioned his name to my wife and how much I thought of him. It actually depresses me.
It would be comforting to think he may not be guilty but he is one of the ones in the photos with Fat Leonard with a drink in one hand and a cigar in another.
I hope they get hammered by SecNav.
I’m a little confused, didn’t they take money and favors to steer contracts? Why are they not going to prison?