by Bryant Jordan
Military.com November 29, 2010
A senior noncommissioned officer with the North Carolina National Guard will be leaving the service a stripe lighter as a result of a Guard and Army investigation into his wearing unauthorized unit patches, tabs, decorations and badges.
A senior noncommissioned officer with the North Carolina National Guard will be leaving the service a stripe lighter as a result of a Guard and Army investigation into his wearing unauthorized unit patches, tabs, decorations and badges.
Officials would not offer details on the actions of former Command Sgt. Maj. John Letuli, but a retired Green Beret who had been pressuring for the investigation since September 2009 said he is outraged that the Guard and the Army appear to be letting Letuli retire with just "a slap on the wrist."
Retired Master Sgt. Jeffrey "JD" Hinton said he has written Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, hoping for a congressional inquiry into how the Army and North Carolina Guard handled their investigation of Letuli, including why he is not being more seriously disciplined.
The investigation was launched after Hinton published photos of Letuli on his website, Professsionalsoldiers.com. In one photo, Letuli is wearing a Special Forces patch and tab on his BDUs; in another, he is in Class As, wearing the Purple Heart and Soldier's Medal ribbons, and a Military Freefall Badge, or "HALO wings" -- none of which he earned.
As a result of the investigation, Letuli is in the process of retiring, but as a master sergeant, not a command sergeant major.
"Punishment has been dispensed," Maj. Matthew Handley said in a Nov. 22 e-mail. "The [punishment's] nature and severity I am not in a position to divulge."
Letuli is currently assigned to the 139th Regiment of the North Carolina National Guard. He declined a request for an interview.
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Some people can never be satisfied with who or what they are, which isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes people become too narcissistic though and excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity to the point of living out a fantasy, and ultimately sometimes self destruction. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon but, not typically taken to this level by someone who has achieved a level of accomplishment such as his. It just wasn't enough in his fantasy driven mind I suspect.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad he got busted down to MSG and I wouldn't want to see him taken down more than that. As a SGM, he had obviously reached some level of legitimate accomplishment before he developed these issues. I'd hate to see him loose his retirement and his family to suffer for what is probably a victimless crime.
He should count his blessings and learn to accept himself for what he is in the real world....jd
What I hate to see is a phoney wannabe badge-monkey - like a certain friend of ours in B Co I won't say his name but his initials are Steve Greer - gets booted out of SF for wearing what I earned legitimately, and then they love him so much in the Regular Army they made him a Sergeant Major. Should have demoted him to Permanent Latrine Orderly if you ask me.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow hows the fishing down south JD? When are you coming up here to hang out at my new hooch?