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| Four-star General Relieved of Command | |
| 2005-08-10 | |
In a rare move, the Army relieved a four-star general [Gen. Kevin Byrnes] of his command amid allegations that he had an extramarital affair with a civilian, Army officials said Tuesday. Byrnes, who several military sources said had a previously unblemished record, was set to retire in November after 36 years of service. Byrnes' defense attorney, Lt. Col. David Robertson, said the allegation against Byrnes involves an affair with a private citizen. Byrnes has been separated from his wife since May 2004; their divorce was finalized on Monday, the same day he was relieved of command. "The allegation against him does not involve a relationship with anyone within the military or even the federal government," Robertson said..."It does not involve anyone on active duty or a civilian in the Department of Defense." So he's been separated, he's fixing to retire, he's a four-star general with an unblemished record, and his girlie isn't in the military or the DoD. Maybe it's not a girlie. This article from the Chicago Tribune mentions other offenses for which generals have been relieved. Still, this seems excessive, especially if they aren't allowing him to resign his command for "health reasons". Does it strike anyone else as really strange? | |
| Posted by:The Low Countries |
| #7 Lol, Dan - mebbe it was one of those FBI-irresistible Chinese agents! The tricks they know can turn a man's mind to Jello! Could've been pure jealousy, too, cuz she turned the Fibbie down... ;-) |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 16:36 |
| #6 Odd way to introduce a change in policy. Got to be more to the story. It's slowly leaking out. Beats spending a no-news-August on Aruba and Roberts. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-10 16:30 |
| #5 That was me that posted that, by the way. I changed my name, but I see it didn't take. Damn preview button doesn't work for me when posting an article. I'm having a hard time finding this egregious enough to warrant the punishment... That was my point. Kelly Flynn was sleeping with the husband of an enlisted woman, so I can see how her case would have an impact on the service. I was just wondering if there was more going on here than meets the eye. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2005-08-10 16:28 |
| #4 Or it could be that the 'other' man/woman is a registered/unregistered foreign agent. Not enough to bag him for espionage...? |
| Posted by: DanNY 2005-08-10 16:25 |
| #3 I'm having a hard time finding this egregious enough to warrant the punishment - the other potential actions put forward make more sense, IMHO. No personal gain. No abuse of power. Legally (I presume) separated. The only point is the marital status of the other person. Harsh stuff, IMHO, after 36 years. Must've flaunted it in some manner. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-08-10 16:06 |
| #2 Nope. Wonder if the civilian was someone's wife. Cause that is adultry. And since Kelly Flynn played to the 'they're picking on me game' [even though dozen of male officers had face similar charges in the prior year], the services have been hammering a number of generals for having loose zippers. Its just the hetro version of 'don't ask, don't tell'. If it is known, then you get treated like those drummed out of the service before you. Now unless they court martial the General, because he has completed the time necessary, he'll get his retirement. |
| Posted by: Thinemble Hupomotch7256 2005-08-10 15:52 |
| #1 Not necessarily. Adultery is still a crime in most states and therefore truly forbidden to a senior officer. I once knew a lieutenant colonel who was court martialled when he had 19+ yrs of service for having (against the regs of the time) collected a lot of frequent flyer miles due to official travel and used them for personal vacations. The rules at the time required them to be turned into the government to pay for other official travel .... this was before the feds negotiated low rates across the board for govt tickets. Anyway, the guy was in a position to basically decide how often, when and where he would go TDY. He abused it by scheduling a lot of trips with a lot of extra legs to build up the points. They busted him hard not too long before he was due to retire. |
| Posted by: leader of the pack 2005-08-10 15:52 |