National Guardsman says he was retaliated against
Maj. Joseph Lovelace says he was forced to retire after exposing wasteful spending and mismanagement at Camp Roberts near Paso Robles. Now the Iraq vet is fighting back, saying he should not have been driven out for drawing attention to problems. Ref. Source 1t.
It is very easy for one to get this type of treatment from higher ranks if you find something they are doing wrong or ineffectively. I have seen people forced into retirement or just not re-enlisting after their current enlistment is up. Higher ranked personnel do not enjoy being told they did something wrong or failed to do their duties. Many like to sit at a desk and earn pay without doing anything.
This is a huge black eye for the CA National Guard. The NG tends to have somewhat less professional leaders as a rule of thumb. This Major tried to do the right thing and since he embarrassed his boss he is paying a price. I hope the Inspector General looks into this and determines that the Major did the right thing and the Colonel who was over him was vindictive and ruined his career. Then, the major can be retroactively promoted to LTC and the Colonel can be retroactively reduced in rank for conduct unbecoming… to LTC. That would make it so appropriate that the person who told him he'd never get promoted would be the same rank the Major gets promoted to… effectively making them peers. And yes, all of this is legal and possible under UCMJ and military policies and procedures.