A STORY ABOUT A SOLDIER 36 years of service flushed down the crapper

[BTS]

This REALLY PI SSED me off.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think it was the army trying to save a buck?

Or could it be he stepped on someones toes that had it in for him?



In 1969, Kevin P. Byrnes raised his arm to the square and was sworn in as a second lieutenant in the field artillery. Then he got to go to Vietnam. That was 36 years ago. Thirty-six years of soldiering in the uniform of his country. Last December, with four stars on his shoulder, he officiated at the ROTC graduation where his own son was commissioned. Kevin P. Byrnes is GI through and through. At least he was until Monday, when they kicked him out. On Monday, Gen. Kevin P. Byrnes was relieved of his duties as the leader of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. One of just 11 four-star generals in the Army, he was the first one in modern times to be fired.



What’d he do? How did he fall so far so fast? How did his near 40 years of service to his country turn to crap? How did the Bronze Star on his chest turn to tin? Adultery. Kevin P. Byrnes, 55, legally separated from his wife, began dating a woman. She didn’t work for him, she wasn’t in the Army, she wasn’t a Department of Defense of employee, she didn’t work for the government at all. She was just a woman. A woman he asked out. A woman the Army apparently believes he eventually slept with. And for that, less than three months before his scheduled retirement, he has been sacked.



His career is disgraced, his pension is in jeopardy, they might even take his stars back. Vietnam, Germany, Bosnia and now the Dumpster. Old soldiers never die, they just get screwed over.



First, let’s talk about the morality of it. Yes, he was still married and, yes, he was legally separated but, no, the divorce wasn’t final. And, yes, you shouldn’t have sex with anybody you’re not married to. But that’s between him and God. That’s between him and his former wife. It’s none of anybody else’s business. If you can put your life on the line for your country – for 36 years – can’t you, at 55, have a little bit of privacy? You can be trusted to command the 1st Cavalry Division but you can’t be trusted to run your own life behind a closed bedroom door? Granted, adultery is against the law in the Army. Just like it is in more than 20 states. It is also rampant in the Army. Just like it is in all 50 states. In fact, the best numbers show the adultery rate in the United States is in the neighborhood of 40 percent. Which is a national tragedy. The pain and moral significance of this cannot be overstated, and I don’t mean to diminish its terrible nature, generally or in this case. But the point is it’s not rare. And it’s not worth throwing a man away over, and it’s not worth flushing 36 years of honorable service down the toilet over. And when exactly did we decide that warriors should also be choir boys? Isn’t the purpose of an army to inflict deadly violence in defense of our national interests? Isn’t it inherently a dirty business? How can we foist a standard onto our soldiers which we ourselves are not willing to live?



How would the great warriors of American history fare if held to this standard? Didn’t Eisenhower have a girlfriend when he liberated Europe? Isn’t the prostitute nickname “hooker” taken from an Army general? Wasn’t John McCain a lover boy? How emasculated do we want our warriors to be? Didn’t the last commander in chief boff a subordinate employee in the work place? How can there be such radically different standards for two federal employees? How is a president better than a general? And when a group like the one hanging Kevin P. Byrnes out to dry brought an adulteress to Jesus, didn’t he suggest that the one without sin cast the first stone? And didn’t those ancient prigs have the decency to skulk away? And didn’t Jesus tell the offending woman to go on her way and sin no more? Apparently, the top folks at the Pentagon are without sin, and apparently they are more than willing to cast the first stone, and however many others there might be lying around.



And so just 10 weeks before Kevin P. Byrnes was to honorably lay aside the uniform he had worn for 36 years, he’s being humiliated in the press, he has lost his command, he’s been stripped from Army websites, he may lose a chunk of his retirement. While who knows how many congressmen, anchormen, businessmen and enlistedmen have done exactly the same thing and faced no professional penalty whatsoever. Justice is represented in our society by a scale, indicating that it is a balance, a balance of factors – like good and evil. In this case, the balance between 36 years and a girlfriend. Kevin P. Byrnes has a chestful of medals and a scarlet letter and it is not just to ignore the several to focus on the one.



Life is not fairly judged on a system of disqualification. If one flaw is automatically disqualifying, then a thousand strengths have no meaning. It doesn’t matter how much right you do, it only matters that just once you are caught in a wrong. And then all is lost. That is a ridiculous and unjust standard. And this general has been ridiculously and unjustly condemned. Adultery is wrong, but so is ingratitude. And 36 years of your life sacrificed on the altar of service is something that can’t be dismissed. It must count for something. The Vietnam, the Bosnia, the holidays lost and the rigors endured. It all must count for something. And this one mistake must not count for everything. It must not negate everything. This serviceman must not be thrown away.



- by Bob Lonsberry © 2005



Comment on this Column:http://www.lonsberry.com/comments.cfm?story=1722



Read Current Comments:http://www.lonsberry.com/readcomments.cfm?story=1722

[Peg]

That's just crazy! It makes me furious.:-5

[nvalleyvee]

This is a travesty of justice. I am truly saddened about this event. :-1

[abbey]

If that's the law of the army, then the law is an ass!

Shame on them.

[BTS]

Here is the Generals Bio.

I am wondering if maybe it was a same sex affair? Just a thought.

If it was,

I think we have a "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL" policy in the armed services?

I support our armed service men to the hilt but Rumsfeld needs to get the hell outa there............ It was the Pentagon who was behind this lynching.








LIEUTENANT GENERAL ANTHONY R. JONES



ACTING COMMANDER

UNITED STATES ARMY TRAINING AND DOCTRINE COMMAND





Lieutenant General Anthony R. Jones assumed duties as the Acting Commander for Headquarters, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, on 9 August 2005.





Lieutenant General Jones is a native of Washington, Indiana, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry after earning his Bachelors Degree from Indiana University in June 1970 where he was an ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate.



During his more than 34 years of service, he was assigned in a variety of command and staff positions, including command at company, battalion, brigade, and installation levels. He also served with Headquarters, United States Army Europe, and in the Pentagon with both the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans, Department of the Army, and the Joint Staff. His overseas assignments include duty in Germany, Korea, DESERT SHIELD/STORM in Saudi Arabia, and OPERATION JOINT GUARD in Bosnia.



Previous assignments include Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Europe and Seventh Army; Commanding General, U.S. Army Aviation Center and Fort Rucker; Assistant Division Commander (Forward), 1st Armored Division; and Deputy Director for Operations, National Military Command Center, J-3, The Joint Staff. He was also Chief of Staff, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized); Commander, Combat Aviation Brigade, 24th Infantry Division; Commander, 3rd Battalion 227th Aviation Regiment, 3rd Armor Division; and Task Force Executive Officer and Company Commander, 160th Aviation Group (Airborne), 1st Special Operations Command.



Lieutenant General Jones is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College. He holds a Masters Degree in Systems Management from the University of Southern California. His awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters (OLC), Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal with 7 OLC, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal with OLC, Army General Staff Badge, the Joint Staff Badge, Expert Infantryman Badge, Master Aviator Badge, Parachutist Badge, and Ranger Tab.

[Accountable]

Something's not right. There will surely be more later. He as simple as adultery. Hell, he would have been forced to retire if he were sleeping with his students.

[jasmund]

-I agree with accountable on this one, something is missing, all the pieces dont add up, even it were as cut and dry as all that, the frustrating thing is the injustice of it, sure, physically you can go out an hire a lawyer and bring legal action against the US government, but we also know that is a lost battle before the fighters have entered the ring, keep us updated with more information please.



---Jasmund

[BTS]

Far Rider wrote: I'm looking for more information on this, but Im gonna be a hard arse myself on this one... Rules are rules, and he knowingly broke them.

The uniform has been disgraced enough by former soldiers, and even now a CIC. And although I dont blame the guy for wanting a relationship, he should have waited.

All he had to do was wait some time out to begin again with a new relationship. Surly a combat veteran knows how to wait time out.

He did wrong and the army should not have a double standard, the only way to stop the double standard is to offciate the law to its fullest.

I said it, and was indoctrinated in it all my career..."No Slack...none taken none given".
Thank God we do not hold our prior presidents up to your microscope or we might not have gotten this country to where it is now, and I am not talking about BC.

[Adam Zapple]

I'm wondering what role his estranged wife is playing in this. She knows the military code of conduct and perhaps as part of the divorce process she pushed the military to hold him accountable. I imagine all of us that have served know of improper relationships between officer and enlisted that went unaddressed. My division head, a Lt. Commander, who was married was openly living with a Lt. jg while we were stationed overseas - his wife was back in the states. Everyone knew it, they were seen together all the time, it was not discreet. Nothing came of it.

If the general's wife is pushing the issue, then the military really has its hands tied.

[nvalleyvee]

Adam Zapple wrote: I'm wondering what role his estranged wife is playing in this. She knows the military code of conduct and perhaps as part of the divorce process she pushed the military to hold him accountable. If the general's wife is pushing the issue, then the military really has its hands tied.


If as BTS suggested the affair was with another man.......... even though they had a legal separation... she could have wanted to screw him badly. But why???? The wife gets 1/2 of the retirement - why would she jeapodize that? Is she that vengeful? I was never in their bedroom - I do not know.

[BTS]

flopstock wrote:



Here's the most logical explanation i've found looking around online. Otherwise you would think he'd have a bit more support and there would be more of an outcry from folks who had served with him.



this is still under review isn't it?


That makes the most sense I have seen ALL evening.

I am looking at the fact that he was involved in the Abu Ghraib investigation......

Me thinks Rummy did not like his opinion.

[BTS]

Far Rider wrote: Not a microscope, he did this out in the open. BT He broke a known rule, its nt like he didnt know! Heck the post hes at is high profile and hes at the head of Doctrine and training, he sets the standard for all training in the army, all new recruits!



Thats doesnt say much leading by example.


Come on GUY......... You have been around the block.

This is not cause to screw a LTG ..... There are other matters we do not know at this tyme. I think it could be Abu Ghraib. The adutery thing is just a guise.

Don't try to play choir boy and all. You know what goes on in the armed forces, if you really have been there.

Or are you going to tell us all that everybody from gen to private keeps their willie in their pants? Did you turn any of your buddies in when they cheated? If not WHY?

Granted it don't make adultery right BUT hell he was legally seperated REAPEAT legally seperated and just last wed. THE DIVORCE WAS FINAL.



This is a inside job at it's best.

[Accountable]

BTS wrote: Thank God we do not hold our prior presidents up to your microscope or we might not have gotten this country to where it is now, and I am not talking about BC.
Military oranges & political apples, BTS.

[Peg]

Just because he is a high ranking officer in the military, does not mean he is not human.