Posted on 05/08/2011 9:20:48 PM PDT by Tea Party Reveler
A COLONEL'S CAREER LOST FOR $65 - WHY DID ROBERT PETIT SELF-DESTRUCT? - MARINE COMMANDER OF 24TH EXPEDITIONARY UNIT AT CAMP LEJEUNE FOUND GUILTY OF SHOP- LIFTING AT LOCAL WAL-MART - CAUGHT HIDING PRINTER INK CARTRIDGES AND STP OIL TREATMENT BOTTLE UNDER JACKET - GETS 96 HOURS OF "COMMUNITY SERVICE" FROM SYMPATHETIC JUDGE - RELIEVED OF COMMAND BY MARINE CORPS - ENLISTED AS GRUNT BACK IN 1978 - KLEPTOMANIAC? - TIME TO RETIRE
© 2011 MilitaryCorruption.com
This is a sad story all around. One of those that cause you to scratch your head and wonder WHY? Why would a respected bird colonel in the United States Marine Corps self-destruct by shop-lifting $65 worth of items from a local Wal-Mart? Is the man a closet kleptomaniac? Is this the first time he has done this, or just the first time he was caught?
What we do have for facts are these: Col. Robert Gerald Petit, former commanding officer of the USMC 24th Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune was caught on security cameras heisting two HP printer cartridges and a bottle of STP treatment and hiding the merchandise under his jacket.
Loss prevention personnel stopped the colonel at the store vestibule and took him back to the office where he acknowledged he had not paid for the items. The police were called and at that point, Petit's military career was over.
CAMERAS DON'T LIE - COLONEL CAUGHT ON FILM
Video from the store security cameras clearly show the colonel attempted to hide the purloined material and deposited wrappers in different places in the store in an apparent effort to conceal the theft.
At his court appearance, Petit's civilian attorney tried to get the case thrown out, but backed off when confronted by video proof the colonel had tried to steal the goods. Judge Louis Foy in Jacksonville, N.C. showed Petit mercy when he sentenced him to 96 hours of "community service." No fine. That's it. Such a lenient sentence might stick in the craw of some staff sergeant or gunny caught in the same circumstances. They wouldn't have gotten the same deal.
Petit appeared before the judge in his Class "A" service uniform. The judge was suitably impressed. "This man has lived an exemplary life," Foy said. "He has performed outstanding duty for his country."
The colonel, who let his lawyer talk for him, had no comment.
HOPES FOR A GENERAL'S STAR NOW GONE
The New Orleans native enlisted in the Corps back in 1978 and earned his officer's commission seven years later. Sources at Lejeune say Petit was in line for a brigadier general's star before this incident. Now, he will be lucky to retire in the grade of colonel.
He was relieved of command in February. Capt. Timothy Patrick, a spokesperson for the II Marine Expeditionary Force, said Petit received "non-judicial punishment." Since the actions taken "were administrative in nature," no further information will be released, he said.
The 50 year-old Marine officer's military career may have ended after 33 years, but he is lucky not to have paid a fine or even done a few days in jail.
Remember Brig Gen. Janice Kaprinski, the commander of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq? She got caught shoplifting at the BX at McDill AFB in Tampa and Bush demoted her!
I thought she got demoted for something else, ie prison care. Not stealing from some BX.
WHY?
KARPINSKI WAS A “SHOPLIFTER”
GENERAL BUSTED TO COLONEL
BY BUSH IN WAKE OF ABU GHRAIB
SCANDAL REVEALED TO HAVE BEEN
HIDING PAST ARREST – WE REPORTED
BRASS HAT’S ALLEGED PRESENCE
DURING TORTURE SESSIONS AT IRAQI
PRISON MONTHS AGO – REVELATIONS
MAY HAVE LED TO RANK REDUCTION
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© 2005 MilitaryCorruption.com
We are not taking credit for ex-Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski’s well-deserved reduction in rank to colonel by President George Bush. But our revelations months ago on this web site, that the former military police commander is alleged to have been present during torture sessions at the infamous Abu Ghraib prison – casting doubt on the veracity of her many television appearances purporting ignorance of what had gone on there – seems to have been enough to force “the powers that be” at the Pentagon and the President himself to take such drastic action.
The public humiliation of Karpinski is all the more striking because it reveals she was promoted to flag rank without a proper investigation of her background. A case of “political correctness?” Perhaps. Not reporting an arrest for allegedly shoplifting a small item at the base exchange at a Florida air force installation is enough grounds for her security clearance to be pulled. Thus, she never would have reached flag rank in the first place. Consequently, Karpinski wouldn’t have been in a position to be “in charge” of the Iraqi prison system at the time of the Abu Ghraib abuses.
MilitaryCorruption.com reported earlier this year that Irish human rights attorney Michael Hourigan is representing Saddam “Sam” Saleh Aboud, who claims the female general was present during one of his torture sessions.
A STORY YOU SAW HERE FIRST
In a devastating deposition, made on video and under oath, “Sam” said Karpinski was there during beatings he endured at the American-run lockup.
During one of the assaults, he said, his hood came off and he saw a female officer standing there.
The Iraqi, who was naked, said the woman was “watching and laughing” as he was being roughed up.
“He knew she was a supervisor because she had a star on her hat and she was in an American uniform,” Hourigan said. “Sam told me the other soldiers would defer to her.” The attorney said his client identified Karpinski after he was shown a picture of the general in an American news magazine.
“SHOPLIFTING” ARREST REVEALED
Probably the chastened former general will continue to protest she’s a “scapegoat” for others in the prison scandal. Now she acknowledges the “shoplifting” (Pentagon’s term for it) arrest, but says she wasn’t guilty of anything because it only “appeared” on a surveillance photo that she placed a BX item in her purse. Karpinski says she already owned the cosmetic in question.
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, she is right. Why then did she not report as serious a matter as an arrest for “shoplifting?” As a longtime military police officer she had to know the rules and regulations on that.
We can only conclude she realized that would finish off her chances to make general. Now the obvious question comes. If she reached flag rank by deception, should she give back the difference in pay from one-star general to bird colonel – the last rank she supposedly served in “satisfactorily?”
FIGHTING FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN THE MILITARY
There is no question that women have been unfairly discriminated against in promotions and other opportunities in the armed forces over the years.
MilitaryCorruption.com is on record as supporting equal opportunity for the many fine female enlisted members and officers who serve our country around the world.
A large majority of them deserve our respect and support. That is why it is so troubling when something like the Karpinski case comes up.
Here, in our editorial opinion, is a case of a woman who was promoted based on gender and her own apparent failure to report an incident which would have most certainly impacted her ascension to the rank of general officer.
Those who still seek to hold women back and continue the “good old boy” system, will get comfort from the Karpinski fiasco.
It is other females in uniform that Karpinski has let down. It makes it all the harder for them to achieve the highest ranks in the military and break through the “glass ceiling” when critics can point to someone who clearly did not deserve to be a general, like the whining former MP boss.
There will probably always be a small segment of the population who will think Karpinski’s merely a “victim” here. But it is significant no groundswell of support for the challenged brass hat has formed, even among the most fierce feminists. They know already this case is a lost cause.
The punishment of a loss of a career is enough a punishment. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that a sargeant would have lost their career over this crime. They might have lost a rank or done many hours of kp or something, so it would have been more reasonable for a harsher punishment to be visited on an enlisted rank.
However, I will never understand the psyche of somebody of such standing to do something so stupid.
Something is EXTREMELY odd here?
An ink cartridge and STP Oil? What???
I don’t know what it is, but there is something much deeper here. I’ don’t know, but it does not add up.
Me either. Why would he through away his entire career over some printer cartridges and a bottle of STP? As a guy I used to know once said “If you are going to steal, make it at least a million bucks. You’ll spend the same amount of time in jail whether it $50.00 or a million dollars.”
through=throw
I disagree. It’s hard for soldiers to respect a petty thief.
“If you are going to steal, make it at least a million bucks. You’ll spend the same amount of time in jail whether it $50.00 or a million dollars.”
Plus they’ll respect you in jail. Small time thieves are just pathetic :)
Maybe he thought he can get away with it, plus it’s hard to steal much more at Walmart unless you go for the safe.
Very sad. I can’t count how many officers I’ve seen self-destruct over stupid stuff...like having an “extra beer” before they drive home.
People who do this compulsively are the ones who steal trivial items like a bottle of STP. When I was in high school I worked part time for a stereo store. We caught a shop lifter once who had stolen a few blank tapes. He had two hundred dollars and four credit cards in his wallet, but he went to jail for stealing items worth less than twenty dollars.
What if that petty thief is a petty officer?
Mental breakdown of some kind, maybe drug-induced. If there’s not a psych/medical eval on top of this, someone isn’t doing their job.
Democrat Colonels should be watched closely..
When I was at NTC San Diego around 1985, one of the base protestant chaplains, an LCDR, who often contributed columns to the base newspaper was busted for shoplifting a pair of shoes from the base exchange.
Southern Baptist type, IIRC. He was supposed to show up at PAO that afternoon for some reason, but called instead to tell me he’d been arrested. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“Ah’m sorry, Petty offica... Ah won’t be abul t’come bah yo office t’day...”
I don’t think I saw him again after that. I imagine he was out of the Navy pretty quickly.
This is just starting.
high heels or blades?
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