ARMY COLONEL TO BE COURT-MARTIALED JAMES JOHNSON III WILL BE TRIED IN JUNE ON FRAUD CHARGES

Military corruption ^ | May 22, 2012

[robowombat]

Army colonel to be court-martialed James Johnson III will be tried in June on fraud charges. West Point grad had been commander of 173rd Airborne Brigade Team .

"I hope the bastard gets what's coming to him," an officer who served under COL James Johnson told a MilitaryCorruption.com reporter.

The bald-headed, beady-eyed bird colonel has made his share of enemies since he graduated from West Point in 1986. Now they are eagerly watching developments as the Army announced the former commanding officer of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team will face court-martial on June 10 in Kaiserslauten, Germany.

Johnson, the son of a retired general, if convicted, could receive up to five years in the slammer and a dishonorable discharge. He's accused of filing numerous fraudulent travel vouchers.

But that's not all. His estranged wife claims Johnson had an affair with an Iraqi woman. Her hubby retaliated by calling her "crazy" and having his spouse of 23 years kicked off the base in Vicenza, Italy.

Johnson said - we kid you not - his wife was "going around acting like she was a colonel herself" and embarrassed him by teaching officers wives "how to masturbate." Mrs. Johnson was senior advisor to the 173rd's Family Readiness Group until her infuriated hubby fired her.

The bitter wife blasted Johnson for allegedly spending $27,000 on gifts for his supposed "gal pal." He fired back, claiming she tried to "kidnap" their son and take him with her back to the States. Divorce proceedings are underway and the marriage, as the Germans say, is "kaput."

COL Johnson, "well-known" critics tell us, for "screaming like a madman" and "dressing down senior officers in front of enlisted troops," had been on the fast track to wearing a brigadier general's star. Now the obnoxious officer will be lucky to stay out of prison.

[robowombat]

When this story first broke i thought that it would be the end of this fellow's career whatever happened. Going to trial was more than I expected. Not good.

[Melas]

The bald-headed, beady-eyed bird colonel

Wow, no slant there.

[bigdaddy45]

Sounds like quite a guy.

[fish hawk]

“You can’t handle the truth!!”

[Future Snake Eater]

Wow. The 173d ABN is one of the most highly coveted duty assignments in the regular Infantry world. What a d-bag to mar their name for his own desires.

[robowombat]

The site the article is from is a sort of tabloid. One cannot post Army Times here thanks to the anals that own it hate FR. So MC is the only place I could find this story. The comments in it seem to be regurgitation of what was in Ar Times last year. People become really strange sometimes in combat commands. Paton's son was something of a wild man in Viet Nam and at Knox. When I crossed paths with him in the twilight of his career he was the embodiment of a gentleman. Calm patient but someone it was obvious you didn't want to try and BS. Most of his staff were civilians (this was AMC after all) and he made a point of learning everyone’s name and always greeted you with ‘How are you today Mr. Jones? A young woman was briefing on some issue about LOGEX and got completely flustered, losing her place and train of thought. All Patton did was to ask her to sit down at his conference table and talk him through her charts. She recovered nicely and all went well. At the end of the brief he asked her supervisor to remain and simply told him ‘I always have a dry run with briefers before they do their presentation. Why don't you try that next time?’ End of teaching moment. I don't know this man. I wonder if he wasn't in over his head or if he has some real psychological issues. It is a story that deserves some in depth coverage which the lamestream media never will do. I hoped some Frepers might have served with Johnson somewhere including Iraq and could shed some light on the case.

[PeterPrinciple]

He’s accused of filing numerous fraudulent travel vouchers.

---

from the article but one has to look closely.

[PeterPrinciple]

He’s accused of filing numerous fraudulent travel vouchers.

---

from the article but one has to look closely.

[DariusBane]

Nothing worse than pedigree in the Navy, Army, Airforce. Those guys just stay clean and mediocre. That’s all it takes. This ass clown couldn’t even do that.

[deport]

http://www.stripes.com/news/court-martial-set-for-former-173rd-commander-accused-of-fraud-1.177856

Article at Stars and Stripes linked above..

[SaraJohnson]

They sure are demonizing him. Beady eyed? But, he’ll have a trial and we will see.

Being a wife myself, cheating shi#heads don’t draw my sympathy. Husbands and wifes.

[norton]

regular Infantry...
=
Airborne Infantry.

[norton]

Judge him by how his unit performs.
Judge him by their reenlistment rate.
Judge him by where his company and field grade officers move on to.
Some showboats are successful.
Most are just showboats.

Judge him as well by how he treats his family.
Cheating spouses are dirtbags.

A contentious divorce will stain both parties and I've seen it lead to tragedies for both.
Best to just split, sue or negotiate for compensation, seek support.
Stay healthy.

If this guy's family life is toxic, even if his wife winds up in a straight jacket, he'll never make the next grade but his command abilities need to be judged on other grounds.

Then again, maybe he's just crappy in both roles and deserves a straight jacket himself.

[Vermont Lt]

Funny you mentioned Patton. When I was a freshmen cadet, he was a guest speaker on campus. They had a senior officer private dinner form him, the ROTC guys (I think Dave Hunt, used to be on Fox all of the time was there), and the University President. I was the waiter for their table. I did well through desert and coffee. I spilled a cup of steaming coffee on the General’s lap.

Obviously he did not kill me. I guess my Army Career took a turn for the worst, three years before I graduated. He was not a happy General. I thought he was kind of a prick, but it wasn’t intentional.

[ops33]

Just a comment, commissioned officers do not received a Dishonorable Discharge. The equivalent for a commissioned officer is dismissal from the service.

[robowombat]

Patton, Jr. had a severe drinking problem for a long time. I think after he was in effect sacked as commander of the Armor School and Center and his career effectively ended he dried out and stayed on the wagon. I do not know if he was formally in any 12 step program but some of his mannerisms while at AMC led me to believe he had knowledge of the 12 step process and was trying to incorporate at least some of its dictums into his life.

Being GSP’s son must have been hell. How do you live up to that reputation.?Plus GSP must have been a difficult father. He was a frustrated angry man given to some very strange obsessive behaviors in the years when he was an 0-6. He thought his career would end without achieving his ‘destiny’ of high level combat command and that was both a deep and abiding fear and a cause for a constant simmering rage.

[Billy Dixon]

That depends on the sentence of the court. A fer instance is the sentence one of our Captains got for growing and selling dope-7 years confinement at hard labor, total forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to the lowest enlisted grade and a dishonorable discharge. (ret. AF MSGT BTW)

[HiTech RedNeck]

It hit me as odd that he was ABLE to “fire” his wife, not so much as that he did it. I didn’t think it was allowed to have chain of command coincide with family. If both serve, are they not required to have independent commissions?

[Future Snake Eater]

regular Infantry = non-SOCOM

[ops33]

You might want to check again. A Courts Martial cannot reduce the permanent grade of a commissioned officer nor can an officer be reduced to the enlisted ranks as a result of a Courts Martial.
The reason I made my original post is because it bothers me that a reporter cannot take the time to get their facts straight.