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Old 07-22-2018, 09:31 AM
HARDCORE HARDCORE is offline
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Exclamation Angry Camp Pendleton General Treated Aide Like "Servant" In Iraq - Pentagon Says

Angry Camp Pendleton general treated aide like 'servant' in Iraq, Pentagon says

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...710-story.html

Military

Andrew Dyer June 10, 2018

A Marine Corps general used his aide to run myriad personal errands — such as picking up laundry, changing bed sheets and reserving gym equipment — while deployed to Iraq, according to a new Department of Defense Inspector General’s audit.

The audit also found that Brig. Gen. Rick Uribe, who is now the Deputy Commanding General of the I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, had borrowed money from his aide without repayment and solicited gifts from other subordinates.

Uribe deployed to Iraq in May 2016 where he served as the deputy commanding general for operations and the director of the Combined Joint Operations Center-Baghdad. As the Target Engagement Authority, his job included approving airstrikes against Islamic State targets. According to the July 5 audit, he was the senior-ranking Marine officer in Iraq until returning to the U.S. in June 2017.

A complaint was filed via the DOD hotline that same month.

Investigators found Uribe violated the Joint Ethics Regulation by asking or allowing his aide to perform unofficial tasks while on duty.

Those tasks included picking up the general’s laundry, changing dirty bed sheets, providing meals, drafting personal correspondence and reserving equipment at the gym.

The aide, who was not named in the report but has been identified in other reports as a female junior officer, was said by one witness to have carried a “huge backpack” with Uribe’s personal items when they traveled, if even just for a few hours.

“I thought that was strange,” the unnamed witness told investigators. “I can 100 percent tell you there were times I thought (she) was his servant.”

“He would have me bring snacks and coffee into meetings,” the aide told investigators. “At one point...every day at 3:00 p.m., he wanted tea.”

Another part of the aide’s job in Iraq was reserving gym equipment for Uribe.

Investigators found instances where Uribe, called away in the middle of a workout, would have his aide stand next to equipment for up to 40 minutes, preventing other people from using it until he returned.

The aide said she’d be asked to do this “multiple times a week, if not daily.”

A witness told investigators this was especially “messed up” because it prevented others from using the equipment.

“It’s a statement that (Uribe’s) time is more valuable than anybody else’s time,” the witness said.

In Uribe’s response, which was included in the report, he said the help his aide provided was what allowed him to focus on his job.

“...Some of the errands (she) ran for me greatly and significantly assisted me in...concentrating on killing and the annihilation of ISIS/ISIL from Iraq,” Uribe said. “I could not have done my job without (her).”

However, investigators found the previous general had no such issues doing the exact same job.

William F. Mullen III, now a major general, told investigators he never allowed his aide to pick up his laundry, even if the aide was picking up his own. He said that sounded like “personal servitude.”

In addition to misuse of his aide, Uribe was found to have accepted gifts and loans from subordinates.

Upon arrival in Iraq, the general found his credit card would not work with the base ATMs. He borrowed more than $200 from his aide, which was paid back via personal check about a month later.

The aide said Uribe frequently borrowed money from her. Additionally, Uribe had access to her personal Wi-Fi, a $60 per month service that the aide expected to split with her boss. He did not reimburse the $330 he owed until presented with the results of the investigation.

The aide told investigators she did not ask to be reimbursed at the time because it was “an incredibly uncomfortable conversation to have with a senior officer.”

“I was just fed up,” she told investigators. “Like I was tired of opening doors, I was tired of freaking doing the laundry, I was tired of getting food, I was tired of being talked to like I was a freaking dumb ass.”

Investigators also found other instances of subordinates providing gifts to, or on behalf of, the general.

An unnamed lieutenant colonel, who served under Uribe at a prior duty station, sent the general $150 in coffee and chocolates that he’d requested.

Another witness said the general had him purchase a $45 “farewell gift” for the commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division without reimbursement.

Prior to his assignment in Iraq, Uribe himself held the position of Inspector General of the Marine Corps, where he was responsible for investigating ethics violations.

A witness told investigators Uribe “would have known better.”

The Inspector General recommended Uribe’s current supervisor take “appropriate action.”

He currently serves under Lt. Gen. Lewis A. Craparotta, the commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force. I MEF did not respond to requests for comment.
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Old 07-22-2018, 10:05 AM
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Boats Boats is offline
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HC - I read this a few weeks ago - sometimes those with power given results in abuse. This is just one case of so many others. It's amazing how one with power can be so abusive and he's just one of many who needs the rug pulled out from under them. Why it takes so long for action to be taken is worrisome. It may be that intimidation or that no one would believe that he or she was capable of such and act until caught.

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