If you are referring to LTC Ostermiller, commander of 100-442 IN, let's hope the circumstances are nothing like that...if I remember right, LTC Ostermiller tried to choke out his S-3 and was arrested on the spot by MPs.

I can't remember his name. He was one of the bn commanders in 2nd Bde, 1 ID.

It looks like in mid-2004, 1-26 Infantry changed hands even though the commander had only been with the unit for a year or so.

MG Batiste relieved LTC Allen of 1-26 IN in JUL 04. He was replaced by LTC Eric Schacht. The incident that triggered it was a suicide VBIED that hit a building where the mortar platoon was resting. No US forces on the gate, in contradiction to division policy.

Most comments foicus the possibility that intertnal Division politics might be the reason for his sudden firing and return to home station. I believe that the only thing that could have caused this to happen would be an allegation of abuse of power. It is unlikely that an NCO or Officer would find themselves victimized so the victim would have to come from the ranks of the Junior Enlisted. Think of this young men and women who recently lived at home under their parents control and now in the military serving with "adults" with a lot of power over them. Whatever happened is likely similar to what sometimes happens to a child with his teacher or scoutmaster in the civilian world. Only this and not "politics" could cause the sudden firing of Jenio and his sidekick and forcing him to obtain legal counsel.

He was the commander of the 100-442 out of HI. He was relieved while in Kuwait during RSO operations. He did choke his BN S-3. But he was relieved before the unit moved forward into Iraq during OIF-3. That unit was attached to my BDE.

One hires an attorney when charges are pending. We've not heard the end of this.

My impression, and it is only that, is that Gen. Scapparotti fired him.
Best,
Tom

We had a BN commander fired for cheating on his wife prior to deployment, ugly divorce, violation of UCMJ, etc. It affected his ability to Command downrange...this incident could be for anything.

I thought it was because he was too slow to take advantage of the surprise capture of the intact Remagen bridge. He was replaced by James Van Fleet who eventually took Ridgeway's 8th Army command in Korea after Ridgeway was named to replace MacArthur.

Those guys that were lost were detached from the 1-508, yes, had nothing to do with 2-508, but the point was that Drinkwine was involved ( don't know to what extent) but this did make it into the mainstream news back then that a bunch of Afghan police and ANA as well as NATO guys were collateral damage in the attempt to find the bodies. This is just an example of things going from worse to bad, likely mishandled all around. Two "rare" events for him now was the point, lost soldiers and a commander dismissal, this is just basic statistics, and raises questions...

Yeah, how did that work for you with the Generals in 2003?
Did that rule apply? and now with Colonels turning down Brigade commands due to battle fatigue, and the 20 year point right in this O5 and O6 range; that quality is lined up is not a given.

I disagree. Things are worse now, but there are only so many Bn level commands and that is one place the Army is still choosy - or at least choosier than most. You pretty much have to get through the KD job as a MAJ successfully and then score the command.

Yes it's true almost anyone makes LTC these days, but it isn't true that all those LTCs will get their commands.

As for the Generals, well there's too damn many of them anyway.

Not a conspiracy theorist, and although I have heart-felt concern for the families of deployed forces; in light of the Army Capstone Concept 2016-2028 (mentioned by Mr Ricks here on the 21st), the question is: where can/is Afghanistan quickly go/ing wrong ? Steele is a good example of command intent which, two levels up and two levels down, must be adhered to. However, what if the two down understands the intent of the forth above while the guy in the middle does not? If it was as simple as a DA7279-R, why didn't the command intent on EO get out in the year before deployment? If this was an issue over command decisions refused, then fine, but why did someone like Jenio push the limits? He was on the SSC 2010 list as an alternate, he had alot to lose. There may be no cover-up, no big red flag from the BCT or DIV. That the Jenio-McChrystal connection is now clear, it begs the question: given their obviously close relationship, surely Jenio asked some advice? Doesn't every former XO etc go back to their best commander relationships, up the chain, for advice? If Jenio failed to heed warnings all around, on all issues, then he must accept the consequences. My earlier posting included Drinkwine references to suggest that he has been stuck in bad situations by Division commanders in the past, perhaps running to catch up. A reading of his "Serpent in the Garden" and his approach to Fallujah suggest that he is not the leader that the aforementioned Capstone Concept is calling for. That he had Fallujah experience and Mountain experience is without a doubt the reason he was considered qualified for this job. However, in the dynamic hyper_situational_aware command environment of the future, he and the MG may not be those guys, and if Jenio couldn't deal, then he was not either.
As for Spouse issues, as has been noted, they can tank a career, but again, leadership starts with self and as well, at home, and if they take it to the battlefield, then again, the Army of the future has to get this right. The mechanisms to deal with these issues are still evolving, and must be in place for that 2016 vision.

Again, these are matters that should have been dealt with prior to deployment. That they may have impact, sure, but in this case they likely would have turned up the heat, but could not have lit the fire under a dismissal of a commander without direct UCMJ violations.

Just to clarify the record, the FRG chain of command: Cindy Scaparrotti is the MG, Mrs Jenio is the LtC, and between them is ( yes I Googled this too) a Mrs. Prof. Dr. Leslie Drinkwine, PhD ( all titles to which she is entitled). She auctioned quilts at Carlisle and invoked them at Bragg:
... The brigade commander's wife, Doctor Leslie Drinkwine, compared the result of the hard work of the volunteers to a metaphor involving quilts.
"Your volunteer spirit is part of the thread that keeps our Fury quilt together," Dr. Drinkwine said. "Each of you takes time from your busy lives to make a contribution to the greater good of the Fury Family."
In all fairness, this is what was expected of her, and yes, the FRG teams have manuals, but they did not enlist. The underlying issues for the contentions expressed regarding FRG in this Jenio matter may not become public and innuendos may be unfair to the many who work so hard for the families, however, those issues had better be addressed if real. This suggests a possible systemic failure more than just a personnel issue.

Ducky, I will say I am not a big fan of the Army Officer Corps, they are WAY to risk adverse and prone to micromanage, a recent poll of USMC and Army Officers at the JO level also believes that. That being said, the Army CoC is pretty tight, not convoluted, the only thing in question here is why he got fired. As for the CSM being fired with him, many Navy Units fire the WHOLE head shed when one screws up, they are supposed to support each other and when one fails it is often thought that the CO, XO and CMC (CSM for the Army) did not work together to make the Command function properly. Let's all let the dust settle and see what happened with this guy before we speculate to much, this stuff always comes out in the end.

Discussion of this simple sacking has been downright jesuitic, the entanglements of relationships, past duty tours, sponsorship, and justifications positively byzantine. Maybe it is this involved, and if so suggesting that command in the Army has as its model the system of cliques and friendships in your average high school.

But I think rather that it's nowhere nearly this complex. Beneath it all I suspect these two guys screwed the pooch in some specific way and required firing. It happens, and all this speculation is just outside guesswork, an attempt to find meaning in meaningless factors.

BTW, in the several stories recently of military leaders being detached for cause one fails to find any shoe-leather reporting by the working press. It's all press-release journalism. The blogs often get closer to facts, though usually when someone in the unit posts an inside story to counter the wild speculation we blog respondents are so free with. the bandwidth of true journalism shrinks every day. Worrisome.

Well, unless I am mistaken, you didn't check my reference to "Stryker Tunnell Kassulke". See who wrote "Stryker soldiers say commanders failed them" ? Sean D. Naylor - ArmyTimes, Jan 2, 2010, adn where did this occur ? ARGHANDAB RIVER VALLEY, Afghanistan, next to Kandahar city, and that fighting killed 21 of the "1-17 soldiers and more than 50 insurgents, led to a popular company commander’s controversial replacement and raised questions". So, what are the dynamics wherein another dismissal of a commander weeks later in the same valley? Again from that article “McChrystal’s guidance is very clear on its population focus,” said another junior leader. But 1-17 soldiers thought that focus was missing from their operations. “ Read through that article, all of my posts, and the fact that Naylor has this one too.
This could be a "Canaries in the coal mine scenario ... "

If you think the other branches are any different as far a cliques and groups go and how spots are chosen I have a bridge to sell you in NYC ;) ALL of the branches are notoriously political, most of the head shed has never seen a day of being shot at in anger, it is almost all politics at that level in all branches.

I think it probably takes a 3-star's approval to fire a Bn Cdr.

I would have thought that a JAG commentator would have clarified this before now, but one sent me this: "AR 15-6, para. 3–4. Counsel;
Only a respondent is entitled to be represented by counsel (see para 5–6). Other interested parties may obtain counsel, at no expense to the Government, who may attend but not participate in proceedings of the investigation or board which are open to the public. "

Further, he noted that "15-6 can have serious ramifications, either for a designated "respondent", or in the informal board situation, someone who might later be designated as such. This likely was a consequence of an ongoing chain of events and investigation. In any case, clearly JAG is involved, as is required under 15-6, and the Board/Investigator/s may well be independent of the chain of command." He also said "follow the retaining trail", I presume alluding to finding out if others in Rear/D or other officers have counsel as well.
Hopefully there may be public hearings, otherwise Naylor may have quite a difficult job digging into this one. And he made one other note after reading this blog and the comments, if this involved FRG, it invokes "spousal communication rules" which could lead to dead-ends for the investigator.

I've heard things like this before out of the ranking spouses' mouths. Absolutely sickening to think that their idiocracy would have any affect on command climate, but it does. If this is true in this case, then I say hire the lawyer. The spouse, unless in the military themselves, HAS NO RANK. They are volunteers who support families in the unit, part of a team with other families.

Ladies, shame on you if you behave in the manner stated above. Shame on you for dragging your own personal drama to the battlefield. Your job is to take care of the families back home so the soldiers can do their jobs better over there. If you feel the need to bring your own personal drama into the picture, then you need to step down yourself instead of shoving your own feelings of self-importance down other's throats. Grow up and get out of high school, or at least eat some humble pie.

This whole situation is unfortunate and I do have to agree with you.

I'd like to call out BEENALLCANB, this is either S. Jenio or one of her puppets. I have actually heard S. Jenio regurgitate these statements in BEENALLCANB's post that were "said" by Dr. Drinkwine. Lt. Col. Jenio screwed the pooch and these latest public statements by the Jenio camp are an obvious attempt to cover up improprieties by the 2-508 command staff. S Jenio's attitude and feelings of entitlement are embarrassing. To think that it’s okay to throw all this dirty laundry out for all to see makes me embarrassed to call myself an army wife!

If this is the type of *garbage* that has been going on in the brigade- the name calling and the vitriol, how must it be for the FAMILIES in the brigade? When your soldier is deployed, you'd like to think that your FRG has your back, not that they are standing by waiting to put a knife in it.

If there is truly an investigation going on into the climate in the brigade, better to wait and see what it uncovers. In the meantime, based on the comments I see here, I hope that the 82nd is looking out for the families in the brigade who are having to deal with, what looks like a, complete mess. Their soldiers are in harm's way. They shouldn't have to deal with any more stress than they already have.

...that all this nonsense ISN'T about an FRG; but unfortunately I know how crazy these things get.

I'll spare you the details but I'll just say as a RC BN CDR I asked my wife to be minimally involved in coordinating the efforts of the company-level FRGs - this was especially important as we were coming home. In our state we were very used to deploying companies, but these were the first Battalion level deployments, so coordination at the Bn-level was required.

My wife was an experienced (and much beloved) FRG leader at the company-level on active duty. She was trained, she knew the role and how to handle it...and she never wore my rank. But the mechanics of the Guard are different. Companies are spread out and regional in nature, they are more insulated as a result. In our case they didn't want to work together, but when we are having one welcome home at one central site they had to.

I'll just say this. The last few weeks and days of our mobilization were the most miserable of my life as the catty women of the FRGs got into backbiting and completely unnecessary in-fighting. My wife looked to me for support and I did what I could but in the end I had to look to the health and welfare of the unit as a whole. We had to survive a few more days as a team. I took the path of least resistance and band-aided the unit together as long as it needed to to get everyone safely home. It was all so unecesary and sad, that an otherwise spectacular deployment was bookended by a somewhat miserable homecoming experience. Note: fortunately the misery was mostly transparent at the family levels, it was the leaders that were causing and suffering the problems.

My marriage has suffered (a lot) because of it. It is well to say in the commentary that these guys have to stand up to their wives. This is true, esp. if wives are acting as some of the commentators here have indicated - that is to say wholly inappropriate. But it is sometimes hard to balance those acts, and (like it or not) we all leave command, and we all (hopefully) stay married far beyond that command.

I'm not making excuses, and again I hope the FRGs weren't the driver of these decisions. But I understand.

...where there's smoke, there's fire. I don't know any of these folks, but these kinds of issues do rise up in command, regarding spouses. In all branches of the service. The issues back home should be dealt with there, back home, and not involve the commander. These leaders have too many important decisions to deal with when at war, shouldn't have to put up with BS drama involving their wives, should have the balls to tell their own wives to stand down and just deal.

It's a small military (again, Army, Marines, AF or Navy). Reputations do preceed and follow people. Shame on the spouses who think so much of themselves that they can let their pettiness not only affect an officer's career, but also affect the readiness and mission effectiveness of a unit. Again, I don't know any of these folks directly involved, but have seen this happen time and time again. It's been the same since I was a young grunt. You would hope in these enlightened times that we have learned how to work better as teams, faults and all. In garrison, deployed, and on the homefront.