Officer punished for wearing wrong rank

[unhappycamper]

Officer punished for wearing wrong rank
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 20, 2008 6:56:19 EDT

A Navy Reserve public affairs officer accused of wearing a rank he did not earn and disobeying an officer when told to take it off has been punished administratively and now faces a discharge.

Lt. Paul Pelletier was charged with five violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice — including failure to obey an order or regulation and making false official statements. After admiral’s mast was held May 12, Rear Adm. Earl Gay, commandant of Naval District Washington, sentenced Pelletier to forfeiture of half his pay and benefits for one month and 60 days’ restriction at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Pelletier also received a letter of reprimand.

As of Friday, it was still undecided whether his separation would be medical, other-than-honorable or worse.

Before his admiral’s mast, Pelletier told Navy Times that while serving in Iraq with an Army civil affairs unit, his Army commanders told him he was allowed to put on the rank of lieutenant before making the standard promotion list, as long as it was approved by the proper authorities. Pelletier was commissioned in November 2003, and while he was in Iraq, was more than a year away from actually being allowed to pin on O-3.

After receiving an official form, dated May 7, 2006, from the commander of Multi-National Corps-Iraq, showing he was promoted to the “permanent” rank of lieutenant — a copy of which he provided to Navy Times — and being promoted by his Army superiors during a ceremony in Iraq, Pelletier contacted the Navy liaison office to find out why he wasn’t drawing an O-3’s pay.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_pelletier_051908w/

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. This is stupid

Sounds to me its that old "Army vs Navy" fight, plain and simple.