Bragg colonel's wife barred from 4th Brigade functions

[PMedMoe]

Article Link

The commander of Fort Bragg has barred the wife of an 82nd Airborne Division colonel from nearly all interaction with her husband's brigade and the unit's families after an investigation found her influence "detrimental to the morale and well-being of both."

Sworn statements from the investigation, ordered in January by Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick, accuse Col. Brian Drinkwine's wife, Leslie Drinkwine, of using her husband's position as leverage to repeatedly harass and threaten soldiers and their families.

The statements say the harassment and threats began almost as soon as Col. Drinkwine took command of the 4th Brigade Combat Team in 2008.

A follow-up to Helmick's investigation has reached the highest levels of leadership in Afghanistan. That investigation is exploring whether animosity between the Drinkwines and Col. Drinkwine's battalion commanders and their spouses ever unfairly damaged the officers' careers.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of all NATO forces in Afghanistan, referred a recommendation from Helmick to Lt. Gen. William Webster, who is in charge of all U.S. Army forces in the Middle East, according to a spokesman for McChrystal.

Webster's investigation continues, and no information from it will be released before its completion, a spokesman for his office said in an e-mail.

Col. Drinkwine has denied any unfair treatment of his subordinates.

Leslie Drinkwine declined to comment.

In an interview in May, Helmick said his decision to bar Leslie Drinkwine was based on the investigator's recommendations and Helmick's own 34 years of experience in the Army.

"It was just a dysfunctional situation," Helmick said. "That is not a good thing to have when you have soldiers deployed fighting.

"The last thing we need in an organization that is supposed to take care of families and those people that are left here in the rear detachment is a very unhealthy climate."

The Observer obtained a copy of Helmick's investigative file through the Freedom of Information Act. Names are redacted from the nearly inch-thick stack of paperwork, which includes sworn statements and e-mails from at least 25 people. Ranks and job titles are not blacked out, so the Observer was able to independently confirm most names in the report.

The investigator assigned by Helmick, Col. Chris Spillman, concludes in the report that while there is no direct evidence Col. Drinkwine hurt anyone's career because of retaliation or a vendetta, he recommends a closer look at the matter.

That issue falls outside Helmick's purview, which is why he forwarded the report to commanders in Afghanistan.

Spillman's findings hold Col. Drinkwine partially responsible for his wife's behavior at Fort Bragg.

Spillman calls Col. Drinkwine the "key enabler" of his wife's actions because he failed to dispel the perception that she had a level of authority similar to his own.

"At least three commanders approached Col. Drinkwine with issues they were having," Spillman wrote in the report. "Yet there is no evidence that he took steps to moderate her behavior."

More (much more) at link

 

[GAP]

Wow....the Commander's wife from hell.....

 

[Tank Troll]

This is nothing new it use to happen in the Hussars in Germany.

 

[Kat Stevens]

It happened all over 4CER too, every wife seemed to wear her husband's rank.  A lot of careers were made or ruined by it.

 

[Dissident]

Here is a perfect example of how choosing the wrong partner can be disastrous, not only for your personal life, but your professional one too.

 

[NSDreamer]

That is very depressing...I'm glad I don't know my C/O or Adj's families  :camo: I'm hidden in the masses of Junior Officers!

 

[OldSolduer]

And the Patricias too.

 

[the 48th regulator]

Wife of O-6 told to stay away from BCT families

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jun 11, 2010 11:58:24 EDT

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — Fort Bragg’s commander has barred the wife of an 82nd Airborne Division combat officer from most involvement on the home front after a report said she’s been undercutting morale.

The decision by Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick comes after an investigation found Col. Brian Drinkwine’s wife, Leslie Drinkwine, harassed soldiers and their families, The Fayetteville Observer reported Friday.

Drinkwine leads 3,500 men in the 4th Brigade Combat Team, which has been in Afghanistan since August.

Leslie Drinkwine had been a leader of the unit’s family support group, but investigators said her flare-ups with other spouses has been demoralizing. The colonel has said his wife speaks for him.

“It was just a dysfunctional situation,” Helmick said. “That is not a good thing to have when you have soldiers deployed fighting.”

A follow-up investigation has reached the highest levels of Army leadership in Afghanistan to find out whether disputes between Drinkwine’s wife and spouses of the colonel’s subordinates damaged military careers.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, referred a recommendation from Helmick for further investigation to Lt. Gen. William Webster, who is in charge of Army forces in the Middle East, a McChrystal spokesman said.

Brian Drinkwine denied unfair treatment of junior officers after their wives clashed.

Both he and Leslie Drinkwine declined comment to the newspaper, which obtained a copy of Helmick’s investigative file through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The probe into the war of words among military wives found that problems in the 4th Brigade’s Family Readiness Group date back to October 2008.

That’s when Leslie Drinkwine confronted the spouses of some of her husband’s subordinates at the 82nd Airborne Division’s annual silent auction and accused them of disloyalty, the report said.

The next day, she sent an e-mail to several support group leaders, both officers’ wives and paid staff members, characterizing her dispute with other women at the auction as “an ambush from hidden domestic insurgents.”

Leslie Drinkwine, who teaches marketing courses at Campbell University, told investigator Col. Chris Spillman she regretted the remark.

Not long afterward, Leslie Drinkwine visited the wife of Lt. Col. Mike Wawrzyniak while her husband was at work and Brian Drinkwine sat outside in his car.

Leslie Drinkwine yelled at Pam Wawrzyniak for about half an hour, reducing her to tears, the report says. Eventually, the colonel came into the house, tried unsuccessfully to calm his wife, and they left, Pam Wawrzyniak told the investigator.

The support group’s top paid staff member resigned in December 2008, citing a hostile work environment that made it impossible for her to do her job.

One former battalion commander, two current battalion commanders and the brigade’s rear commander said Leslie Drinkwine told them “that either their careers, or the careers of others, could be adversely impacted by her.”

In March 2009, before the brigade deployed, all six battalion commanders serving under Brian Drinkwine’s command went to his office together to talk to him about his wife. Brian Drinkwine dismissed their complaints and told them that the relationship between his wife and their wives was a senior-to-subordinate relationship. Drinkwine repeated that his wife speaks for him.

“Although he made the statement within the context of FRG-related business, this and [Leslie Drinkwine’s] repeated reiteration of this statement to commanders and spouses clearly contributed to the perception that, by extension as the brigade commander’s wife and within the context of FRG activities, she held a level of authority that resembled command authority,” Spillman wrote in his report.

One of Drinkwine’s battalion commanders, Lt. Col. Frank Jenio, said Leslie Drinkwine threatened to have him fired during a heated phone conversation last year.

Jenio, who was in charge of 800 troops operating just outside Kandahar, said the need to deal with challenges involving the unit’s family support group nearly every other day took away time he could have been using to focus on the war.

Spillman recommended that Brian Drinkwine be required to inform each of his battalion commanders in writing that his wife does not speak for him concerning the 4th Brigade or the support group.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

That is very depressing...I'm glad I don't know my C/O or Adj's families  :camo: I'm hidden in the masses of Junior Officers!

Subordinate Officers, if you're profile is accurate...

 

[Old Sweat]

This isn't quite a colonel's wife story, but it goes back to the bad, old days when the air defence artillery shool was set up in CFB Chatham. As the story goes, there was considerable fretting going on in the air force world about the arrival of the army with all its pomp and circumstance. So, a wives' meet and greet was set up in the Officers' Mess. The air force wives showed up in frocks, gloves and hats. The army wives appeared in ball hats, gardening gloves and jeans. As the story goes, and I got it from one of the husbands, the vast majority of the ladies required rides home, after deciding over several drinks light blue and brown did go together after all.

Now, egomaniacal senior officers' wives are a different matter.

 

[tomahawk6]

Most officers can control their wives but there is the odd officer who is securely wrapped around his wife's finger. MacArthurs wife had a number of incidents cutting in line at the commissary. After MacArthur faded into retirement he was assigned a Colonel from the PAO. No one wanted that job because of Mac's wife.

 

[FastEddy]

No Names No Pack Drill, At Soest Germany, the Brigade Cmdr.s wife was a Holy Terror on wheels, at Bde Base HQ, where the SOP was Stop, Identify and Destination. Well that was followed by everybody, Civilians and Military alike, regardless of Rank.

God help the Gate Personnel who didn't get out of the way when a screech of tires from the main road sounded the alert of her Mercedes heading towards the Base Entrance at above the posted speed limit.

Stop, Identify and Destination, not likely as she zipped past the Gate Entrance neither looking left or right. Her exits were just as spectacular, It was rumored that even the Local German Police wouldn't stop her for Traffic Violations.

Does Rank have its Privileges, you be the Judge.


Cheers.

 

[medicineman]

That was almost as bad as reading James Joyce.

MM

 

[NSDreamer]

Subordinate Officers, if you're profile is accurate...

Ah right right! Once I am done my basic training I won't make such mistakes!

 

[George Wallace]

Ah right right! Once I am done my basic training I won't make such mistakes!

Hopefully you are lucky and don't.  On the other hand, if one looks at some of the posts on this site, there are examples of this phenomenon festering in the background.

 

[Tank Troll]

I had some ones wife introduce her self as Mrs Mcpl so and so, latter in my career She was Mrs WO so and so. One of the CO's wife in Germany would lord her husbands rank over others wives, Jr Officers, and Soldiers. The really fun part was when he said "I believe My wife gave you an order Cpl" Which I responded with "Too bad she hasn't realized you are the only one here in her chain of command........ Sir"

 

[armyvern]

Waaaay back when I was a Pte, we had an all ranks function where spouses were in attendace. We had been having some of the same issues with service wives (funny how service husbands don't attempt to wear their wife's uniform!!) or superiors.

After the dinner, the CO said "I'd like all of my troops over here on my right." All the troops got up and walked over to his right where he had pointed. Some of their wives moved too. He then said that he "wanted all my Officers over here on my left"... the Officers got up and moved - and some of their wives rose and moved too.

When they stopped moving the CO turned to look at them all and said "Now, all of you who think you are Officers or wear the uniform, but actually are not can return to your seats; you have no authority over anyone in this room in uniform or their spouse. Your husband may be the exception."

A lot of faces went instantaneously red and quick shuffling occured as they headed back to their seats. When they had re-sat themselves, the CO finished up with a "Don't forget this lesson. Dismissed."

It was awesome.

 

[mariomike]

Reminds me of the story in the Sun years ago that the RCMP was ordered to salute Mila Mulrooney:
http://books.google.ca/books?id=821-9a6Fv3YC&pg=PA214&lpg=PA214&dq=%22claire+hoy%22+salute+mila&source=bl&ots=R4KkNpYMmt&sig=a9Il6Nxay2gl91RrtyqU8gujQQs&hl=en&ei=HdETTIqOCcT_lgfTmpSYDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBQQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22claire%20hoy%22%20salute%20mila&f=false

 

[Old Sweat]

When I was a recruit, we had the Commandant's civilian car pointed out to use and we were told in no uncertain terms that we must salute it at all times. No matter, if the Commandant or his wife or one of his kids was driving it, they must be saluted if in the car.

 

[Journeyman]

When I was a recruit, we had the Commandant's civilian car pointed out to use and we were told in no uncertain terms that we must salute it at all times. No matter, if the Commandant or his wife or one of his kids was driving it, they must be saluted if in the car.

Well the good news is, there probably weren't that many cars around back then  >

;D