Byrnes was slated to retire anyway. There are some who think that maybe he had danced along the edge one time too many. His only vocal defender is a retired LTG who was a close friend. One thing to remember is that a CG's wife has many social responsibilities and an affair would undercut her position within the command. I am not sure who brought the charges either the now ex-wife or the woman Byrnes had an affair with. In any event Schoomaker ordered him to stop. He didnt. LTG Wallace once the Senate authorizes his promotion to General will take over TRADOC - sometime in September.
From the Army Times, a subscriber only article.
August 22, 2005
4-star fired
'Zero due process' in affair probe for TRADOC chief, source says
By Sean D. Naylor
Times staff writers
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker fired the head of Training and Doctrine Command, Gen. Kevin Byrnes, on Aug. 8 for failing to obey a "cease-and-desist directive" to stop seeing a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair, according to the service's top spokesman.
But a retired senior Army leader said Byrnes had received "zero due process," and questioned why the Defense Department's inspector general handled the investigation.
Since the Aug. 9 announcement of Byrnes' relief, many in the Army community had questioned why the popular and highly respected general had received a punishment that, on the surface, seemed disproportionate to his alleged offense.
"The allegation against Gen. Byrnes involves a consensual, adult relationship with a woman who is not in the military, nor is a civilian employee of the military or the federal government," according to an e-mail statement from Byrnes' lawyer, Lt. Col. David Robertson, an attorney in the Army's Trial Defense Service. "Gen. Byrnes and his wife separated in May 2004. They remained separated until their divorce became final on 8 Aug 2005," Robertson wrote to Army Times, indicating that the couple maintained separate domiciles and did not appear together at official Army functions following their separation. Byrnes, who was due to retire in November, did not respond to a message left on his answering machine seeking comment.
"You've got to wonder, what the hell's the story," a TRADOC source said. "And why 90 days before a change of command? Why not let him change command and then hold up his retirement?"
The fact that Byrnes was separated from his wife since May 2004 suggested that there was more to the case than met the eye, said the TRADOC source, who added that there had been no sign that Byrnes' personal life was adversely affecting his ability to run TRADOC.
"There's a level of vindictiveness here, clearly," he said. "This just doesn't add up. In the midst of everything else the Army's got going on, we need this right now? It doesn't pass the smell test."
But Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, Army chief of public affairs, said "the bottom line" was that Byrnes disobeyed a direct order.
When the Army first received the allegation that Byrnes was having an affair, a uniformed senior leader ordered Byrnes to "cease and desist" any adulterous relationship that he might be having, Brooks said. (The only senior uniformed leaders above Byrnes in the Army chain of command are Schoomaker and Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Richard Cody.) That order was not given with any presumption of guilt, Brooks stressed. Rather, according to Brooks, the tone of the directive to Byrnes was: "This is what's come in; we're going to refer it for investigation, and if it's true, you'd better cease and desist."
"The investigation then ensued and found that the conduct itself - the relationship - was substantiated," said Brooks, who added that he had not seen the investigation.
"As General Byrnes' attorney is referring to it, it was a consensual, adult relationship. That behavior, unto itself, constituted conduct unbecoming an officer of his grade and responsibility," Brooks said. "When the investigation was complete, it was quite clear that that order [to stop the relationship] had not been followed, and that the relationship continued for some time.
"So what we really have here is a failure to respond appropriately to that directive. It didn't happen," Brooks said. "It's really that that makes the difference between why he would not receive just a reprimand or some sort of other censure [such as] early retirement, and why he's relieved of his command. That's the bottom line."
'Not been interviewed'
But the retired senior Army leader said Byrnes was not given an opportunity to present his side of the story before being relieved of command.
"He's had absolutely zero due process. None," the retired senior leader said. "Not only has he not been interviewed, he has not seen anything that his accuser has alleged against him. All he knows is that he's under investigation because a woman has accused him of having an affair with her.
"Nobody has told him what the content of the investigation is, no one has told him officially what the details of that are, nobody has asked him to explain himself. ... He's never, ever been asked his side of the story, and he's never seen, in writing, her side of the story, either. ...
"The fact of the matter is that murderers in this country get far more due process than some guy that's provided 35 years of service to his nation."
Robertson, Byrnes' attorney, did not respond by press time Aug. 12 to an e-mail asking whether the general had been given an opportunity to state his case during the investigation.
Brooks said he had no information on whether Byrnes had a chance to make his case.
"I honestly don't know, because I have not been brought into the specifics of the investigation itself. ... Normally that would occur. There would be at least some sworn statements or testimonies that would be taken by investigating officials. He always has the option of declining those.
"He certainly has an opportunity to comment now, and he has an attorney that's been provided to him by the U.S. Army," Brooks said. "I can also assure you that he had an opportunity to respond to the cease-and-desist order.
"This is not an overnight kind of thing. The length of time makes it very clear that he had many opportunities to consider the cease-and-desist order and to comply with it, and [he] didn't."
Enter the IG
The involvement of the Defense Department IG mystified the retired senior Army leader. Normally, four-star flag officers who head major commands within their services, such as TRADOC or Forces Command, are investigated by their service IGs, he said. The only service four-stars who are investigated by the Defense Department IG are the chief and vice chief of each service, because they fall above the service IGs' chains of command, he added.
"The Army has a very thorough IG, and DoD has always had confidence in them," he said.
But Brooks said the Defense Department IG had investigated the case because Byrnes outranked the Army IG, Lt. Gen. Stanley Green.
Army spokesman Col. Joe Curtin concurred.
"It's a matter of procedure to refer it to a higher [authority] because the IG of the Army is only a three-star," Curtin said. "The IG here is outranked."
Department of Defense Directive 5505.6, dated July 12, 1991, which covers "Investigations of Allegations Against Senior Officials of the Department of Defense," gives the Defense Department IG the authority to "provide oversight ... on investigations conducted by the DoD Components into allegations against senior officials."
Byrnes, a field artillery officer, had been at the helm of TRADOC at Fort Monroe, Va., since November 2002 and was expected to retire this fall after 36 years of service. During his tenure at TRADOC, he oversaw the writing of doctrine for the reorganization of the Army into modular units of action. He also helped implement the tenets contained in the Warrior Ethos, the Army's defining principles of service.
TRADOC has operational oversight of 33 of the Army's training schools, and includes the U.S. Army Accessions Command and the Recruiting Command.
Between 1997 and 1999, Byrnes was commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, and commander of Multi-National Division (North), Stabilization Force and Operation Joint Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Prior to taking over at TRADOC, he was assistant vice chief of staff of the Army and deputy chief of staff of the Army for programs from 1999 to 2001, and later was director of the Army staff in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army for a year.
He is expected to be replaced by Lt. Gen. William S. Wallace, who was nominated for the post in April but has not yet been confirmed by the Senate. Wallace, an armor officer who was the senior tactical commander of Army forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom, is commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, Kan. He was commander of the 4th Infantry Division during its transition into the Army's first digital division between 1997 and 1999, then commander of the Joint Warfighting Center and director of Joint Training, J-7, at U.S. Joint Forces Command.
Acting as TRADOC commander is Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Jones, deputy commander at TRADOC since June 2003, Army spokesman Paul Boyce said Aug. 9. A determination has not yet been made as to Byrnes' retirement status and other issues related to the separation process.
However, Brooks said that although a final disposition has not been made regarding Byrnes' case, it was "not likely" to proceed to a court-martial.
"There's no criminal charges," he said.
To constitute an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to Article 134, the adulterous conduct must either be directly prejudicial to good order and discipline or discrediting to the service. If the conduct is open and obvious and has a divisive effect on unit cohesion, discipline or morale, it can be considered directly prejudicial.
Jim Tice contributed to this report.
Past allegations
Allegations of adultery and improper relationships have a long military history. Several high-profile cases among senior leadership in recent years:
2005
The Air Force's top lawyer, Maj. Gen. Thomas Fiscus, was dismissed and demoted two ranks for having multiple affairs over a 10-year period.
1999
Recalled from retirement to face court-martial, Maj. Gen. David Hale pleaded guilty to seven counts of "conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman" and improper relationships with the wives of several subordinate officers. Hale was fined $22,000 and returned to retirement as a brigadier general.
1998
Sergeant Major of the Army Eugene McKinney was removed from his post following accusations of sexual misconduct by six female soldiers. A special court-martial panel acquitted him on 18 charges of sexual misconduct but convicted him on a charge of obstruction of justice. McKinney was reduced to master sergeant and retired.
1997
Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston was about to become head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff when it was revealed he dated a woman 13 years earlier while separated from his wife. The publicity derailed his nomination. He later headed a command in Europe.
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