US Army V. SFC (Adverse Enlisted Administrative Separation Board)

Fort Cavazos (Fort Hood), Texas

The Client is a Combat Medic and veteran of 5 deployments….all as a combat medic. Client was accused of participating in “camel surfing”, committing unsafe acts in a UH-60, and allowing an unrated crew member to fire from the aircraft. This case required some heavy lifting. Oddly enough, the easiest issue to resolve was the camel surfing. The reason why it was easy was because our Client was the whistle blower on the whole mess. He immediately reported the unsafe acts he observed as well as what the other members of his unit were doing. Next came the unsafe acts. The Defense successfully demonstrated that the pilots, (against regulation), did not always tell the passengers and crew what they were doing. However, the Client was always properly secured to the aircraft when he was moving around. Lastly, the Defense showed through evidence, that he and his unit were authorized to allow the individual in question to shoot from their aircraft. It was authorized, it was SOP and the action was specifically approved by the chain of command during the time frame it happened. The Client did nothing wrong. There was a lot of evidence. However, all the evidence actually did was exonerate the Client. The interesting thing in this case was that it got to this place in the first place. The case was built off of perception, rather than what the evidence actually said. He received a GOMOR and a relief for cause NCOER all based off of perceptions. At least in this case he was found not guilty based on what the evidence said. He was retained. As a result of his numerous deployments, he will likely medically board out of the military. The right result occurred in this case.