If you found out your Leader or Immediate Supervisor was doing something against the law, like fraud, what would you do?

SP5 James Elmore - Good suggestions and I concur.. It all depends on the severity of the crime thus I said go to the chain of command first.

When I was in Vietnam we had the “ Khaki Mafia headed by the Sargent Major of the Army at that time W.O. Woolridge. There are a couple of books out about it! War always brings out the system manipulators!

The DEALERSHIP reported him?

CPL Brian Baumgartner - I believe that it was only one of the breadcrumbs that ultimately nailed him but yes. You can do an awful lot of nonsense and get away with it, but the IRS is the freaking Eye of Sauron.

1968, Germany, TASCOM HQ. My wife was a secretary for the COL who ran a tech support group of civilian 'experts' representing the major logistical commands in CONUS. These guys were worthless. They would supposedly visit units to advise on tech issues. Mostly, they dropped in for a few minutes and then went sightseeing. The problem was that they actually bragged about these activities, lots of POV miles, per diem, TDY, etc.
Another girl who had been there for a while kept a file, documenting everything. She would call a unit, ask for the fellow, who usually was not and had not been there. She called the names shown in their trip reports and documented that they had not seen the fellows. After about 6 months, when her husband was headed for Nam, she wrote a cover letter and sent the entire package to her Congressman. Kabooom!

As this was going on, one of the tech reps lived in our apartment building. I watched him work on his Jag, using a US Army automotive tool set and some other stuff. I worked in another office, and one of my LTs kept track of the originator codes (today we would call them user names), classifided Secret. I looked his up and ran some computer searches (no small task back then), aided by a CPT friend who was willing to do so using an unassigned originator code so nothing could be traced back to us, as the civilians were a clannish and vindictive group. Found the docs where he had issued the tools for "inspection and testing". Dropped the whole thing in the mail to the IG. He got shiped back to the states - no way you could fire one of these AHs.

At least we provided a little justice where needed.

Good for you sir, it didn't work out so good for me.

I call bullshit. He would not have dispatched a tactical vehicle. And a government vehicle has Nothing to do with a training mission.

Great job Colonel but I would not have reported as you did because you never know who are buddies. I would suggest direct reporting to CID or Army IG. Still, I admire your courage, ethics, and character and indeed your actions.

That's why I always recommend going to an IG or CID. Still, you maintained your self respect and you have that, I suspect, from all of us.

Sorta like what Congress does

No good deed goes unpunished !CAPT Kevin B.

In the end you have your own standard to live up to. When you reach old age and you are looking back, as I am, you will be content that you did your best to live up to your beliefs. There’s comfort in that.SSG Jess Peters

Col Joseph Lenertz The Area Manager was "shady" as well. I wasn't going to try to save his feelings when he had a history of doing things which I found counter to my own personal ethics.

I'm generally a tactful person, but there are certain lines I don't cross. The way the AM came in, I knew he was planning on "cleaning house" so why maintain a pretext of civility? Organizations don't have "Loyalty." People do, and this particular person had never given any indication of possessing that particular leadership trait, therefore I owed him honesty. As I said, "went over like a turd in a punchbowl." But man did I have ZERO regrets.

Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS - LOL, excellent!

SGT Kennedy - never shrink from trading candor for tact - you did not - good job! COL Lenertz, Sir, roger - it is a Marine thing, and I carried it with me into the Army - I was that officer who traded tact for candor - most of the time it went well, the few times it went bad, it was ugly - though, a hiring manager threw me a bone when I came up on his referral list as a civilian - I was his Brigade Chemical Officer and he was my rater and he said something akin to "Gizmo, if I had one or two more like you I could go home a noon every day . . ."

Col Joseph Lenertz that did take guts !!!

Absolutely Agree!!! Doc Bradshaw

I would call it Integrity.

He should not have been aware that you had reported him. Sorry to hear that. Glad you still felt going to the IG was the right thing. Good on you !

Maj Timothy Robertson constant harassment from peers as well as seniors for doing the right thing often happens. It is quite common to get quietly blackballed and straight-up stabbed in the back after doing the right thing in the military. Sad but true!

Maj Scott Kiger, M.A.S. - As the Division DMMO, I found one of our Bn-level units had surveyed or dropped over half of its tools, sets and equipment; but was still reporting C-!. That's impossible for an aviation unit -- so I sent a maintenance & supply flasher up the chain. I was called in to explain my action and why I had not notified the commander concerned as to what was happening in his unit. My reply was that if he was not aware of what was happening in his unit, he ought not be in command! I was just doing my job as the Division"s supply and maintenance watchdog. I lost that battle! So much for being the Division watchdog! It was watch out for myself after that!

LTC Eugene Pawlik - to quote my brother who had been pushed past his limit. he grabbed a dry erase marker and in big bole letters he wrote, "Never push a loyal employee to the point he no longer cares." dude kept getting screwed by first and third shift. talking to the supervisors didn't do anything. after that note was discovered he was called back in to work had a meeting and things changed around rather quickly.

I agree things have changed. It's even more important than ever to find the RIGHT person to report it to. Somebody you know is at their terminal rank, who's known for not being PC.

truthy.... the corruption is rampant and its everywhere....flying right in the teeth of my vows, i had to get out because i could feel it poisoning me

As the Purchasing and Contracting Officer under the DMO of a major Army Post, I supported a the US Army Reserve over a 6 State area through the use of Ordering Officers at the various USAR facilities. One of my duties was to inspect their operations and files every 6 months to determine if Ordering Letter Authorizations was necessary. One of my discoveries was that I had an Ordering Officer in my own backyard for the Post Maintenance Facility! Needless to say, I pulled that letter. Next thing I know, I'm pulled into the DMO's Office to explain why vehicle maintenance down time had increased dramatically. I asked for time to investigate and what I found was hypocracy out the wazzoo! What the maintenace supervisor/ordering officer had been doing was when a vehicle became due for maintenance, he'd have it inspected to determine what parts were required, ordered the parts after releasing the vehicle back to the unit; then, when the parts came in, accepted the vehicle into the shop. Of course, when his letter was revoked, he began accepting the vehicles right into the shop and now the order/ship time came into play and down time spiraled out of sight! And his LT was aiding and abetting his underhanded actions, which earned him a royal ass-chewing, as could be expected! And no Ordering Letter!

dangerous to hand over the initiative like that, shows exceptional character on your part, and a willingness to risk your life...i commend you

In addition, when the IG showed up and started asking questions, they found that our battalion command structure had engaged in systematic intimidation and abuse of power. They ignored sexual hassassment, tolerated misappropriation of government property. One company commander had a pool table in his quarters that had been purchased for the unit.
It was the single worst collection of leadership I saw in all my years of service. It made for a miserable tour of duty.
I was always amazed when and intelligent, educated, and experienced NCO or officer did something so stupid that it just made you wonder if you really saw it.
The dumbest thing I saw was a CSM with 28 years get relieved of duty a month before his retirement because he was sleeping with a female PFC in the brigade.
I guess you can't fix ugly or dumb.

In my last assignment, we had a CSM who would lead by intimidation. He would yell, scream, at the top of his lungs, while threatening you all the while. He eventually found himself before the BN Commander who told him to show up for work, close his door, and have no interaction with the troops for the last 8 months prior to his retirement. He did do that. On his next to last day, He called myself and three other senior NCo's into his office. He told us we were not fit to wear the uniform and if he had a gun, he would save the government retirement money. I thanked him for this and said if you have nothing else, I have to get back to work. Have a nice retirement.

SFC Jimmy Williams was he also relieved of his pension or just told to go sit in the corner for the last month ?

Cpl Greg Berman - Situations like that, they'll usually allow SM's with that much rank and time in to finish service and quietly retire. At least they used to. My first duty assignment was with "No Slack" at the 101st. Even in 2009, they were doing things like that. I worked in S-3 and was privy to hearing juicy tidbits. While he wasn't retiring, the Division CSM had a DUI. Word I had heard was that he was being asked to retire quietly. Sure enough, within six months, I heard on a local radio station about his retirement ceremony that day. Saying in the Army used to be you COULDN'T make SGM without a DUI. Big Army was beginning to crack down on any issues. Spice was just starting to become a problem. The 101 had the highest suicide rate in the Army.
I'd also heard when I was an E-5 less than a year shy of my med retire, that a BN 1SG was being relieved of his position. I forget the reason, but I was an E-5 asked to sit in on a 1SG meeting by my acting 1SG (SFC... the BN was being set up after being moved to Carson from Hood). He had stayed after arrival on time after all, but told me to stay seated, though I don't know why.
Both incidences, I managed to keep from wagging my tongue about as they were "above my pay grade." Back to the original point: The truth is that depending on the era of the infraction, being allowed to retire early and with full pension was a way for military of all branches to keep things quiet and not make a scandal inside or outside of the military. If no charges were brought by the young PFC, the CSM most definitely got away with it! Again, depending on the era, even if that PFC was at the very least coerced, she would have been urged to shut up and keep quiet. I wouldn't be surprised if either she was vocal or even just inclined to be quiet, she may have earned a couple of easy promotions in order to ensure she might not be inclined to open her mouth.