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

Honor, integrity, devotion to duty, respect, etc. are meaningful (to many I’m sure) words found in all the Service Core Values. The military life is hard enough without having to deal with criminals among our ranks.

If you are living and breathing the Core Values of your service the you, like I did, should not condone any type of behavior that is against the Core Values. If you ignore that behavior then you too are violating your service’s Core Values.

As a uniformed Federal Law Enforcement Officer, following my 30 Military career, I served as out Union Local’s Chief Steward. My duties mainly were to ensure that management and our members followed the contract. One of the things I found necessary to do was when representing a member is that management isn’t always at fault. One case I represented would to some look like I threw the member under the bus; to others it was the only right thing to do. The letter I wrote to management, in response to the charges against the officer began with “NTEU does not condone illegal activity by i its members anymore then management does.” He committed an egregious violation of the Regis that he could have been terminated and the union would have no defense against it. The member, even 4 years later still professed his innocence! I was able to save his job; despite his arrogance. He actually had the audacity to ask if he could use annual leave for his 5 day suspension!

So how do I answer your question Mikel? I do not condone illegal activity. I especially don’t stomach thieves in a military unit either - the thief is one of the most morale defeating Persons in a unit. So should I report someone; would I report someone? You bet. Would I consider myself to be a snitch or a rat? Hell no. We need more, not less people to stand up and report that (and other) criminal behavior.

There was an instance where some Mechanics in ALFA Company, motor pool to some, decided to swap out an engine from a government van to his POV. Well, one oversight was the numbers on the engine was recorded and when an inspection went down, this came to light. With some serious investigation all was discovered and ended a Senior Chief's career, reduced to E-1, and after a 6 month stint in the Brig, came out with nothing to show 20+ years and a convicted felon. Hope that van is still running well.

I would inform our superiors of the issue. To not do this would make me complicit with the fraud or scam. There have been many instances of such behavior, i.e., "Fat" somebody in the Navy. The cards collapsed once one was confronted and many were convicted. No amount of money is worth your integrity.

I just want to say integrity is what you do when know one is looking. If you see it don't report it then you are p
art of the problem.

If possible, gather a few facts about what ever the fraud is, then take it to the OSI, NCIS or Army equivolent. By going through a chain of command, you may not know just how much this problem has permiated through the ranks, and presenting this evidence to someone in the chain could tip them off or drive them to "PCS your ass to Timbuktoo". The military investigative branches are primarily civilian and do not have to answer to a chain of command. Keep in mind that if this is an officer that you suspect, there are a plethora of UCMJ regulations that he could be charged under. The appearance of impropriety and conduct unbecoming an officer are two charges that are overarching. You then can get into the specifics of the fraud. Keep in mind that if you are noticing this, so are other troops and part of a sound chain of command is respect for the individual office that is superior to yours. If you do not have respect for that indivdual or office, how are you to trust his judgement in warfare? Going to the investigative service with proof shows that this is actually a breach of the UCMJ and not just a grudge against a superior which could include a personality conflict.

Go to my supervisor once my ducks were in a row and hope like hell he/she wasn't part of it as well behind the scenes.

Well it is my experience, that if my superior found out *I* was committing fraud he would fry my ass. What is good for the goose, is good for the gander.

You know what kind of people think, "Do not rat"? FUCKING CRIMINALS.

I would turn him in, in a heartbeat.

I would go immediately to NCIS or CID, with as much evidence as I could take lawfully, and I would be CERTAIN to have all of my ducks in a row.

Back in the Mid 80's I was stationed the UH-1 Flight Simulator in Korea at K-16 (Seoul Air Base), my unit was the 17th Combat Aviation Group. The flight simulator was expanding and they were building the addition for UH-60 simulator on to the building. The concrete pads for the cockpits had a certain minimums they had to meet so once the concrete was set core samples had to be taken and sent off for testing. The samples sent off for testing were not the ones sent off for testing by our CW-4 facility chief. I found the original ones in the trash in his office when I was cleaning up. When I reported this nobody believed me. The new simulator addition got finished and after about 6 months or so I put in my paperwork to extend my tour in Korea, they told me they would only approve it if I transferred to the tactical platoon (4/58th Aviation), which I did. My new commander in the 4/58th ended up being a Pilot (Major O-4) that came to the simulator for training several times so we knew each other and got along well. Within a few months after I transferred both of the UH-60 cockpits couldn't be operated with motion (meaning they could not be operated using hydraulic motion) because the pads they were on started to crack and it wasn't safe. What had happened, the CW-4 facility chief took kickbacks from the company that did the foundation and sent in fake core samples. When they tried to get the company to fix the pads, they couldn't because the company had ceased operations.

Mind you now, the CW4 facility was not Mr. Ward but the one that took over after him. Mr. Ward was a great facility chief. I respected him a lot, especially having earned 3 broken wing awards.

I ended up serving in Korea from March 86 until Sept 91 then went back once I left the Army. Spent almost 7 years over there and I still miss it.

Turn in him or her