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Fed up with misbehaving generals, US Army developing corrective programs

Monday, 25 September 2017 9:01 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 September 2017 9:53 AM ]

the US Army is struggling with misbehaving generals. (File photo)

Frustrated with the extent of misconduct and behavior problems within its top ranks, the US Army is developing a series of mental health, counseling and career management programs to boost its faltering ethical standards.

The new plan, which is mostly focused on building character than berating bad conduct, seeks to address concerns about the declining levels professionalism among Army commanders, which in many cases have led to abuse of power, Associated Press reported Monday.

Extramarital affairs, inappropriate relationships with subordinates and improper use of government funds have been some of the breaches of the military code of conducts by general officers from the one-star to four-star level.

“The idea that we’ll be perfect, I think, is unrealistic, but we can be better and we strive to be better,” said Lieutenant General Ed Cardon, who is tasked to review the problem and devise ways to strengthen the senior officer corps. “Competence is no longer enough. Character is as or even more important.”

So far this year, the US Army has fired at least two senior US Army officers after finding them guilty. As an additional punishment, the Army demoted one of the generals by taking away three of his stars while the other one lost two.

While the Army told AP that nine general officers had been “relieved of duty” in the National Guard and Army Reserves since 2012, the fact that the recent two cases were not included in the tally proves that the Pentagon’s data underestimate the real numbers.

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The report also revealed that the Army covers up some of the cases by quietly retiring the general or moving them to a different post, sometimes without even mentioning the misconduct in their files.

According to Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley , the US military has also struggled with combat stress disorders, suicide and other problems but officials have often focused on enlisted troops or lower-ranking officers and ignored senior ranks.

“We recognized senior executive leaders, with varying amounts of stress, lacked a holistic program that focuses on comprehensive health,” Milley said.

One of the cases that brought a lot of attention to the high stress levels among the top ranks was the suicide of Major General John Rossi, who hung himself last year shortly before being promoted to lieutenant general and taking control of US Space and Missile Defense Command.

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