So Trump fired this general that testified against him in the impeachment hearing. Also his brother who is a soldier too..Collateral damage..Guess that is to be expected would happen at any job my guess..No current war front to send him to so he can get whacked..
I'm not a veteran don't know much about military law..
My question is..
Should this guy face court marshal? be dismissed from military? demoted? which guess kind of like he was.. will he be moved to some remote work station no one wants to be at?? kind how I seen it work in fire service..
Wonder why he wasn't court marshaled, maybe face fire squad or be locked up for while at Leavenworth?
What rules did he violate? was he order not to comply with the congresses subpoena? was it treason he committed? Did he break public trust or just the bosses??
Seriously I'm curious what most military guys and veterans think..
Can we keep replies to this to comments that won't get it whacked??

Mac

It would be interesting to hear the rest of the story. JMO

Anybody in the military from e-1 to general is in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, if he or she makes a political commentary in a public setting. Especially to a reporter. They can say anything they want in a private setting or in a direct communication to the politician.

I suspect no charges were filed and instead they were forced to retire to avoid political fallout. There have been quite a few commanders over the years forced to retire rather than be brought up on charges. Usually an enlisted member will get called in front of his/her commander, read the riot act, get letter of reprimand in their record, and have some sort of in house punishment like extra duty, confinement to barracks or something. It will eventually blow over so long as it doesn't happen again.

They should have given him an Article 15 and busted him down a rank and made him clean toilets for two weeks.

Big time insubordination not to mention a political witch hunt provocateur! Should be reduced in rank and then dishonorably discharged IMO!
10 year veterans opinion by the way!

Chris

Should have been part of trump's housecleaning of bama's left overs to began with !!!
Dennis

First, the guy is a leutenant colonel not a general and his brother is not a soldier but a scu... attorney.

By military law the CINC has pretty broad powers in areas like this. He could've stripped him of all rank and reduced him to private. He could have ordered his dismissal from the service. He could've ordered him reassigned to latrine duty at Murdo Station, Antartica. He could've convened (and should've) a general court martial to be tried for gross insubordination which can be the equivalent of a felony and carry a penalty of hard labor. His brother as a civilian has far more protection.

His brother is also a Lt Col. Jag officer

I suspect he will be passed over for his next promotion and then retired quietly.

Then a job at MSNBC or CNN.

This removal will show in his records as well as the verbal reprimand from his superior in 2013 .

A pawn in a game of chess. What he hoped to accomplish, aside from being reassigned or discharged is beyond me.

My guess would be book writing?????? Maybe his morality and beliefs came into play? IDK

As far as I remember one has the duty to obey lawful orders and to disobey unlawful orders up to and including arresting those giving the unlawful order(s), at least that was my indoctrination from my service.

UCMJ is as grey as the myriad of military officers and NCO's executing it....but it is military law.

The way they will screw with him will come in promotions (or lack thereof), and then retirement benefits, LTC is a field grade career officer, his fate will depend on who controls the purses.....

I think the president has a say so in it eh? IMHO he might as well have resigned and went fishing...

This is a multifaceted question. My bottom line is a reasonable person should do what is right even if someone tells you it is wrong. I think if, in fact, he would have violated the UCMJ he would be facing court-martial, which he is not. Additionally, the Pentagon, when asked if the Pentagon would welcome back Vidman, issued a statement "it will protect its service members from retaliation," which further tells me there was no violation. No one is questioning if he was telling the truth or not, since there was a recording of the telephone conversation in question. In my opinion, patriotism is standing up for ideals, not for protecting one's boss whether you are an E-1 or a general, or a civilian. I am a Veteran.

What he "testified" about was his opinion. Not fact.
Also, why did he jump the chain of command and talk to a "lawyer" rather than his superior ?

Lots of questions about his behavior but I don't expect there will be any active type of reprisals against the guy.

He is not a general. He is a colonel in the Army. He he testified due to being subpoenaed and thus testify under oath. Evidently the WH did not feel it necessary to order him to not testify or he defied the WH order to not to testify.
No one contested the fact that he gave false testimony during the hearing. As to being demoted that is at the luxury of those above him, but I don't personally feel he committed any crime or was being unfaithful to his oath to up hold the Constitution.

Bryce

I didn't realize he was a jag officer. I've only heard of him reported as a shyster. In that case all of the above expect court martial unless he abetted his brother in insubordination.

I agree his career is toast. He may or may not be allowed to ride a desk in an out of the way closet somewhere to fulfill his time towards full retirement if other political officers are willing to shelter him but not likely. Same for his brother.
Guaranteed he will never see any sort of command or senior staff position in his remaining time.

He did way more than just respond to a supoeana. He crossed a line by first discussing the phone call with a third party, the whistleblower, which may constitute a violation of his security clearance. When testifying he offered his personal opinion not just facts and openly acted against command authority in doing so.

He may have been an Army LTC. But that does not escape the chain of command you must travel.

A court marshal in the least should be enacted. 6 months in Leavenworth then discharged. And directed to "NOT" write a book.

He had a high clearance to be there in the White House. Too much information to disclose publicly.

He broke the trust of his brothers and command...he should be feeling dang lucky he’s just fired and not fired upon.

He was simply re-assigned to another post.

The president is the Commander in chief. 2nd that guy is a first class blank. You all must of missed his arrogance in the teatimony. Someone addressed him by sir. The arrogant poppas that he is told the law maker you will address me by my rank. When you are in a civilian setting your rank means squat. Every service member knows that.

This guy should have been court marshald for several reasons. One as an officer he is held to a higher standard. I know if he had jumped the chain as he did in the field he would have been. Letter of reprimand at a minimum. He called a third party and discussed highly classified information who is the whistle blower. I'm betting the fix was already in from someone politically connected. He had already been reassigned to the War College where he is going early. Once he is under the radar and the dust settles he's done. Don't for one second believe he's going to slip by this untouched. His career is over for sure. No commander in his right mind will ever trust this back stabber and not want to be within a 100 miles of him. He is a gone pecan as they say in the south. I hope he got some good offers from the lib news folks but now that the dems are done with him I'm betting he's hanging out there on his own. He is just a Lt Col. not really that high on the food chain so pretty much he is screwed it will just have a time delay.