I didn't know that the Commandant could override a Title X board. Makes sense, which is why I can't believe it's true.
I take it there was a drunken brawl on a liberty port and they broke the cardinal rule of the MEU: don't get caught?
What was the punishment for the former MEU CO? Just retire? I hope the corporal was worth it. I've never seen one that was.
Yeah, I was kind of surprised about the selection board as well. I guess that's why it has to go through all the chains before it gets signed off...
I'll tell the full story, and I think you'll agree it's a pretty laim story. In order to protect identities - I won't use callsigns other than NPLOC and LOR. On the way home from deployment, first port call after we got back to the Med, Civitivecchia, Italy. NPLOC and LOR went out into town as libbo buddies (as they had for all other previous ports). Go shopping, eating, drinking. NPLOC ends up coming back to the ship (drunk), sans LOR and is asked where LOR is. His response? "He hit me, so I came back." I wake up to the H&S Company Commander beating on our door asking where NPLOC is - point to his rack, and he rips open the curtain and starts ripping him apart asking "where is LOR?" LOR didn't return to the ship until 11 am the next day, with a black eye, a cut over the other eye and night stick welts all over his body.
So after their "fight", LOR starts working his way back to the ship, encounters a big fight between Sailors and Marines and steps in to try and break it up so everyone can make it back to the ship. Too late - Carbioneri arrive and round up the whole group. LOR is cooperative, and statements from Marines and Sailors was that he went back to the interview/interrogation under his own power, was cooperative and quiet. They saw him being carried out on a stretcher, and LOR woke up in the hospital. NCIS came and picked him up and brought him back to the ship. On the way back they told him he just had bad luck - that of the 3 police stations in Civitivecchia, 2 would have cuffed and stuffed and brought him back to the ship. The third likes to beat on Sailors and Marines.
After all this happens, me and my libbo buddies go on a little fact-finding mission and find the bar that the two of them started in. The bartender said that they didn't get in a physical fight, just a shouting match and one dude packed his stuff up and left. That kind of jives with the fact that LOR was a triathelete, 6'4"/250 or so and probably was around 8-10% BF. If he hits you, it will leave a mark, and NPLOC had no mark on his body. Our theory about how the welts/black eye/cut came to be is that he was cooperative until the cops started smacking him with a night stick, alcohol + language barrier + pain = he probably started fighting back which made it worse.
In the end of the day, he was charged with assault of a comissioned officer (because NPLOC insisted he hit him), but nothing else. Even though he still has outstanding charges in Italy. After workups and deployment, most of the officers in the battalion got to know both guys very well, and our personal opinion is that NPLOC sold LOR down the river to cover his own ass. He didn't leave the battalion a very popular guy after that incident. LOR, however - still left with a very good reputation among all of the Marines in the battalion, and luckily was able to recover from the incident. He's one of the guys that you want to keep serving, no matter what. Not because he's a partier, or because he harkens back to an earlier day. 99.9% of the time, he did the right thing. Very professional, took his job serioulsy, great leadership ability, took care of the Marines, and also genuinly cared about the Marines image to the public.
The MEU CO let him submit character references, and two stick into my mind. One was a Col who said he would resign his commission if it meant LOR could stay on active duty and get promoted. The other was a woman who had a learning disabled son who loved airplanes. She saw T/M/S that LOR flies working the pattern at a local airport, so she went and picked up her son so he could watch. When they came back, the aircraft had already landed, and her son shouted hello to the pilots. Only one turned around and came to talk to them. He brought them into the flight line, let them climb in the cockpit, gave him stickers/patches, and sent him letters & postcards from all his deployments. He turned into a "big brother" for this kid, and the mother said she'd never forget what hid did for his son (because his grades improved, etc...). Even during the darkest days on deployment, LOR would be writing letters/emails to this kid.
Every, and I mean, EVERY officer in the battalion came into the NJP at some point to appeal to the MEU CO and let him know that this is the guy that needs to be staying in the Marine Corps. No one came into NPLOCs NJP. Needless to say, it was gut-wrenching when we found out what the end result was - but we've all kept in touch and we thrilled when he finally was selected and promoted. At one point, in between promotion boards I was talking to him and told him that everything happens for a reason. He snapped and asked me why this happened. My response? "Dude, you lusted after <female T/M/S pilot> the entire deployment, but never said word one to her. After your NJP, she stopped by the stateroom to see if you needed anything out in town, or a friendly ear. You're married to her now, and none of it would have happened had you not been NJP'd". Him: "Good point."
As for the MEU CO, he retired. Very quietly. So quietly in fact, that his bio was removed from the website and it took a while for a lot of us to find out what happened.
