Woke up early this morning. MSNBC is on, talking about cheating. They have the usual cast of criminals on, a pontificating bitch arguing that marriage is holy and sacred, a bimbo who says every one is doing it, Ron Reagan….(not sure where he comes down on this….) and a psychologist.
Now I’m not going to get into a rant on the pro’s and cons of marriage and fidelity. I think you guys know I’m skeptical about marriage in general so I’m not exactly an unbiased observer on the subject.
What I want to talk about however is one of the examples they cited, the Army’s dismissal of a 4 star general: Kevin P. Byrnes, was relieved Monday by the Army chief of staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, just a few months before General Byrnes was scheduled to retire as head of the Army Training and Doctrine Command.
The reason: “An adult relationship with a woman who is not in the military, nor is a civilian employee of the military or the federal government.”
Now before everyone goes high and right on me about the UCMJ and adultery, its important to remember this other little tidbit:
General Byrnes has told associates that the relationship began after his separation from his wife, Carol Byrnes, in May 2004. General Byrnes, 55, filed for divorce in March, according to documents filed with the Texas district court in Henderson County.
The divorce became final this week, according to the statement issued by his lawyer.
So let me get this straight. There is no fraternization or crossing military boundaries, he is already separated, and as any one who has been through the hell that is contested divorce in America knows, getting a final divorce decree does not happen overnight. So the guy is just supposed to remain celibate for a year and half? Give me a break.
It should also be noted that “an investigation found no evidence that he had used his position as head of the training command in connection with the case, an Army official said.”
Something does not compute here……..
Its always bothered me that an organization that is devoted to a collective immorality, namely the mass murder of one’s fellow human beings, tries to get up on a moral high horse when it comes to sex and relationships. That’s not to say we do not need standards or discipline in the military, but trying to hold everyone to a Judeo- Christian morality is a little steep. The only real question that should be asked is this:
DOES THE RELATIONSHIP GET IN THE WAY OF DOING BUSINESS?
That is what makes fraternization bad, and why Sailors dating Sailors, even if they are the same rank is a bad thing. Its why, as I witnessed once, boinking one of your JO’s wives is not a good thing. ( True story and the CO in question got fired………). Its what got an Army one star fired in Turkey back in 1999. All of those actions were right and justified.
However, that is not the case here. And if you are going to apply the “celibacy standard” to everyone going through a divorce, you are going to have to put away a lot of military people. Most guys I know, myself included, as soon as they got separated; were nailing the first girl who said “yes”. If for no other reason than to re-affirm their manhood after having it emasculated by some usless excuse for a woman. Good grief!
So again I will ask the question, what else is going on here? I’ll bet some anonomyous toad made a hotline call and then they were off to races. Based on the disclosed evidence though, I have a hard time seeing what the General did wrong.
Plus, his ex will probably get a tidy sum out of the deal. Sure seems fair to me…..NOT!
Enquiring minds want to know……….
Skippy-san
