Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Major Jill's Metzger's Temporary Disability Retirement is probably not resulting from sympathy, compassion, or pity.

It isn’t USAF Major Jill Metzger’s forthcoming 18-month leave, administrative separation, Temporary Disability Retirement, Permanent Disability Retirement or whatever it is that is inconsistent with my moral compass, it is that such approved action is bringing with it too much nondisclosure that is breeding distrust and loss of confidence all are equally subjected to the same code of conduct and standards of behavior and performance. Duty, honor, integrity, courage, warrior creed is preached constantly by the Air Force’s top leadership, but their actions in approving an 18-months leave administrative separation, Temporary Disability Retirement, Permanent Disability Retirement or whatever is contrary to the virtues and warrior way these same leaders claim to expect of themselves and of all who are uniformed enlisted and commissioned members of the United States Air Force. These leaders expect compliance with rules and standards, but apparently all military members are not equally subjected to accountability and responsibility for not conforming to the expectations of laws, rules, and policies of conduct, behavior, and performance.

Major Jill Metzger explained her unauthorized absence that began on September 5, 2006 while deployed to MANAS AB, KYRGYZSTAN resulted from being captured and held captive by kidnappers. Her explanation for how her unauthorized absence ended on to September 8, 2006 is she escaped after overpowering one of her male abductors. During a 74-hour period Major Jill Metzger claims being tortured, abused, and starved sufficiently to loose about 15% of her normal body weight, dropping from her normal weight of 107 pounds to 90 pounds.

Major Jill Metzger’s explanation of kidnapping and escape includes opposing extremes of behavior adjustment when confronted with certainly-so probability of significant painful traumatic injury if not death. Her behavior response when suddenly finding a bomb and note either in her back pants pocket or pack back was the spontaneous loss of free-will and autonomy to the point she became docile and unquestioning compliant to the directions, instructions and orders of her captures. When presented with an escape opportunity, her behavior response after being tortured, abused, and losing 15% of her normal body weight was the spontaneous gaining of cunning, viciousness, and extraordinary strength of character that was nonexistent in her personality during her capture. Major Jill Metzger claims she overpowered one of her male captors with such quickness no alarm was given to others during the struggle and the thoroughness of her attack left her opponent completely unable to sound alarm of her escape as she was escaping her immediate area of detainment.

Major Metzger at the time of her disappearance was described as being in excellent health and athletic fitness and considering AFI 10-250 INDIVIDUAL MEDICAL READINESS stipulates members of the Air Force must be medically ready for worldwide deployment to deploy to locations such as (and most certainly-so) MANAS AB, KYRGYZSTAN, it is reasonable to expect and believe Major Jill Metzger had excellent health and athletic fitness on September 5, 2006.

Thus if Major Jill Metzger is being put on the Temporary Disabled Retired List effective July 2007; the two most reasonable conclusions concerning her 30% or greater debilitating medical condition are: it was incurred during her three day unexplained unauthorized absence; or, it existed for many months prior to her going missing, perhaps even preexisting her initial entry into active military service.

If Major Jill Metzger’s disabling medical conditions are direct results of what happened to her during her unauthorized absence and/or missing status from September 5, 2006 to September 8, 2006, then two laws governing all military personnel, USC Title 10, chapter 61--RETIREMENT OR SEPARATION FOR PHYSICAL DISABILITY and/or USC Title 10, Chapter 76-MISSING PERSONS direct board of inquiry be established to look into the whereabouts and status of Major Jill Metzger during the period from September 5, 2006 to September 8, 2006. Considering the substantial probability of Major Metzger’s own personal convictable misconduct or willful neglect, Major Metzger is ineligible for processing for disability retirement evaluation until all inquiry is completed and a line of duty determination has been made.

If potentially debilitating medical conditions preexisted her June 2006 arrival at MANAS AB, KYRGYZSTAN, the worsening of her debilitating medical conditions were either triggered during her 3-day unauthorized absence or her debilitating medical conditions began becoming noticeable worse after she deployed to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan. Why did she avoid seeking medical treatment for her rapidly worsening ailments and discomforts? If manifestation of her disabling medical condition was rapidly changing for the worse, how were the deteriorating or worsening medical condition changes effecting her daily behavior and daily job performance and if her deteriorating or worsening health was impacting her daily behavior and daily job performance how was this not noticed by coworkers and supervisors?

If intentional misconduct or willful neglect is mitigated by a chronic long time existing loss of mental or emotional fitness the culpability resulting from incompetence extends to her supervisors and medical care providers who failed to either refer her to the proper medical care or to provide proper medical care prior to her deployment to Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan or during her deployment at Manas AB, Kyrgyzstan.

Yes—the laws, rules, and standards are relatively clear and straightforward, so simple a caveman is capable of understanding, yet the Air Force’s top leadership is either incapable or unwilling to make an effort to learn and evaluate the relevant facts and then subsequently conduct an inquiry that will result either in judgments and conclusions being made with certainty or in judgments and conclusions having the force of probability behind them. A chapter 61 temporary or permanent Disability Retirement cannot be given by law until a line-of-duty inquiry is completed into the possibility of intentional misconduct and willful neglect. When it comes to disability rating why are some combat wounded veterans subjugated to mindless mechanical following of the rules and many delays in getting final determination of their disability rating and a non-combatant such as Jill Metzger be given exception to the rules and speedy processing for a disability retirement she lacks eligibility to be processed for?

There is a chain-of-complicity and a chain-of-events lacking accountability combined with the lack of appropriate intervention that entangles her immediate supervisors and her immediate chain of command. The minimal effort to comply with laws, rules, and standards is not resulting predominantly from sympathy, compassion, or pity. The missing status or unauthorized leave status of Major Jill Metzger during the period from September 5, 2006 to September 8, 2006 shouldn’t remain an unsolved mystery or unsolved case if Major Jill Metzger is being processed for and is to receive a disability retirement.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Major Metzger's unexpainable disappearance

Major Metzger’s whereabouts became unaccounted for on September 5, 2006 while shopping in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She was missing until she was found alive on September 8, 2006. Nine months after she went missing her disappearance remains unexplainable other than by her claim of capture, detainment, escape, and evasion. Nine months later we are being told she is being given an 18-month leave-of-absence when more accurately she is being put on the Temporary Disabled Retired List (TDRL) and quietly administratively separating her to avoid completing official inquiry into possibilities of her misconduct and the misconduct of others.

Major Jill Metzger was deployed to an active imminent danger pay location directly supporting on-going combat operations in Afghanistan. She went missing and her explanation is she was kidnapped which is the same as saying she was captured. Consequently the same dilemma exists for both Major Jill Metzger and the United States Air Force. Was this a crime against an individual or was it a hostile act of a group against the United States. Major Jill Metzger is at a loss to give an explanation why somebody needed to specifically capture and detain Major Jill Metzger and the United States Air Force and the United States State Department is unable to identify an active group hostile to the United States conducting kidnapping or attempting to kidnap members of the United States military in Kyrgyzstan. It’s even more embarrassing because the Kyrgyzstan government can’t find a single criminal organization involved in her kidnapping and in fact offered official opinion she went missing to have an abortion.

This is why she received no hero’s welcome on return to Moody AFB and more importantly why there is nothing being done as required had her involuntary absence resulted from a hostile action against the United States in a declared imminent danger pay location. This is also why most people suspect misconduct and why her going missing is still being investigated by the State Department and the United States Air Force.

USC Title 10, chapter 61 makes it clear a disability resulting from the member’s intentional misconduct or willful neglect, or incurred during a period of unauthorized absence are conditions causing ineligibility for permanent or temporary disability retirement entitlements. An inquiry into misconduct is required if misconduct is suspected. This is the first law being ignored by top leaders of the Air Force by putting her on the TDRL while inquiry into her unexplainable going missing status is ongoing.

Kyrgyzstan law enforcement official’s apparently suggested she went missing to have an abortion. If so, the act or deed of getting an abortion isn’t misconduct and more importantly § 919a. Article 119a.--Death or injury of an unborn child—specifically prohibits prosecution of any woman with respect to her unborn child and decision to have an abortion. Consequently, presuming the reason for the unauthorized absence from duty was to get an abortion, the conduct and behavior causing the pregnancy and the conduct and behavior of taking an unauthorized absence in the manner deliberately chosen to get the abortion, and the claim of kidnapping followed by subsequent escape and evasion is the misconduct. Acts of misconduct extend at the deployed location to include, if abortion was the cause for going missing, would extend to conduct and behavior of partner or partners as the father was probably not the spouse.

More relevant however is Title 10, USC, Missing Persons Act which prescribes obligations, responsibilities, duties, and inquires should a member or members of the armed forces on active duty who is in a missing status; or a civilian employee of the Department of Defense or an employee of a contractor of the Department of Defense who serves in direct support of, or accompanies, the armed forces in the field under orders and who is in a missing status. This is the second law being ignored by top leaders of the Air Force by putting her on the TDRL while inquiry into her mysterious missing status is ongoing and her intentional misconduct or willful neglect is suspected.

DOD Instruction 2310.5, Accounting for Missing Persons, 31 Jan 2000 distinctly and clearly defines “captured” as “A person who has been seized as the result of action of an unfriendly military or paramilitary force in a foreign country.” This instruction prescribes procedures throughout the Department of Defense for the determination of the status of covered persons and for the systematic, comprehensive, and timely collection, analysis, review, dissemination, and periodic update of information related to such persons. The actions required by this instruction would put closure on the accounting of her being or not being a missing person.

Once the missing person or persons is found, DOD Instruction 2310.4, Repatriation of Prisoners of War (POW), Hostages, Peacetime Government Detainees and Other Missing or Isolated Personnel, 21 Nov 2000 prescribes the requirement to ensure all returnee-debriefing information is correctly and expeditiously disseminated to the proper Agencies and more importantly to develop and disseminate studies and reports on lessons learned from returned personnel debriefings. The actions required by this instruction would put closure on the accounting of her being or not being a missing person unless it is otherwise determined the status was other than missing such as for example deserted, absent without leave, or dead. Clearly Major Jill Metzger is not dead, so was she missing or was she absent without leave, or something else?

The attempt to quietly administratively separate Major Jill Metzger from active duty by putting her on the TDRL certainly-so raises probability publicly disciplining this officer will besmirch the reputation of commissioned military appointments and the United States Air Force. More directly it gives appearance there is no equally subjected to the law if person holds certain commissioned military rank and concurrently has the right command connections.

10 USC Chapter 33 Section 532 Qualifications for original appointment as a commissioned officer puts in place the requirement the person appointed a military commission “be of good moral character”. To command military units requires a military commission. To impose punishment on a military member after being convicted of a military offense of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) requires appointment to command. This is why moral competence of the commissioned military office is of such critical importance. Misconduct and malfeasance are similar relevant to the lacking of be of good moral character. They differ in that malfeasance requires cooperation of two or more persons. Consequently what is motivating the top Air Force leaders to quietly administratively separate Major Metzger on TDRL without any inquiry determining her missing status as being captured and that her missing status wasn’t resulting from intentional misconduct or willful neglect?

Putting Major Metzger on the TDRL for purposes of administrative separation convenience is a slap in the face of every combat wounded or killed inaction veteran and their family members. If placement on the TDRL is justified it should be given after all inquiry into her going missing is completed not before, especially with the wide spread suspicions the cause for going missing and medical disability is her willful neglect or intentional misconduct. Why isn’t there official disclosure her status was missing resulting from capture by unfriendly people to the United States and not from her intentional misconduct or willful neglect?

The peculiarity of Major Jill Metzger’s July 2007 disability retirement

The putting of Air Force Major Jill Metzger on the Temporary Disabled Retired List (TDRL) is an immoral and unethical transgression against all veterans who served their military obligation honorably with good conduct regardless of one enlistment or several. Many veterans have had the misfortune of being physically injured doing the mission or subsequently developing traumatic stress reactions (post-traumatic stress disorders) at some time after doing the mission.

To be considered for a disability retirement the military member must meet or exceed a 30% disability rating threshold. Disparity in disability retirement ratings is undeniable. During the period from the year 2000 through the year 2006 the Air Force awarded disability retirement to 27% of its disabled troops compared to Navy’s 36%, Marine Corps’ 18%, and Army’s 13%. That debilitating conditions are ignored, underrated or overrated lacks deniability, however, for the majority of disabled retired veterans post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not the primary disability rated diagnosis.

PTSD is a natural recovery process, a normal reaction to an abnormal event, which may or may not develop into a chronic disorder. In its chronic and delayed forms, PTSD is a neurotic disorder arising out of an actual traumatic event itself. To get a 30% or higher Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) rating though an MEB prior to discharge from active duty or through the VA after discharge typically requires the military member or the veteran to have a documented medical history of a many month sustained pattern of hospitalizations, daily psychotropic meds, and regular counseling.

During the nine months after she went unexplainably missing on September 5, 2006 while shopping in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and her equally unexplainable being found alive on September 8, 2006, Major Jill Metzger has been observed running and doing other unhindered intense physical activates and equally as important she apparently was performing military duties commensurate to her rank, grade, and experience in the 347th Mission Support Squadron’s manpower office at Moody AFB, GA. Lacking any observable physical impairment to range of motion of joints, limbs, back neck, or loss of strength, flexibility, dexterity, vision or hearing makes it reasonable to assume her 30% or higher disability rating results primarily from presence of systemic disease or is of psychiatric in nature. It is unlikely a sudden unexpected discovery of a systemic disease is causing the 30% or higher disability rating, consequently it is reasonable to assume the primary rated disability is loss of mental fitness that requires frequent hospitalization, daily psychotropic medications, and regular counseling that brings with it significant industrial impairment (i.e inability to work).

There is something other than or in addition to disparity of how disabilities are rated causing Major Jill Metzger to be rated at or above the 30% disabled threshold at which military members gain eligibility to be designated disabled retirees.

There was no military mission that led to her disappearance; there was no military mission that put her into the hazards and dangers of an active combat zone. The peculiarity of Major Jill Metzger’s disability retirement includes the contradiction her disability may have resulted from her own misconduct or willful neglect. The United States Air Force and the United States Department of Justice have been inquiring into her September 5, 2006 to September 8, 2006 missing status for the past nine months and there is end in sight to this inquiry. Major Jill Metzger is at a loss to give an explanation why somebody needed to specifically capture and detain Major Jill Metzger and the United States Air Force and the United States State Department are unable to identify an active group hostile to the United States conducting kidnapping or attempting to kidnap members of the United States military in Kyrgyzstan. The inquiry is further complicated by the Kyrgyzstan government suggesting she went missing to have an abortion. Major Jill Metzger certainly wasn’t given a hero’s welcome on when she return to Moody AFB. An inquiry has yet to determine and verify her missing status and more importantly an inquiry has yet to say her disability is in the line of duty or resulted from her own misconduct or willful neglect.

Putting Major Metzger on the TDRL for purposes of administrative separation convenience is an immoral and unethical wrong doing to every combat wounded or killed inaction veteran and their family members. If placement on the TDRL is justified it should be given after all inquiry into her going missing is completed not before, especially with the wide spread suspicions the cause for going missing and medical disability is her willful neglect or intentional misconduct. Why isn’t there official disclosure her status was missing resulting from capture by unfriendly people to the United States and not from her intentional misconduct or willful neglect?
Malfeasance at the highest levels is strongly suggested if she is quietly removed from the Air Force through use of an MEB and a chapter 61 medical retirement without any official disclosure of the truthfulness or untruthfulness of her claimed capture and subsequent escape and evasion.

The decision to put her on the TRDL without completing inquiry and determining her missing status is despicable. Chapter 61 medical retirement is specifically prohibited by law to be given to a military member whose disability resulted from intentional misconduct or willful neglect.

CHAPTER 61--RETIREMENT OR SEPARATION FOR PHYSICAL DISABILITY, Sec. 1207. Disability from intentional misconduct or willful neglect: separation states: “Each member of the armed forces who incurs a physical disability that, in the determination of the Secretary concerned, makes him unfit to perform the duties of his office, grade, rank, or rating, and that resulted from his intentional misconduct or willful neglect or was incurred during a period of unauthorized absence, shall be separated from his armed force without entitlement to any benefits under this chapter.”

Major Metzger is the free-agent of her own acts and deeds (unless she lacked or lacks mental fitness to act reasonable) and failed to provide a reasonable explanation for her disappearance and reappearance. Without knowing any facts or truths it is reasonable probability the disappearance was caused either by a loss of mental fitness or extraordinary emotional distress. Regardless, the resulting questions needing answers more concerns her immediate supervisors and immediate chain-of-command as there was a failure to refer to appropriate health care or to take any interest in her mental, emotional, or physical well being before she disappeared. It appears to me something being covered up. Consequently there needs to be some official disclosure of at least some of the facts of the alleged Metzger abduction and escape and evasion from captors for many reasons before this separation is allowed to quietly happen without any question or scrutiny.

The purpose of military law is to promote justice, to assist in maintaining good order and discipline in the armed forces, to promote efficiency and effectiveness in the military establishment, and thereby to strengthen the national security of the United States. Since it is beyond any question and doubt Major Metzger whereabouts and duty status was not known for three days and that her explanation is in significant lack of reasonable validity and probability. If she was not abducted and captured as claimed the most probable remaining causes are all directly resulting from her personal misconduct and unfitness to hold commission.

Her actions, deeds, and acts during the period she went missing need inquiry in order to assign blame or praise. If she is not above the law, inquiry needs to discover and answer if her personal conduct, behavior, and judgment contributed to her going missing or not. If her intentional misconduct or willful neglect is found to be the only direct causes for her going missing, there should some accountability through the military justice system.

Chargeable offenses identified in articles of the UCMJ she could have violated and could be charged with are:
Article 86 Unauthorized Absence (If she was not kidnapped)
Article 107 False Official Statements (If she was not kidnapped)
Article 133 Conduct Unbecoming of an Officer and a Gentleman (if she was not kidnapped)
Article 92 Failure to Obey Order or Regulation (If she was not kidnapped)
Article 134 False Swearing (If her kidnapping and escape explanations are discovered to be false)
Article 134 Adultery (if speculation is discovered to be true)
Article 134 Fraternization (Speculation, may or may not be applicable-just can not be ruled out)
Article 134 Self Injury without intent to avoid service (if her misconduct caused a temporary medical condition making her immediately medically disqualified to continue performing her military duties at the deployed location and even more so if she went AWOL to secretly get medical treatment from an unauthorized treatment center that resulted in further self injury).

The decision to place Major Jill Metzger on TDRL brings with it gross contradiction and compromise of the underlying rules or precepts adopted for governing persons serving a military obligation and for determining the military member’s eligibility for disability retirement. It is about the rules must be fair, and the practice of following the rules must be equitable, so whatever standards apply, imperially apply to all with no biases against some or favoritism to some.

Please ask your elected representatives in the Congress, the Senate, The U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services, and The U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to inquire into this.