By What a way to ruin a long 28 year Army career:
A lieutenant colonel said because he suffers from kleptomania he should not be court-martialed for shoplifting last year at Fort Benning, Ga.
Lt. Col. Rodney Page, a 28-year Army veteran, admits to stealing $37 worth of challenge coins at the post exchange, but he blames the Army for mistakenly reducing medication he takes to curb his urge to steal.
“That impulse is so strong that it just overrides your common sense,” said Page, 58, recalling the theft. “I am ethical, even though I have this problem. I’ve never taken anything from anyone I know. You can leave money on the table; I’m never going to touch it.”
Page said he would prefer to submit to administrative discipline and preserve his retirement benefits. [Army Times]
I think the Army has no choice but to let this guy go even if he is mentally ill because you can’t have O-5′s going around shoplifting and setting that kind of example for soldiers. I would be surprised if his retirement benefits are revoked, but he definitely needs to be discharged.
2:50 am on January 21st, 2010 1
5:15 am on January 21st, 2010 2
It's inexcusable that he was allowed to be in any position of authority. BTW, an enlisted soldier with the same "problem" would have been prosecuted and chaptered long ago.
5:26 am on January 21st, 2010 3
"According to Page’s medical records, Page told doctors he has a “long history of … impulsively and inappropriately taking items from stores” during stressful periods. These thefts occurred “both as a civilian and while on active duty.”
It's hard to have sympathy for him because he's known about his "problem" for many years but only recently chose to address it, and that took place after an arrest.
9:59 am on January 21st, 2010 4
Again, this goes to show no matter the rank, people are simply people. This person does not deserve to receive retirement benefits no matter what he did for 28 years. He is no better than “CSM Penis Incident” or any private or dependent who steals, no matter the reason.
Take a look at the pay chart for an O5 over 28 and tell me he needs to steal anything.
He’ll likely be buried in Arlington Cemetery in a better spot than some E4 killed in action.
10:43 am on January 21st, 2010 5
Check out his info in the AKO White Pages – interesting reading.
12:53 pm on January 21st, 2010 6
Speaking of the perfect crime(s). Just tell a doctor of your criminal tendencies, ask for some kind of “cure”, then go out and commit the crime and blame the doctors. This should work for all crimes, theft, rape, murder – if not – then it should not be a defense for any crime.
1:36 pm on January 21st, 2010 7
A sergeant who gave me a lot of trouble during basic training for no other reason than my uncle was the base CWO was caught charging cigarettes to the "company card" when he would refill his vehicle. 17 years down the drain, no pension. Good riddance. He was an asshole, anyways.
3:54 pm on January 21st, 2010 8
I have a long history of overwhelming impulses to beat the snot out of thieves like Page. Unfortunately I am aware that although people like him will skate out of real punishment everytime, I will get crushed.
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Seriously though, we are entering the age where no one is held responsible for their own actions and there is no evil. Murder, Rape, theft or any other crime is a product of a bad childhood, chemical imbalance or discrimination. Victims are scorned and we heap assistance on the criminals. It is never the individual’s fault, and that just feeds the problem.
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That is one reason why I am pro Death Penalty. I don’t particulary like it but I know once it is gone, then Life sentences will go….then long sentences…then any sentences and we are back to the law of the jungle.
4:12 pm on January 21st, 2010 9
Thief or not, he is an LTC and if you laid a hand on him I'd beat the snot out of you simply for the principle of it. It's not like he was hurting anyone so why would you get all violent about it? I think YOU have a mental problem as well.. how can you compare this to problems in society like rape and murder? I'm thankful people like Hamilton don't make laws in this country. Yeah sure, total anarchy will result because of a man stealing coins from a PX.. freaking psycho.
4:16 pm on January 21st, 2010 10
Well it's a lot easier to replace joe private than it is to replace an LTC. While personally I agree he should be discharged, I can see how it saves the Army a lot of money. 28 years is a lot of experience to just send packing.
4:21 pm on January 21st, 2010 11
Officers are people too… funny how everyone seems to expect ALL of them to be cookie-cutter models of gentleman-like perfection their entire careers. It's also funny how it's always "Major ___ with unauthorized awards!" and "Colonel gets SPC pregnant" on the cover of army times. I guess we are supposed to assume enlisted never do anything according to the Army Times… I deal with worse crap multiple times on a monthly basis from enlisted than what army times cover page officers do. Go figure.
6:30 pm on January 21st, 2010 12
Actually he hurts everyone. The prices of goods are more expensive for everyone due to "breakage" in stores. Stores have to hire security peorsonnel and cameras which add to more cost. Then we waste everyone's time including doctors to tell us he is a swell guy and we need to spend a fortune on him because it is not his fault. Which means the doctors are not treating people who really need help which again hurts everyone.
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I tied it to responsibility which you missed and I joked about having overwhelming impulses which you cluelessly missed.
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You might want to redefine your vision of psycho. You have no sense of humor, you don't believe in accountability of people for their actions and then you call people names who you disagree with. You also don't see a cost to society by theft.
6:58 pm on January 21st, 2010 13
This LTC will be forced out but he will keep his retirement benefits. Is there a way to revoke his Commissary and PX privileges? That would be very advisable.
9:01 pm on January 21st, 2010 14
I may have my dates and places mixed up, but I seem to recall an incident, about 10 years ago. An IG inspection team arrived at Osan from PACAF. On the weekend before the inspection started, a senior NCO member of the team was busted for shoplifting at the BX. Since every member of the team had essential duties, the inspection had to be postponed while they dealt with their 'problem.' I think they had to expedite a replacement from PACAF.
One instance where a 'minor' crime had an impact on the mission.
9:04 pm on January 21st, 2010 15
He has obviously been stealing all his life, gotten caught a time or two and had his wrists' slapped as punishment and skated by until now….however, an O5 with 28 years in….something is wrong with this picture! His bio, he is not prior enlisted…..started out a 2nd Lt until now….28 years! Should have been promoted to O6 years ago and at least O7/8 with 28 years in!
10:23 pm on January 21st, 2010 16
The difference is supposed to be about leadership.
Plus we all know that an enlisted soldier who is caught stealing at the PX probably faces some serious UCMJ punishment while this officer got away with it, in the past, and there's supposed to be some fairness in punishment meted out for criminal behavior.
10:24 pm on January 21st, 2010 17
He made his bed…
12:22 am on January 22nd, 2010 18
Back in 1991 we had an E-9 get caught shoplifting baseball cards at the PX. They quietly told him to retire, he was gone almost instantly. Up to that moment I had been a serial shoplifter, stealing everything from CD's, clothes(this was the easiest), and practically anything I could sneak in my pockets.
However, the E-9's bust scared me straight for a long time. Only recently did I see an old episode of American Justice where this serial shoplifter was stealing VHS tapes with pure abandonment at a local video store. She went through the security scanner with no problem because she used electrical tape to cover the coded part of the VHS box cover. Now I'm back stealing whatever I can get my hands on, I use different color electrical tape depending on what color item I want to steal. The easiest thing to steal are blu-ray discs. They are small and I can take a few to the clothing section and when I'm in the changing room I just cover the discs UPC code with my electric tape and Voila! I've got $100 of merchandise for free! I always buy something so I don't draw suspicion. Thankfully I'm retired now so if they ever do catch me what are they going to do besides revoke my privileges for awhile.
12:51 am on January 22nd, 2010 19
KJI, I'm throwing the bullsh!t flag. Electrical tape over the UPC symbol barcode does nothing to interfere with magnetic anti-theft devices.
12:52 am on January 22nd, 2010 20
Sorry…wrong <a href="http://www.bing.com/search?q=CD+DVD+anti-theft+device" rel="nofollow">URL.
1:31 am on January 22nd, 2010 21
Please post some specific examples where an enlisted soldier was prosecuted and chaptered out for shoplifting – and an officer guilty of the same offense got away with it.
3:29 am on January 22nd, 2010 22
Actually what happens is the incidents are kept out of the army times in order to save face for the command. Real Commissioned Officers (not some minority warrant officer that the Army decided to offer "equal opportunity" to) are suppose to be of higher moral standards, conduct, ethics, morals, intelligence and education. However, what seems to be the norm these days is there is no difference between the disgusting acts that anyone in the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines commits. If a private has higher morals, ethics, values, intelligence and education than does his Battalion Commander, what sense does that make?
Funny, observing things for more than 20 years gives you a different perspective that others can not imagine.
5:55 am on January 22nd, 2010 23
"Please post some specific examples where an enlisted soldier was prosecuted and chaptered out for shoplifting – and an officer guilty of the same offense got away with it."
Janis Leigh Karpinski of Abu Ghraib fame stayed in the military with a reduced rank after shoplifting cosmetics.
Staff sergeant Christopher B. Rhodes received a bad-conduct discharge, reduction in rank to E-1 and 90 days’ base confinement for shoplifting.
Don't ask stupid questions or make stupid requests.
I might add that "getting away with it" generally means that it doesn't make the papers.
…how about this as a bonus…
"The former acting secretary of the Army (John W. Shannon) has admitted shoplifting women's clothing from the Fort Myer Post Exchange in Arlington and promised to get counseling and perform community service, federal prosecutors said yesterday."
8:41 am on January 22nd, 2010 24
Happens almost every time for many different offenses, not just shop lifting. Rank truly does have its privileges.
10:10 am on January 22nd, 2010 25
I was trying to remember which Sec Army it was who did that. Most people think that it was Togo West.
10:21 am on January 22nd, 2010 26
I'll throw another bullsh!t flag and say that when it comes to alcohol-related offenses, particularly DUI's, senior enlisted and officers might as well kiss their @ss goodbye whereas Joe gets a slap on the wrist.
12:02 pm on January 22nd, 2010 27
Happens almost every time? Really? Then of course, you can post some specific examples where the enlisted man got busted and the officer walked away scott free for committing the same crime.
12:05 pm on January 22nd, 2010 28
Says the king of stupid questions and remarks. What a phucking joke.
1:47 pm on January 22nd, 2010 29
Ahhh, Guitard…
Don't get your panties in a bunch.
You made a challenge.
I met it.
You got whiny.
Looks like the "phucking joke" is on you.
2:49 pm on January 22nd, 2010 30
See what I said about the king of stupid remarks…you're incredibly predictable.
Just keep them coming. It's great entertainment. Come on…I dare you.
3:52 pm on January 22nd, 2010 31
well hamilton, i guess i don't get your sense of humor.. and i think everyone can agree it sure didn't sound like you were joking. How about dependents that steal candybars and dvds? wanna beat them up too? Also, don't assume you know what I "believe", just because I said he isn't hurting people doesn't mean I approve of what he did. There IS a difference between stealing and violent crime, that is why violent criminals get more jail time. I'm not name calling, the impulse to beat someone up for stealing from a store you don't even own is retarded.
4:00 pm on January 22nd, 2010 32
wooooooweeeeee those "officer haters" on here won't like THAT one! And very true. They complain about equality and fairness, but start ending joe privates career for a DUI or failing a PT test and they really won't like that!
4:16 pm on January 22nd, 2010 33
A private with more intelligence and education than a battalion commander? Exactly where did you observe that? A private with a masters degree, officer basic course/captain's career course/command and general staff college/equivelant of platoon, company, and Battalion command experience? That would be one hell of a private. Just because a private scores higher on his SAT than an LTC doesn't mean the private should be a B.C. Is that supposed to be the knowledge of 20 years I "can not imagine"?
1:48 am on January 23rd, 2010 34
guitard, guitard, guitard…
Awww… don't be a hater.
Sometimes I read what you post and I think, yeah… right on the money. Other times you post whacked out shyt that is easy to disprove. Fine. We all make mistakes.
Your problem is that you get defensive like the spaz kid insisting that high-waters look cool… even in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence.
How can anyone respect that?
3:53 am on January 23rd, 2010 35
To me the two really sad aspects of this is this guy managed to get through at least 3 promotion/retention boards despite his issues while the same boards threw others to the curb for comparatively minor errors.
Here are four examples I saw in one command. Two married officers were caught committing adultery in the field, another intentionally destroyed government property on a nearby Navy base while drunk and the final one was labeled as "weird" because he liked comic books and Dungeons and Dragons. The weird guy got a career ending OER while those in charge ignored the vandalism and adultery.
The Army officer promotion system is broke. LTC Page is just one example.
4:49 am on January 23rd, 2010 36
It's all politics.. after your automatic promotion to captain (given you haven't killed or raped anyone) it really sways in the direction of how well liked you are. You could be the most high speed officer around, but if you don't fit in socially, or kiss a little @$$ you are not going to get the best OER. This isn't the case everytime (there are still some raters that base evaluations on performance, not social adaptation).
9:42 am on January 23rd, 2010 37
In just about every case of shoplifting by an adult that I know of, some sort of pathology was involved. This O-5 definitely has some issues, but I have seen otherwise normal soldiers and their wives shoplift when under some other stressor. Has nothing to do with money, or the cash value of what was taken.
Certain cases of shoplifting need to be given a second look.
10:36 am on January 23rd, 2010 38
"I know you are, but what am I?"
2:41 pm on January 23rd, 2010 39
Running Man, you crack me up! First you say you would "beat the snot out of Hamilton" and then you have to audacity to say Hamilton has a problem? I would love to see a LTC get the shit stomped out of him for shoplifting. I would also love to see a LTC get the shit stomped out of him for various other reasons. Who cares what rank a shoplifter, thief, liar, cheater or DUI idiot holds? If you remember the story about CPT Gray (you're probably too young) I sympathetically understand his actions as likely did the courts martial panel. I think highly of CPT Gray and this LTC who steals as a cockroach of humanity who deserves to be stomped on. Thievery, Lying, and Cheating are the basis of all chaos. If you want to lick someones as shole because of their rank you go right ahead young man and lick away. Just don't forget the as shole your licking may just be shoplifting.
"It's not like he was hurting anyone so why would you get all violent about it." How old are you and did you graduate from UMUC?
3:31 pm on January 30th, 2010 40
Lemmy, you're nothing but a little punk. You think it's okay to stuff your wife (that you killed) in a suitcase and throw it in the woods? You're just as bad as Hamilton. You WOULD like to see an LTC get his @$$ kicked, probably because you are a jealous disgruntled enlisted man. (No need to point out if you are not because I don't give two sh*ts) Yes, I would defend an LTC from physical harm by some punk that would beat him up over shoplifitng at AAFES. I see you are getting mad because of my opinion, calling me an as shole licker.. I do hope i'm around when you decide to put your hand on an officer… I'd make sure you enjoy your food through a straw for quite some time. Punk.