source GAIA package: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201410310300044_5675.zip Origin key: Sx_MilitaryTimes_M6201410310300044 imported at Fri Jan 8 18:19:05 2016
A lieutenant colonel relieved of his post as head of the Warrior Training Center at Fort Benning, Georgia, was not authorized to wear the Ranger and Sapper tabs displayed on his uniform, base officials said Thursday.
Lt. Col. Gerald H. Green III, a member of the National Guard in active service with the WTC, was removed from command Oct. 9 and is under investigation, the base said in an Oct. 24 news release.
Members of the unit identified "concern about the Ranger tab, specifically," Benning's chief spokesman, Gary Jones, said Thursday — a concern brought to leadership that led to the investigation.
"Due to the findings of the preliminary investigation we had ... there was enough evidence of misconduct to warrant Maj. Gen. [Scott] Miller relieving him from command as we continue further investigation of misconduct," Col. Patrick Donahoe, chief of staff for the Benning-based Maneuver Center of Excellence, said later Thursday. Miller is MCoE's commanding general and would have court-martial and disciplinary authority in the case should the investigation warrant such measures, Donahoe said.
Neither Donahoe nor Jones would comment on the scope of the ongoing investigation, but questions have been raised about other decorations Green is shown wearing in his official photograph, which was obtained by Army Times from a person familiar with the case.
While Green is not authorized to wear the Ranger or Sapper tabs, Donahoe said, "right now, we're trying to determine what he is authorized to wear."
"We as a command take any allegation against any soldier, but against a commander specifically, seriously, and investigate it fully," Donahoe said.
A request by Army Times for publicly releasable portions of Green's records, including his official photo, was denied by a National Guard Bureau spokesman, who cited the ongoing investigation.
Attempts to contact Green were unsuccessful. He is still at Benning "performing administrative duties" unrelated to his WTC post, Jones said Thursday.
The WTC offers pre-Ranger and other training primarily for Army National Guard soldiers. Thomas Siter, who served as deputy commander under Green, has taken over the unit until the Guard selects a new leader, according to the Oct. 24 release.
Green took command of the unit July 9. A news release announcing his arrival identified him as a Ranger- and Sapper-tabbed engineering officer with three war-zone deployments and a Bronze Star Medal, among other decorations.
