Dallas

THE NAVAL RESERVES vs. THE REGULAR NAVY
TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WORLDS

This is a story about what can happen to you when the military uses its medical and legal divisions to silence whistle-blowers. It reveals just how far they will go to make sure their system of on-going fraud continues without interruption.

Our story begins at a little, seemingly innocuous naval base in Texas located between Dallas and Ft. Worth. The lieutenant, as we will call him, received his ORDERS to his new duty station at Naval Air Station (NAS) Dallas.

The base he was reporting to was exclusively a naval  reserve base converted to train reservists from all over the Midwestern United States. He didn’t know it, but the regular Navy and naval reserves were two different animals.

Except for the uniforms, the regular Navy and naval reserves were two completely different organizations with different philosophies, goals, and methods. No one in the reserve Navy seemed to care much about most of the regulations the regular Navy strictly enforced.

This included included many things all they way down to how uniforms were worn. There were senior naval officers walking around in uniform with hair so long they could put it in a ponytail. In the military, your haircut is part of your uniform. But, more importantly than haircuts, were the methods and goals of the reserve Navy as compared to the regular Navy.

Officers transitioning from the regular Navy to the reserves found out quickly you only made rank in the reserves based on your retention numbers, in other words, how many people were inclined to affiliate with the naval reserves. All commanders wanted to be captains, and all captains wanted to be admirals. Retaining reservists was the key to attaining senior rank, better duty stations and numerous other privileges.

It is very similar to politicians and the voting public; if you give away lots of free stuff, then they like you and keep voting for you. In the reserve Navy, if you pay people who don’t conduct the mandatory four-hour drills, they will like you and stay in the reserves.

The officers who were too lazy to participate in a weekend drill, called into the base and had a buddy log them in as if they had attended. This type of fraud permeates the reserves in all branches of the service.

GEORGE PAYNE AND COMMANDER “BUFFO”

The lieutenant’s immediate supervisor in the operations office, LCDR George Payne had an old blue van where he would secretly meet a woman who was married to an enlisted Marine for some lunchtime sex.

During lunchtime, the lieutenant and his friend Lt. Tony Cook would watch from the windows on the second floor of the operations building to see LCDR Payne’s blue van rocking away as he had wild crazy sex with the Marine’s wife.

The lieutenant’s supervisor LCDR George Payne was having wild sex with an enlisted man’s wife in the back of his van. The lieutenant was amazed Payne could do that in the cramped quarters of his van and not pass out from the sweltering summer Texas heat.

The operations officer (CDR Bob Eichorn) was referred to as “Buffo.” Why? No one really knew. One time Buffo was flying back to Naval Air Station Dallas (NAS Dallas) in an A-4 Skyhawk jet but was running low on fuel so he landed at Carswell Air Force Base, which was only 30 miles away from NAS Dallas. For some reason, the foolish Buffo got a full tank of fuel to fly only 30 miles.

When he arrived at NAS Dallas, Buffo’s plane was too heavy because his tanks were loaded with fuel. In order to safely land, Buffo had to dump fuel all over the City of Dallas, Texas. Navy jets generally cannot land with a full tank of fuel because it’s too heavy for the airframe to sustain on landing.

This idiot of a pilot (CDR Bob Eichorn) was very well aware of that requirement, but it must have slipped his mind. This lack of professionalism forced him to coat a large portion of Dallas, Texas with jet fuel so he could safely land.

In the aviation world, this was beyond stupid and if the people of Dallas only knew that CDR Buffo had sprayed their city with jet fuel, he might have been held to account. Then again, he was part of the good-old-boy group. The Navy probably would have swept it under the carpet so that people won’t know just how fucking stupid some of their pilots actually are.

Then there was LCDR Phillips who had a serious drinking and cocaine problem to the point his fellow pilots called him “candy nose.” One evening, one of the sailors came to the lieutenant and asked for the keys to the duty truck. He said he had to take LCDR Phillips home. The lieutenant asked, “Why, what happened to Mr. Phillips? I just saw him land in an attack jet”

The sailor seemed reluctant to give the reason why, and the lieutenant said, “Let’s go see LCDR Phillips together shall we?” The moment lieutenant spotted LCDR Phillips, he realized Phillips was in no shape to drive anywhere and how he safely landed an attack jet was a pure miracle.

Not fifteen minutes prior, Phillips landed an attack jet, and now he’s too impaired to drive home? The next morning, the lieutenant had a talk with Buffo the operations officer who seemed to imply this stuff happens all the time. His attitude was, ‘just deal with it, lieutenant.’

The lieutenant was beginning to learn that naval regulations which had provided a strong moral and legal compass in the regular Navy, were nothing more than “guidelines” for the reserve Navy. Yes indeed, the reserves were a whole different Navy than the one the lieutenant was accustomed to.

He discovered that NAS Dallas was primarily a party base. People just would not believe what went on at the officer’s club on any given day. The lieutenant recalled hearing stories of when U.S. Senator John Tower got caught wearing a lampshade on his head at one of the parties at a club on base, which ended up costing him his chance to become Secretary of Defense.

VICE PRESIDENT BUSH CALLS THE LIEUTENANT

One beautiful day while the lieutenant was the duty officer, some guy in civilian clothes is walking around the building apparently lost. The lieutenant said, “Sir, can I help you?”

The gentleman said he was told to go to the paraloft department to get a flight suit and other regalia associated with flying in a tactical combat jet. The paraloft is that division in any squadron which outfits aircrew personnel.

The lieutenant asked, “And, who are you flying with, and can I ask your name please.” The gentleman said, “I’m supposed to be flying with the commanding officer of the Marine squadron, and my name is Albert P. Keller.”

The lieutenant directed a sailor to escort Mr. Keller to the para-loft department and picked up the phone to call the commander of the Marine squadron attached to the base. As he was dialing, the commander came into the office and asked if anyone had been asking for him.

The lieutenant said, “You mean Mr. Keller?” He said, “Yeah, that’s the guy.” The lieutenant said he had him escorted to the paraloft and asked the commander, “What is going on? The guy is obviously a civilian. Is he authorized to fly in a tactical military aircraft.”

The commander explained that he was driving by the base and saw the jets landing and decided he wanted to take a ride in one. The commander told him that was impossible unless he was friends with President Reagan.

The commander slapped his knee and said, “Wouldn’t you know it, he’s friend with Vice President George Bush.” The lieutenant said, “Sir, you mean to tell me that you are taking a civilian up joy riding in a military jet that burns 2500 lbs of jet fuel per hour, all because he’s friends of the Vice President? Does that not fly in the face of the President’s Fraud, Waste, and Abuse program?”

WARNED TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT

The commander bore down on the lieutenant and said, “If I were you, son, I’d keep my mouth shut.” And with that, the commander went to get his joy-riding passenger.

Thirty minutes later, the lieutenant grabbed the binoculars to watch the two lift off the runway. Suddenly, the yeoman said, “Sir, there’s a phone call for you. The woman asked to speak with the duty officer.” The lieutenant answered in a firm, regimental military voice. The caller said, “Lieutenant, this is the personal secretary to the Vice President. Has Mr. Keller arrived on the base yet?”

At this point, the lieutenant thought it was all a joke, and that he could possibly be on candid camera. The lieutenant said, “If you’re the secretary to the Vice President of the United States, then I’m the King of Siam,” and began to laugh.

The female caller pulled her voice way from the phone and said to someone standing nearby, “Sir, he doesn’t believe me.” The lieutenant could hear someone in the background say, gimme me the phone, “Am I speaking to the duty officer?” The lieutenant still thought it was a joke but a bit more elaborate than he expected.

The lieutenant snapped back, “Yes you are, and just who the hell are you? I don’t have time to play games here.” The gentleman on the other end of the phone said, “This is Vice President George Bush, and I want you to find Mr. Albert P. Keller and extend to him every courtesy you can. Do you understand that lieutenant?” he said forcefully.

The lieutenant was beginning to believe that it was either Vice President Bush, or comedian Dana Carvey playing a prank on him. The lieutenant said, “If indeed you are the Vice President, I can assure you that I extend courtesy to all the visitors to this base.”

Vice President Bush said, “That’s all we want lieutenant, thank you,” and handed the phone back to his alleged secretary. The secretary was giggling and said, “Thank you, lieutenant. That makes you officially the King of Siam.”

The lieutenant sat down at his desk realizing that whole Fraud, Waste, and Abuse thing initiated by President Reagan was just a ploy to get elected. Vice President Bush appeared to have no interest in applying Fraud, Waste and Abuse laws to himself.

THE LIEUTENANT MEETS CHIEF “TUFF”

The lieutenant was originally assigned to the administration department where he met Chief Michael R. Tufariello. They called him Chief Tuff, because that just exactly what he was. Not only was he “tuff” in every sense of the word, but his military bearing was the best the lieutenant had ever seen. Chief Tuff was a poster boy for the Navy.

You could cut your finger on the crease in his pants. Chief Tuff was completely different from the chiefs the lieutenant knew in the regular navy who normally had enormous belly fat and brown teeth from all the coffee they would consume. The lieutenant and Chief Tuff had an instantaneous mutual respect for each other.

As a side note; Chief Tuff fought at “The Garden” (Madison Square Garden, New York). Twenty years after leaving the military, Chief Tuff began to teach his son the fine art of boxing.

Chief Tuff’s son was an excellent boxer, but was about sixteen years too late before going professional. Had he gone professional when he should have, everyone in the boxing world would have known his name and he would have retired from all the endorsements. He was just that good.

Tufariello came into the Navy after President Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” There was another reason Tuff entered the military. Michael Tufariello was a product of the New York street gangs. A rival gang down the street had a guy he knew by the name of Sammy “the Bull” Gravano.

Tuff knew that if he did not do something to get out of that environment, he’d surely be pulled into the mafia. The lieutenant also heard rumors that Tuff or his wife was somehow connected (related) to the Bonanno crime family of New York. While Chief Tuff or his wife may or may not have been connected with the New York mob, the lieutenant was convinced that he and his wife knew people in the mafia.

All the sailors revered Chief Tuff because he treated everyone with respect and knew the regulations inside and out. Not only did Chief Tuff know Navy Regulations, but he particularly knew the pay and personnel manuals which are the backbone of any navy.

It was never any concern when the command would be inspected because the inspection always came out perfect when Tuff was in charge. One day, Tuff approached the lieutenant and said he wanted to speak with him confidentially.

Tuff had secretly read the lieutenant’s service record and felt the lieutenant was someone he could trust on an extremely sensitive matter. Tuff had transferred into NAS Dallas only a few months before the lieutenant arrived and was discovering some disturbing malfeasance. The Chief had discovered massive payroll fraud was occurring on a frequent basis. The fraud perpetrated on U.S. taxpayers was in the millions and would occur at the whim of the base commanding officer.

Chief Tuff said to the lieutenant, “Sir, this command is stealing money. You and I have been assigned to a base that is one big cesspool of fraud and misconduct.”

The lieutenant responded, “Oh Tuff, Navy admirals have always taken their girlfriends to Naval Air Station Bermuda to play golf and turn curly ques under the sheets when their wives were out of town. They’ve been doing that, probably shit since George Washington. I don’t think there is anything you and I can do to stop it. How many people are involved, two? Three? Four?…”

The Chief said, “There have been at least 700-800 reservists involved in the most recent fraud, but the command has apparently done it more than once over many years. It amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars. Over the long haul, it possibly rises to billions of dollars being misappropriated in direct violation of military pay regulations.”

CHIEF TUFF HAD TO EDUCATE THE LIEUTENANT

The lieutenant suddenly realized he wasn’t in “Kansas” anymore. He was in the reserve Navy which was quite the different animal from the regular Navy. On a routine basis, reservists from all over the interior of the United States were picked up at various airports in a Navy Douglas DC-9 passenger jet, then transported to NAS Dallas where they would conduct military drills during the entire weekend.

The pilots would fly and the Marines would march. The Navy sailors would congregate in a classroom and swap sea stories all day long. Even when they attended drills, it was a fraud because little or no training or work was ever done by anyone.

BACKGROUND: After WWII, Congress became very concerned about all the talent the military was losing to civilian life and created the military reserve system as we know it today. If there was a pay-billet available, one could get one day’s pay for every four hour drill period. So, during a typical weekend, a reservist could obtain four days pay since there were four, four-hour drill periods.

Congress created a monetary incentive to encourage former military members to remain affiliated with the armed services on a limited basis. Reservists could be activated in time of national emergency.

The whole purpose of the reserve military system was to maintain a vast pool of military members they could activate in a moments notice. The government has implemented reserve call-ups many times since the reserve system was established.

When Saddam Hussein, invaded the tiny oil-rich nation of Kuwait, President George HW Bush activated several reserve squadrons for duty in the Middle East. During Vietnam, President Johnson activated several reserve units in Hawaii and sent them to Vietnam. Unfortunately, only about 15% survived Vietnam.

Sometimes senior officers were promoted out of a pay-billet, but would still arrive for military drills to receive retirement-point credits.

These retirement points were valuable because when they attained sixty-five years of age, they would become available for all sorts of benefits from the military if they had amassed enough retirement points. In other words, these retirement points equated to money and finagling retirement points was just as much of a fraud is it was to steal money.

Chief Tuff indicated there were many times when lazy senior naval officers would be allowed to just call in from home to muster in for the purpose of obtaining the coveted retirement points. This practice was routinely conducted, but was a clear violation of naval regulations.

According to the rule book, no one was to receive any money (or retirement points) unless they drilled for a minimum of four hours (IN PERSON). Calling in to have your name added as an attendee was pure fraud. Unfortunately, fraud in the reserve Navy had become so ingrained and such a way of life, that few people paid it any mind.

No one was there to protect the taxpayers until Chief Tufariello and the lieutenant arrived on base. Cutting off their gravy train was going to cost Chief Tufariello and the lieutenant for the rest of their lives. And sadly, the two men found out that no one really cared about the fraud, including the poor saps who had to pay for it. We refer to that portion of the American people who actually pay taxes.

WHY COMMIT PAYROLL FRAUD?

Chief Tufariello described to the lieutenant exactly how the fraud was being perpetrated. It was a typical drill weekend and DC-9 Navy passenger jets were arriving with hundreds of reservists for their scheduled drill weekend. The weather forecaster went to the commanding officer and told him there was a blue norther coming in.

A “blue norther” is a major cold front marked by a sudden drop in temperature, sometimes 30 degrees in one hour. This is accompanied by heavy precipitation and very dark blue skies moving quickly across the plains of Texas. It can go from swimsuit weather to snow flurries in only a few hours.

The commanding officer knew that if he didn’t get the reservists back home quickly, they would likely be on base several days until the weather cleared up enough to send aircraft back into the air. This meant the drilling reservists could not show of for work at their civilian jobs on the following Monday morning.

If that happened, then some would get fired and others would quit the reserves. Translation: the commanding officer’s retention number could suffer a major hit, which (in the reserve Navy) would directly impact his chances for promotion. The commanding officer did the only thing a prudent commander would do, he ordered the reservists back on the planes.

Having only been on the ground for about thirty minutes, the drilling reservists were herded back on the DC-9s, and took off to return to their respective homes throughout the Midwestern part of the United States.

Here’s the rub, the commanding officer ordered Chief Tufariello to pay 600-800 reservists, not for just a single drill period, but for the entire drill weekend. According to the military pay manuals, they were not to receive a penny because they had never conducted the minimum four-hour drill necessary to be eligible for legal payment.

This meant that 600-800 reservists got four-days-pay having only been on the base for thirty minutes, and not conducting a single drill period. The commanding officer figured out that if he paid the reservists for work they didn’t do, they would not only like him, but they would like the reserves and maintain their affiliation.

This meant the commanding officer would receive credit for excellent retention numbers, along with better prospects to be selected for increased rank. It could mean the difference between retiring as a navy captain, or retiring as a navy admiral.

Chief Tuff was known as Mr. “by the book.” He knew that paying reservists for work they never did was a clear violation of the military pay manual and established procedure.

Congress knew, in their infinite wisdom, there would be abuses of the pay system in the reserves and made it very clear with disbursement statutes, that reservists were not to be paid unless they drilled the prescribed four-hour period. Paying reservists four days pay, when they were only on the base for thirty minutes was out-and-out fraud, and a clear violation of naval regulations. Chief described how the commanding officer had done this on several previous occasions.

The lieutenant was very concerned because he didn’t know just how far up the chain of command this practice was done. He correctly suspected the practice of paying reservists for work they never did was deeply ingrained in the military reserve system and people in the senior echelons of the reserve community not only knew about it but did it themselves when they were base commanders.

MAKE COPIES AND GET THESE PAY RECORDS OFF THE BASE

The lieutenant asked the Chief, “Do you have written evidence of these payments?” He responded, “Yes of course sir, you know that I always keep impeccable records of everything.” The lieutenant instructed the Chief to make copies of those pay records and get them off the base. The Chief said, “Sir, I can’t do that. Those records are government property.”

The lieutenant smiled and said, “I’m giving you a direct order to safeguard evidence of a crime. This means the monkey is off your back and now on mine. And, keep your mouth shut about all this until I can find out just how high this problem goes.”

The Chief snapped a crisp salute and headed back to his office on the base. As the lieutenant was driving off the base to find a place to eat that evening, he looked at the second floor of the administration building where Chief Tuff’s office was and saw the flashing of the copy machine. The Chief wasted no time following the orders the lieutenant had given.

The next day, the lieutenant asked for a meeting with the commanding officer. He was escorted into the commanders plush office to hear, “What’s on your mind lieutenant?”

He said, “Sir, I’ve recently been made aware of payments to reservists which must have been done by mistake, because the pay manual has no allowance for such payments. I’m talking about the reservists who were sent back home but received payment as if they had drilled for the entire weekend.”

The commanding officer motioned for the lieutenant to sit down and said, “You’re new in the reserves aren’t you?” He responded, “Yes sir, I’ve been her about three months now.” That captain gave a beautiful speech about how sometimes officer need to show initiative.

The lieutenant said, “Sir, there is no provision for those payments, but I do have good news. If we re-drill those reservists before the end of the fiscal year, we don’t have to ask for any of that money back.” The captain became very annoyed because this young lieutenant wasn’t getting the message that he was to just look the other way.

Raising the level of his voice in a feeble effort to intimidate the lieutenant, the captain said, “This is none of your fucking business. I’m going to forget this conversation ever happened, so you just walk right out that door and forget all this.”

The lieutenant said calmly, “I’m sure you are aware of naval regulations which says that I cannot look the other way. I have no alternative but to report this to reserve HQ in New Orleans.” With that, the captain began laughing and said, “The admiral did it himself. How do you suppose he made admiral?”

The lieutenant was referring to Naval Regulation Article 1137: OBLIGATION TO REPORT OFFENSES; Persons in the naval service shall report as soon as possible to superior authority all offenses under the Uniform Code of Military Justice which come under their observation, except when such persons are themselves already criminally involved in such offenses at the time such offenses first come under their observation.  He was right. He had to walk this up the chain of command.

More than a decade after the Navy attacked Chief Tufariello (and the lieutenant) for being whistle-blowers, Chief Tuff was featured on a segment of a television show called “A Current Affair.” Not long after that, a syndicated program in the Midwest featured Tufariello as an Unsung Hero.

The lieutenant was asked to fly to Dallas in a supporting role and was honored to do so. Here is the segment which aired about ten years after Chief Tuff was forced out of the Navy and after the lieutenant was tossed out of the Navy…

The lieutenant was fearful that operatives from the Navy would do anything they could to get the written documents Chief Tuff had in his possession, up to and including burning down his home. It was damning evidence the Navy had been making illegal payments to reservists to keep retention numbers as high as possible.

Unfortunately, the commanding officer and others on his staff began to get nervous. Knowledge of all this fraud was gained primarily through Chief Tufariello. Because he was the Chief in the Administrative department, he had first hand knowledge of how the command was paying reservists that did not drill the required time in order to be eligible for a paycheck.

Chief Tuff stood his ground and would have nothing to do with it. Anyone the Navy could not make part of the fraud you would think would make them a bit nervous. Actually, this was not the case because the reserves had been perpetrating this fraud for many years.

When the admiral who was, at one time, base commander of Naval Air Station Dallas, Texas, he also paid reservists for work they didn’t do. Fortunately for him, he did not have a Chief Tufariello or anyone with backbone who would challenge their criminal misconduct.

More strange things were happening on the base. The supply chief drove Chief Tuff to the other side of the base in the duty truck. Tuff said, “Where are you taking me?” He said, “Chief Tuff, just humor me a minute. I want to show you something.” The two drove across the base to a locked up hangar. The Supply Chief got out and unlocked the hangar to show Chief Tuff the inside. Tuff looked inside and said, “What’s the joke, it’s an empty hangar.”

The Supply Chief said with a worried look on his face, “That’s just the point. Yesterday, this hanger was filled with aircraft parts and today they are all gone.” The supply chief explained that it was his responsibility to know where all the supplies are on the base and keep a full accounting. Millions of dollars in aircraft parts would arrive and then disappear and the man who was supposed to be in the loop for parts and supplies was being kept in the dark.

Little did Chief Tuff or the lieutenant know it, but they had just stumbled on Ronald Reagan’s secret little war in Nicaragua. Payments to Iran were being diverted to the Contras, all being secretly run out of the basement of the White House by Vice Admiral John Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver North.

Once again, the lieutenant began asking questions and was told to shut up if he knew what was good for him. Apparently, parts for the helicopters were being funneled through the base at NAS Dallas, Texas headed for Nicaragua and being paid for by the Iranians to avoid the prying eyes of Congress.

TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A WAY TO GET RID OF THESE GUYS

The command decided they had to take some sort of action against the lieutenant and Chief Tuff. The first action was to split them up under the guise of a promotion for the lieutenant. The lieutenant was told he would being transferred from administration to operations.

The move was touted as a great opportunity for the lieutenant to fly more. His supervisors were trying to figure out a way to set him up. In one case he had landed late and immediately went to his room at the bachelor officer’s quarters to sleep because he’d been scheduled for an early morning departure to New Orleans.

Once he arrived in New Orleans the next day, his supervisors decided they had gotten the lieutenant on a safety violation charging that he had violated the crew rest requirements. The lieutenant said, “No I fucking didn’t. You guys don’t even know how the read the manual.”

The supervisors ordered him to stand down and flew another pilot down to replace him. Once the lieutenant got back he marched into the operations office and demanded to know exactly what violation they were referring to. It turned out they were wrong, but no one was apologizing to the lieutenant.

The lieutenant’s morale was beginning to suffer. One day he was approached by the enlisted supervisor in charge of the air traffic controllers. He said, “I’ve got a problem and I don’t know who else to turn to.” The lieutenant said, that he couldn’t be involved because he was not in his chain of command.

They pleaded with the lieutenant to reconsider meeting with him and the enlisted woman with the issue. She had been suffering debilitating migraine headaches to the point she could no longer function as and air-traffic controller. This concerned the lieutenant because he was frequently flying and relying on those air-traffic controllers.

President Reagan had gotten into a pissing contest with the civilian air-traffic controllers right after his election. Reagan told the air-traffic controller to either get back to work or they would be fired. The air-traffic controller’s union called the President’s bluff and everyone was fired.

Reagan then ordered senior military air-traffic controllers to temporarily assume jobs in civilian towers until they got new people rehired and trained. This meant that junior people in the military were now in the military control towers. As a pilot, he was concerned the command would force a young woman who was suffering migraine headaches until she almost blacked out was a legitimate safety issue.

He encouraged the supervisor and the air-traffic controller to request a meeting with the base commander which was her right to do, but the command was stonewalling and ignoring her request to speak with her commanding officer. He said, you may want to go home and sit down with your parents to write a letter to your elected representatives.

Maybe a Congressional inquiry might help. The air-traffic controller took his advice and did just that. She asked the lieutenant to review the Congressional letter she and her parents had conjured up.

Under normal circumstances, the lieutenant would not have done it, but the command really was in the wrong on many issues. He looked at the letter and said, “Whoa, this is a bit harsh. The commanding officer may not be the bad guy in this. I’d suggest you tone it down a bit and provide your Congressional representative with just the facts.” The lieutenant suggested some changes to the letter and gave it back to her to finalize it and send it to her elected Congressional representative.

HALT, WHO GOES THERE?

One Saturday night, the lieutenant went to be early only to receive a knock on the door at about midnight. It was the young air-traffic controller. As he recalled later, “She looked good, she smelled good. I don’t know. I should have jumped out of bed, put on my uniform and yelled, HALT, WHO GOES THERE.” People surmised the attractive air-traffic controller may have just wanted to “thank him” in her own special way.

The lieutenant opened the door. Even though it was a reserve base and enlisted women were always in and out of the officer’s quarters, the lieutenant embraced a philosophy that when in Rome, do as the Romans do.

The next day, he was upset and dejected. He felt like he was losing he soul. While the sex was great, he missed his children and wished he’d been assigned anywhere but NAS Dallas, Texas. The lieutenant was 33 and she was 28. And, as we all know, a 33 year old doesn’t have the wisdom of a 70 year old.

The lieutenant called up his wife and pleaded with her to consider reconciliation and move to Dallas. His wife was very reluctant, thinking that he only wanted her back because he missed his children. She said that she would fly out to Dallas and they two would first go see a marriage counselor before she would commit to anything.

She flew out and the two spent several hours with a very high-priced marriage counselor. After the sessions, his wife reluctantly gave her OK to move out to Dallas. She said she would go back to San Diego and make preparations for the move. Alas, all of it was not to be.

Initially, the command went after the lieutenant by checking everything he’d ever done from the time he entered the military. They had the naval investigative service rummaging though hundreds of travel claims to see if there was a gotcha somewhere in the accounting. Eureka, they finally had found one.

The lieutenant had flown an aircraft to a little airshow at Auburn, California two years before reporting to Dallas, and they discovered he had not properly reported his expenses.

The travel claim was for $250, but the Navy declared that $75.51 was, in their view, “fraudulent.” They brought in the lieutenant and began to grill him on the travel claim he submitted. He had submitted the travel claim from years prior and never actually received any money.

He had forgotten about it and now it was going to take down his career. The lieutenant requested to speak with a lawyer about his legal problems but was denied. Unfortunately, the commanding officer didn’t have the guts to put that denial in writing.

The truth of the matter was that his superiors felt the lieutenant had gone “off the reservation,” and was just too much of a threat. A military member who could not be bullied or intimated can sometimes be a very dangerous thing, because of the chronic, systemic and ingrained payroll fraud that was frequently being conducted by reserve base commanders to help keep their retention numbers as high as possible.

THE NAVY PLANNED A COURT-MARTIAL OVER $75,51

No one really knew the lieutenant had dated an enlisted woman, but his command was desperately trying to find some way to undermine his credibility. The Navy embarked on a major investigation, which included a review of every travel claim the lieutenant had submitted over his 10 year naval career. After an exhaustive investigation including per diem travel of Naval Investigative Service Agents to interview hotel employees.

Bingo, the Navy found a travel claim the lieutenant had submitted several years before being transferred to NAS Dallas, Texas. The travel claim was for $250, but the Navy determined that $75.51 was fraudulent.

Even though the lieutenant had never received any money from the government for that travel claim, it was enough to declare as a heinous act of fraud and launch an attack.

The lieutenant was ordered to drive 1300 miles to San Diego to be court martialed for fraudulently submitting a travel claim for $75.51. Since the Navy had already wasted thousands of dollars investigating, why not waste some more money.

The lieutenant started his long journey back to San Diego to be court-martialed for the seventy-five-dollar travel claim. He was assigned to Commander Anti-Submarine Warfare Wing (COMASWWWINGPAC), where he daily came to work and sit at a desk to stare at a phone all day while the military was preparing for his general court martial over a $75.51 travel claim.

YOUR ARE ORDERED TO SPEAK TO AN ATTORNEY

Not long after he arrived, the lieutenant was ordered to go speak with an attorney about his pending legal issues. He went to the legal building and spoke with Lt. David C. Becker. Becker said, “Jesus, I just cannot believe they want to send you to a general court martial over seventy-five fucking dollars.” The lieutenant explained to his newly assigned lawyer everything that had happened and how the command was fraudulently pissing away millions of dollars.

The lieutenant said, “They just want to get rid of me as quickly as possible because so many of them are culpable.” The lieutenant had two or three meetings with Lt. Becker to layout the legal strategy for dealing with fighting the charge of fraud for $75.51.

The admiral in San Diego who had been burdened with the prosecution of the lieutenant decided to conduct an administrative hearing called non-judicial punishment (NJP) to deal with the travel claim issue. It seemed pretty stupid to court-martial a naval officer and pilot over a $75 travel claim that he never received any money from.

After all, the military had invested millions of dollars in the lieutenant’s training as a naval aviator. It just didn’t make any sense to court-martial one of his pilots over a travel claim he was never paid for when there was so much other fraud going on in the military that far exceeded a $75 travel claim.

When the reserve base in Dallas heard the charge of “fraud” was to be handled administratively, they became very concerned the lieutenant may very well be returned to them after the hearing was over. They knew that because of Chief Tuff, the lieutenant knew too much about the ingrained fraudulent payments frequently being made to reservists.

They had to do something to convince the admiral in San Diego that the lieutenant was a bad customer and needed to be sent to a full-blown court-martial and, if possible, removed from the naval service.

Suddenly, a ton of new charges against the lieutenant arrived on the admirals desk in San Diego including; suborning perjury, conduct unbecoming and fraternization. The tactic is called file loading. If the Navy can file enough charges against someone, then surely the convening authority (the admiral), and a jury will conclude the lieutenant must be guilty of something.

With any luck, the lieutenant could be dishonorably discharged and sent to Ft. Leavenworth for a lengthy prison sentence. This my friends is how the military sometimes deals with whistle-blowers through the military justice system.

The Dallas commanding officer, in these new charges, alleged the lieutenant had made love to an enlisted woman and consequently made her pregnant. Then, according to the same commanding officer who was illegally paying reservists, the lieutenant allegedly asked someone to lie on the witness stand.

The lieutenant heard a rumor one particular individual on the base had also had a sexual relationship with the same woman, and asked him if he would testify as much. This brief conversation was twisted in favor of the Dallas commander and converted into a charge of suborning perjury which was an outrageous lie.

THE ADMIRAL FELT HE HAD BEEN SET UP
BY THE RESERVE NAVY

When the additional charges arrived, the admiral in San Diego felt he had been set up, by the reserve base commander in Dallas. The admiral justifiably felt they were using him and his money to court-martial someone they didn’t like. He wanted no part their legal/political mess and ordered the lieutenant back to the lion’s den, washing his hands of the entire matter.

The lieutenant arrived back to Naval Air Station Dallas, Texas and was immediately arrested and confined to quarters. The reserve Navy was leaving nothing to chance and began shopping for another admiral who would be willing to court-martial the lieutenant; the way they wanted him court-martialed. The reserve base commander now realized that a measly travel claim for $75, just wasn’t strong enough of a charge to obtain the results they desired.

In the mean time the Dallas commanding officer went out looking for another admiral who would be willing to court martial the lieutenant. They finally found one in Corpus Christi, Texas by the name of Vice Admiral John S. Disher who was Chief of Naval Education and Training (CNET).

While the base commander had orders for the lieutenant being conjured up, they decided to take action against Chief Tuff first. As one staff member recalls a co-worker saying, “We’ll take care of that fucking lieutenant soon. Let’s first deal with Chief Tuffariello.”

Since the lieutenant was under arrest and confined to his quarters, Chief Tuff decided the lieutenant was no longer in a position to help him address the ongoing massive payroll fraud. Chief Tuff asked to meet with the commanding officer of the base personally to discuss the matter.

Chief Tuff was told to go to his home in Carrollton, Texas, that a meeting would be set up between him and the commanding officer to address his concerns of fraud. But, that was the very last thing the commanding officer wanted because officially having knowledge of the fraud would force him to do something he didn’t want to do, ask for the money back.

If he asked the reservists to return the money they were paid, the commanding officer would look foolish, and no doubt, his retention numbers would fall potentially causing an adverse impact on a future promotion. He need to maintain a position of ‘plausible deniability.’

WE’VE GOT HIM NOW!

While Tuff was at home, one of the yeomen in the administration office called him up to see how he was doing. He was frustrated saying that he’s been waiting four days. Why did it take so long to set up a simple meeting with the commanding officer? This is when the Chief made a serious error.

While imparting his frustrations to the yeoman whom he thought was a personal friend and confidant, he made an off-the-cuff statement which gave his supervisors the break they were looking for. He told the yeoman in a flippant way, “This is so frustrating, I feel like jumping off the Brooklyn bridge or blowing my brains out,” he said laughingly. His statement was a joke and he made it clear by his voice inflection and laughing jovial manner that he certainly was not serious at all.

The yeoman unfortunately relayed what Tuff had said her supervisor, Lieutenant Commander Loveless who told his boss and department head, Commander Powers, ‘I think we got ’em now.’ They called Tuff back and said the meeting with the commanding officer was all set up, directing him to report in his dress uniform and come to the base.

It begs the question, if they really thought he was suicidal, would they have asked him to drive through Dallas traffic during the rush hour? Tuff wrote a quick note for his wife that the meeting was finally arranged and headed to the base during the afternoon on Friday, July 20, 1984.

When Tuff arrived at the base, he was escorted to an office in the administration building. He said later, “It was weird. Everyone was standing there looking at me and no one was talking.” Suddenly, he was seized by two armed Marines and taken down the steps to a waiting military van. Tuff said, “They still weren’t talking or telling me anything. All I knew was that I was in a van heading north.”

After quite a while, Tuff said that he needed to relieve himself so the driver pulled over at a convenience store. Tuff remembers looking at the young Marines and driver, waiting for him to return.

His mind drifted back to Vietnam as he thought to himself, ‘I could kill all three of these guys, driver and armed escorts, but they would then have actual proof that he might not be mentally stable. Even though he was angry enough to brutally kill each one of them, he was wise enough not to do it.

All through out the drive from NAS Dallas to Careswell AFB in Ft. Worth, Texas, no one was talking and he was not being told where he was being taken. When they arrived at the hospital he was escorted into the building and taken to the psychiatric ward.

He remembers vividly to this day how his heart sank when the elevator doors opened and the big sign read, “PSYCHIATRIC WARD.”

Tuff was stripped him of his dress uniform and put in ridiculous pajamas. There was a discussion on whether or not to place him in a straight jacket. Had they attempted that, several people would have died that day. He told the lieutenant many years later, the most humiliating part was when he looked down to see his slippers.

The slippers were adorned with happy-faces. This was when the betrayal of what had occurred fully engulfed his soul. Tuff described his surroundings as being very much like the 1975 movie with Jack Nicholson called, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”

WHERE’S MY HUSBAND?

Dinnertime rolled around and Tuff failed to show up for dinner. His wife thought the meeting was going much later than anticipated and kept his dinner covered up waiting for his arrival. Finally, she began to get worried and called the base. The base duty officer lied to her saying the Chief had left a long time ago. As the duty officer hung up the phone, he started laughing. Tuff had left the base alright, but not for home. She called the local police to see if he had been in an accident on the way home.

It was too early to file a missing person’s report which normally required a person to be missing for three days minimum. Police said no accident had been reported. Finally, his wife Mary called back to New York and they called the base.

The called her back saying, “Mary, Mike has been taken to the psychiatric ward of the Air Force base in Fort Worth.” The next day she got someone to watch the children and headed for the hospital. When she walked in and saw him in those stupid pajamas, she began to openly weep. Tuff was very angry she came and saw him in that embarrassing situation.

This was the kind of punishment a whistle blower can expect from the military if you don’t go along to get along. It’s important to keep your mouth shut when the commanding officer wants to illegally pay hundreds of reservists for drills they never attended.

On Monday, July 23, 1984, the psychiatrist sat down with Tuff and asked him, what the problem was. Mike stared back, “Saying, you tell me doctor.” The doctor knew in an instant that Chief Tufariello was not suicidal and should not have been admitted into the psychiatric ward.

The doctor immediately called the nurse saying, “I want this man release immediately and you tell those fucking people at that Navy base they had better not do this again. I will not be a party to their little political games.” It was a shocking revelation.

Apparently, naval officers at Naval Air Station Dallas, Texas had used the technique of falsely labeling someone as suicidal before in order to silence and/or punish people.

Years later, the Dallas Morning News ran a huge page one article about how the military frequently uses their psychiatric hospitals to discredit potential whistle blowers. If the military could not coerce members to remain silent about what they knew, they would use a psychiatric examination to undermine the credibility of a potential witness.

If that didn’t work, the military would kick in their little private judicial system by planting evidence and bringing someone to trail over trumped up charges. Remember, about 99% of those charged in the military are convicted of something. The civilian conviction rate for those charged runs about 50%. And, if that didn’t work, the military would dispatch a hit squad to report that you had committed suicide.

Upon his return to the base at NAS Dallas, Tuff was reassigned to get him away from the documentary evidence and forced into retirement. The command master chief later admitted to Chief Tuff that he was right, it was fraud, but because there were so many higher ups involved, it had to be swept under the rug. In other words, fuck you.

We don’t care about the hellish crap we put you and your family through. You just have to bite the bullet and let the upper echelon commit the fraud they want to commit. Georges Clemenceau said, “Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.”

NOW, LET’S DEAL WITH THE LIEUTENANT

The Navy had effectively neutralized Chief Tufariello from being any kind of threat to their frequent bouts of massive payroll fraud. After the mental ward at the military hospital released Tuff, everyone on the base whispered “there goes the crazy man.” Now it was time for senior officers at NAS Dallas to turn their guns on the lieutenant.

The lieutenant had no knowledge Chief Tuff had been tricked about his meeting with the commanding officer and whisked away to be incarcerated in the mental ward of the military hospital at Carswell Air Force Base. The Chief may have been too embarrassed to share the humiliating experience with anyone.

Approximately five days after Tuff had been taken away, the lieutenant was suddenly ordered to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas to be court-martialed for fraternization and for submitting a travel claim, of which $75.51, the Navy considered as “fraudulent.”  The lieutenant had submitted a travel claim for $250 two years before reporting to NAS Dallas. He had forgotten about it because he had never received any money and assumed that his request for compensation was denied.

But, they wanted his hide nailed to the wall and activated the Naval Investigative Service to spend whatever they needed, to investigate virtually every travel claim he’d submitted during his entire naval career. Eureka! They finally found one.

It was a questionable $75.51 from a travel claim submitted two years before he reported to NAS Dallas, Texas. On July 27, 1984, only a week after Chief Tuff was dragged off to the mental ward, the lieutenant was ordered to drive to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas to be court-martialed by a military general court martial.

The Navy would say he was being court-martialed for fraternization and a $75 travel claim, but he was really being court-martialed for his knowledge of massive and systemic payroll fraud and many other politically sensitive issues occurring at his duty station.

The lieutenant simply knew too much, becoming a threat to the careers of many naval officers. The math was simple. Either punish several high-ranking officers for criminal and/or ethical misconduct, or get rid of one pain-in-the-ass lieutenant who refused to go along to get along.

The Navy intended to demonstrate to a Navy chief with 18 years of active duty and a Navy lieutenant with 10 years of active service just how the military deals with whistle-blowers. With Chief Tufariello, they would effectively use a psychiatric examination and illegal incarceration in a mental hospital to discredit and embarrass him.

With the lieutenant, they would use the military judicial system to not only remove him from the crime-ridden base, but to punish him for the rest of his life.