Q: I’m 18 years active duty with the US Navy. I was an E-6 from 2000–2009 but got busted for UCMJ violation to E-5. I fall under the High-3 plan for retirement and a lot of my friends are saying that when I retire, I will get the E-6 retirement pay, but then again, some of my friends are saying I will not — which is true?

The answer given is:

A: Okay, so here’s the deal: your retirement under the high-three plan is cal­culated by multiplying 2.5% by the number of years served and then taking that number and multiplying it by the aver age of the highest 36 months of active duty pay received. Rank, doesn’t actually factor into the calculation. So, depending on when you retire, your years as an E-6 may be included in the calculation. Get promoted again and you can make sure it is!

Is this a correct answer. [I think answer is partly correct.] The answer is partly correct if in fact the person successfully gets promoted back to E-6. But otherwise I think the answer is not correct. That depends on how you apply the facts above to the applicable statute.

10 U. S. Code 1407(f).

Washington Post on the Ramrod Five.

A U.S. Army staff sergeant dreamed up a plan for fellow soldiers to kill three Afghan civilians this year because he was motivated by “pure hatred,” another soldier accused in the slayings has told investigators

Here’s a News Tribune piece on “The Stryker Brigade” or “Ramrod Five.”

The charges stacked up against five soldiers from Joint Base Lewis-McChord sound as if they rank among the worst war crimes in the past nine years of combat in the Middle East: killing Afghan civilians and keeping gruesome souvenirs from the attacks.

There are some comparisons with previous cases.

FayObserver reports:

A man accused of multiple rapes in the Fayetteville-Fort Bragg community is scheduled to face a court-martial Dec. 8, a military judge announced Monday. Spc. Aaron M. Pernell of Tulsa, Okla., is charged by military authorities with attempted rape, two counts of rape, assault, two counts of burglary and one count of housebreaking on Fort Bragg. The charges stem from two home break-ins on Fort Bragg and the assault on one woman.

Military.com reports a potential court-martial case under the UCMJ:

The director of the Pentagon office overseeing the treatment of troops suffering from brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder is under investigation for allegedly making unwanted sexual advances and creating a hostile work environment, The Associated Press has learned.

Military.com reports:

Hawaii State Rep. Rida Cabanilla Arakawa, an Army Reservist who beat a Democratic opponent in Saturday’s primary election, may have violated Pentagon policy on campaigning in uniform. Violations of the policy have occurred across the country, but an Army Reserve lawyer here said little can be done to political candidates who are part-time soldiers.

SLDN reports:

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a national, legal services and policy organization dedicated to ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), released a set of formal recommendations today to the Comprehensive Review Working Group, established to author a report on “how” to implement repeal, not “if” repeal should happen.

Bryan County News reports:

In a motion hearing Tuesday, Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich‘s defense attorneys requested their expert investigator be allowed to travel to Iraq to reinvestigate the crime scene and interview 16 Iraqi soldiers. Bozicevich’s military defense attorney, Capt. Nick Moutos, said the defense team would be “remiss” in its duty to defend a man “whose life was on the line” if they did not verify evidence and testimony gathered by the government’s Criminal Investigation Division. Government attorney Maj. Scott Ford said the defense was simply “on a fishing expedition.” Randy Price, expert investigator for the defense, described CID’s initial investigation as “sloppy at best.”

This does not seem to be an issue of also funding a civilian attorney to travel.

Navy Times reports:

The commanding officer of the Trident Training Facility in Bangor, Wash., was fired Tuesday because of “inappropriate personal behavior,” according to a Navy spokesman. . . . Kenny said the relief stemmed from “inappropriate personal behavior” that led to a loss of confidence in Solms’ ability to command. Kenny said he could not characterize the nature of the behavior. . . .[N]o one else would face discipline in the matter.

Military.com reports:

The bullet that prosecutors claimed the 19-year-old intended to get him out of the Army with medical disability in May 2009 instead left him with a mutilated leg and in front of a military judge for his court-martial on Monday. Facing charges including solicitation to commit aggravated assault, maiming, intentionally inflicting self injury and conspiracy, Wegley was found guilty of all charges, except maiming, by Col. Stephen Castlen near the end of his one-day court-martial. Wegley was sentenced to four months’ confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison and a bad-conduct discharge. . . . . William M. Hudgins, who served with Wegley in D Company, 1-330th Infantry Regiment, 198th Infantry Brigade, testified that Wegley approached him asking for a favor in May 2009 during basic training at Fort Benning. Prosecutors argued that Wegley was depressed. His brother had been seriously injured and was in the hospital, and his girlfriend had aborted their child and found proof of him cheating on her, prosecutors said.

Last December, Army Staff Sgt. Calvin Gibbs began joking with other Soldiers about how easy it would be to “toss a grenade” at Afghan civilians and kill them, according to statements made by fellow platoon members to military investigators. . . . The Seattle Times has reviewed court documents — filed by a defense attorney with a U.S. Army magistrate — that summarize some of the evidence in the case. The Times also has interviewed attorneys for three of the defendants. The documents give new insight into how the murder plot may have evolved, but they give few clues about motives.

The Seattle Times has this report.

In one of the most serious war-crimes cases to emerge from the Afghanistan war, five soldiers from a Stryker infantry brigade based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord are now charged with murder for their alleged roles in killing three Afghan civilians.

A Davis-Monthan airman is on trial in military court this week over allegations that he ran a fraudulent Russian bride ring, arranging sham marriages for money with members of the military so the foreign women could obtain legal status in the U.S.

The Record-Courier reports on the Davila case:

Family members of murdered soldier Timothy and Randy Miller are preparing for a day of testimony from the defense after a daylong hearing for the prosecution on Monday.

Army Times reports:

Family members of soldiers who are imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth for killings during the Iraq war are planning a rally in Leavenworth. The relatives call the inmates the Leavenworth 10, although two have been released from the prison. Scott Behenna, one of the organizers of the Labor Day weekend rally, says the group is not anti-military.

What impact, if any, might this have on Behanna’s continuing requests for clemency?

Marine Corps Times reports this piece of collateral consequences:

Some military veterans are angry that a World War II soldier who died in prison after pleading guilty to killing his wife is scheduled to be buried Tuesday in Denver’s Fort Logan National Cemetery. Raymond R. Sawyer, a former Marine from Colorado, died Aug. 11 in a Tucson, Ariz., state prison while serving 13 years for second-degree murder.

The NASA astronaut who made international headlines after attacking a romantic rival with pepper spray at the Orlando International Airport in 2007 spent Thursday in a military courtroom at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. The government is asking a Navy review board to recommend discharging Captain Lisa Nowak and reduce her rank and pay grade.

AP reports that:

Federal safety investigators revealed Wednesday that crew members aboard two Coast Guard boats involved in collisions in California and South Carolina last year were using wireless devices for conversation or text messaging unrelated to vessel operations. The collisions killed one person and injured 10.

Fayetteville Observer have a short piece on Hennis:

Lawyers handling Timothy Hennis’ federal appeal will have additional time to file documents on whether the Army had jurisdiction to convict him of three murders.

From time to time a client or the family members want to know how the military can prosecute someone for civilian charges. It happens.

Military.com reports:

Once the civilian justice system is done with three North Georgia Soldiers accused of throwing military explosives at a crowd, they may still have to answer to the military.

And here’s a little more detail from the Dahlonega Nugget:

Three local men enlisted in the U.S. Army at Camp Frank D. Merrill in Dahlonega are facing a slew of felony charges, including domestic terrorism, after allegedly tossing explosive devices into a crowd of people over the weekend. No one was injured in the random attack, which occurred in the Ingles parking lot near the busy intersection of highways 400 and 53 in Dawsonville.

Military.com also reports:

Usually, the military sends press releases to the hometown newspapers of a new enlistee. But in an unusual step, the Air Force is preparing to issue a press release aimed at the national media announcing that someone has actually not joined up. The move was prompted by an Aug. 3 report in the New York Daily News that Melissa Weber of Long Island, a former teacher convicted last year of having sex with a 14-year-old student, had joined the Air Force to be trained as a nurse.

The drug Ecstasy shows positive results in the majority of patients when used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a report coming out Monday in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Both the Montgomery and Post 9/11 GI Bills are worth over $49,000. This money is not a loan and will help you cover the costs of getting a degree. Full-time students receive up to $1,368 a month no matter how much tuition costs. The Post 9/11 GI Bill may even give you a monthly housing stipend of $1,200.