No Rank Protects You: How Five Senior Officers Lost Everything Over Inappropriate Relationships

The unspoken truth about Army leadership firings lies in the coded language we often see in headlines. When senior officers are relieved for "loss of confidence" or "prohibited relationships," there's always a deeper story. This episode breaks down five recent high-profile cases where military careers came crashing down—from a four-star general to battalion commanders—all over inappropriate relationships.

We dive into the shocking case of Major General Michael Turley, demoted from two-star general all the way to lieutenant colonel, erasing decades of rank progression and drastically reducing his retirement pay. You'll hear about General Charles Hamilton, whose firing marked the first time in nearly 20 years that a four-star general was removed from command. The standards apply regardless of gender, as Colonel Megan Sullivan discovered when allegations of sexual misconduct against male subordinates ended her groundbreaking command position.

The military's professional boundaries exist for a reason, and these cases demonstrate that even consensual relationships can destroy careers when they create the appearance of favoritism or misuse of rank. The higher you climb in military leadership, the more devastating the fall when those boundaries are crossed. For junior soldiers watching these leaders face consequences, the message is clear: accountability applies at every level of the chain of command.

Whether you're currently serving or simply interested in military leadership culture, these stories provide a sobering reminder that integrity matters. When leaders fail to maintain professional relationships, they undermine the very foundation of military discipline. Share your thoughts—are these firings proof the Army holds leaders accountable, or does the system only react once situations become too problematic to ignore?

Chapters

• 0:00 Breaking Down Army Terminology
• 7:15 Four-Star General Demoted for Relationships
• 11:10 First Four-Star Firing in 20 Years
• 17:23 Female Battalion Commander's Sexual Misconduct
• 19:22 West Point Colonel's Inappropriate Behavior
• 22:11 Dating App Investigation of Ranger Commander
• 24:30 What Army Terms Actually Mean

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

So let's talk about breaking down the terms that you typically see, because a lot of times I see on the other apps how they say well, when they talk about these people, they always say lack of confidence, but when they talk about these people they actually tell what it was that they did. So let's clear up the army language, these cases they always mention, the three big ones, like I said, is prohibited relationships, fraternization and loss of confidence. And here's what they really mean, roger, sir, when a four-star general, one of the Army's most powerful officers, gets fired for inappropriate relations, it sends shockwaves through the entire force. But what's even more shocking is how often senior officers, from colonels down to battalion commanders, keep getting relieved for the same thing. It's either prohibited relationships, fraternization or loss of confidence. Today we're going to break down the last five major cases and what these verbiages actually mean. Welcome to the Roger Sarne Podcast where we talk all things Army and I'm your host, sarne Cruz and in today's episode, like I said, we're going to go into senior army officers and those have been fired for inappropriate relationships and again we're going to talk about what those terms actually mean when you see them in the headlines inappropriate relationships, fraternization, loss of confidence. So, without further ado, let's get started.

Speaker 1: 1:47

But I do want to say something before I start this off. The reason why I am doing this is not only to show light of what's going on in the military, but it's to show that it doesn't matter what your rank is when you do something that's wrong. Matter what your rank is, when you do something that's wrong, you're going to be held accountable. Now, the biggest deal is if you think that four-star generals, two-star generals, lieutenant colonels can get held accountable, what do you think is going to happen when you, as a junior soldier, do something wrong? You're going to be held accountable. Okay, I always say this to my soldiers. The regulations will not always apply. Sometimes you see people with their hands in their pockets. Sometimes you see people with headgear inside. Sometimes you see people they just say random, off-the-wall stuff and you'd be like well, they let that slide. How come they're not? You know what I mean. You see big back soldiers, whatever you want to call it. When the regulations come into effect is when they're needed to be applied. When someone steps out of line so egregiously that someone reports it and now the hand is forced. Okay, I always tell this to my soldiers, all right. So let's start off with the first one, and that is going to be in August of 2025, which just happened Utah National Guard Adjutant General demoted and this is Major General Michael Turley, and he was the Adjutant general of the Utah National Guard.

Speaker 1: 3:26

He retired as a lieutenant colonel, as an army inspector general. They proved, or they confirmed, inappropriate relations with a subordinate. Now think about that. Decades of service, that Decades of service. But the army said his last grade in which he honorably served was as an 05. So that's an ultimate like a career cliff. I'm telling you like, think about they. They went back so far in his career to see where it was that they were having this inappropriate relation and it dated back to when he was a light colonel. And that's two, three ranks before you got two-star general, one-star general, and then you have colonel and then you have light colonel and that's where they went back and that's ultimately going to affect his retirement, because that's the biggest pay, that's the biggest issue is the retirement.

Speaker 1: 4:29

But let's go into the screen share and let's talk about it. Let's go to the. As I told you guys, I'm using Riverside, so I got I can share my screen, so let's go into the article which I found on task and purposepose. It says two star general bust down to lieutenant colonel over inappropriate relationships. And it says right here, like, as I previously said, major General Mike Turley will retire as a lieutenant colonel which, according to the Army spokesperson, was the last grade in which he served honorably. So let's go down right all the way down to this. Right here is it says the same thing that I just said. But this is it right here.

Speaker 1: 5:16

So when officers are demoted it is customary that the defense officials announce their rank. Ranks have been lowered to the last grade in which they honorably serve satisfactorily. An extreme example is former Army Major General John Grazipoline, and he was busted down to second lieutenant after pleading guilty in a civilian court to SA of his own child. Okay, so if you see and we go down a little bit further it says their misconduct then taints everything they did afterwards. Van Landingham, a law professor in Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles Such demotions are rare but not unheard of she said it allows for the Pentagon to say hey, look, you don't deserve to have this rank in perpetuity in retirement and you don't deserve the pay.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Van Den Ham said it's a huge pay cut for the rest of your life and your pension because you did not serve honorably, at least in that, in that, in that great and this was written August 14th 2025. I'm telling you, this is a huge shot that I'm talking about. Could you imagine the money I want you guys to go on retirement and look at how much further down that individual um, uh, major, um, I'm sorry, general Turley is, or Colonel Turley is going to lose all the money. All right, so let's move into the next one. So this is General Charles Hamilton, and I read about this and I think I spoke about this a little bit last year.

Speaker 1: 7:14

He was a commander in the material command. He was a four star general, one of the army's highest leaderships. He was fired after the IG found that he had prohibited relationship with one of his subordinates and then he tried to influence her command selection process. This was the first time, the first time in nearly 20 years, that a four-star general had been fired. So if you thought that, like the top brass were untouchable, this right here is going to prove otherwise. It proved otherwise. So let's go into the screen share and let's show you this article. And this was right here, general Hamilton. This was by Army Times and this is Army Secretary Fires Four-Star General for Command Board Meddling. And this shows, based on the findings of the Department of the Army's Inspector General's investigation, the Secretary of the Army has relieved General Charles Hamilton of command. And that's the army spokesperson.

Speaker 1: 8:27

Cynthia O Smith wrote in a statement to the Army Times. Cynthia O Smith, she's everywhere, shout out to you and he says it was my honor to serve our nation and I've been blessed beyond what I deserve to lead our troops for the past 43 years 43 years, could you imagine. And that's what he told Militarycom. While I wish I was able to complete my command, we all take off the uniform. We don't always control the timing. I look forward to continuing to serve our nation in new ways. And yes, yes and no, I mean we do kind of control. We say, hey, I want to retire, 20, 21, 22, 23. When we don't control is when we are retired. So he is kind of right.

Speaker 1: 9:24

But If you go further into the, into the article, he talks more about how the, the promotion, like the reason why he wanted to help his subordinate because they were both black and he wanted to assist because he's just reaching down, you know, helping out, kind of like networking. I did a whole video about how you need to network in the army and this is what happened here. Was the networking more because of the fact that he and the colonel or the lieutenant colonel had a relationship? Probably more than likely. But he also talks about how there's a bias towards these boards, because you have the BCAP, which is the Battalion Commander Assessment Program, and that started in 2023. And, yes, while he mentioned yes, while you take away the da photo, you still have other factors, which is their previous commands, their previous positions and their previous oers, in which they're not put in these important positions. So therefore, their competitiveness is a lot lower. So I think he was trying to fight more for his people and ended up catching himself in a catch-22 because he knew the people who were going to do the boards and he was like, hey, you guys are going to be, one of my peoples is on that board. He should probably look at her and then he just kept going and going and going. So that's kind of like where he got caught up. Maybe if there wasn't a relationship extracurricular relationship he would not. It would not be as bad, because we've all said it, we've all done it like, hey, you're going to get Sergeant Cruz and interview him and he's he, he, he's a good NCO and he's a good dude. That's putting in a good work. But you know, yeah.

Speaker 1: 11:33

So the third one, it took place in January 2024. It took place in January 2024. Battalion commander this battalion commander was accused of sexual misconduct, and this is Colonel Megan Sullivan. She was the leading, she, yeah, she was the leader in an SBAP engineer battalion back in JBLM and she was relieved after allegations of harassment. And so, sa pretty much I'm male subordinates, I can't really say because we're on YouTube so and then she was also accused of unwinding, touching, kissing and groping Like she Wild, kissing and groping like she wild. So she made history as one of the first women in that role, as a, as that, uh, um, battalion commander, and because of this misconduct she erased everything. It's kind of like, um, who was it that won the heisman? And then they took it from them. Was it Reggie Bush? I don't know, help me out, Put it down in the comments, but it's kind of like that, right, you win something and because you did something wrong, it all got washed off. So the point of this one is because the point of this story that I bring to light is because the Army standard applies to you regardless of the gender and regardless of what unit you're in. Right, so let's go ahead and let's, let's, let's go into the story and see what we're talking about here. Boom Army Times Female Army colonel fired over SA and SH allegations.

Speaker 1: 13:23

And that's her right there. According to timescom, she was relieved on her command to the 5th Security Forces Assistant Brigade Engineer Battalion last fall, and this was written in January 2024. So this happened in 2023. And she was relieved by Major General Don Hill and then, according to the statements of the SFAC, sullivan was fired at the time, cited due to lack of confidence in her ability to command, and we'll talk about what that means.

Speaker 1: 14:01

There was a source, and with knowledge to the investigation, alleged that Sullivan had forcibly kissed one male subordinate and groped another one below the belt line without their consent. She's also alleged to have SH'd another male soldier. So one key statistic that they talk about here is the overwhelming majority of victim of SA in the military are females women According to an April 2023 Pentagon report on the subject. Men, however, comprised 20% of victims reported, only 1% of the service members who were subjects of SA investigations were in the ranks of 04 and 010, according to the report. Then it goes on to talk about how another colonel had got fired there because he was out of control. So again it goes to show that it doesn't matter male, female, you cross the line, they're going to hold you accountable, all right. So we're going to go into the next one, and this happened of June of 2024.

Speaker 1: 15:22

And this was a West Point colonel who got arraigned, and this is Colonel William Wright. He was accused of having inappropriate, of making inappropriate sexual remarks, and then he was drinking alcohol with cadets and he had wrongful contact. So for the Army's premier training institution, which is yet fired, this case in particular shows how even the appearance of indecent relationships with cadets can destroy credibility. Let's go into the article. Why don't we? Here we go. Here we go. Armytimescom. West Point Colonel Arraigned for Alleged Misconduct with Tennis Team. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 16:30

Colonel William Wright, an Army officer who has served as a director of the school's Geospatial Information Science Program. School's geospatial information science program has nine allegations of inappropriate sexual remarks, providing and drinking alcohol with cadets, wrongfully contacting a cadet on the women's tennis team and endeavoring to influence testimonies of court documents shared with militarycom shows. So he did all his stuff and then he tried. He tried to kind of like get someone, one of the witnesses, to say, nah, nah, this ain't it. So I'm going to go a little bit further.

Speaker 1: 17:08

So in January, wright allegedly, on one or more occasion, made inappropriate sexual remarks in the presence of three unnamed cadets, and that's what the charge sheet says. And this is why I tell you guys, if you hear a joke, that's out of control, if you don't want to report it, it's your duty. But if you don't want to report it, it's your duty. But if you don't want to report it, no one can force you. But do not add to it. Never add to it. So back in June 2023, he also allegedly violated the regulation while in Hawaii by providing alcohol to and consuming it with, an unnamed cadet, according to the charge sheet again. So he allegedly did so again. So he did it not once, but twice that they can confirm. A few days later in Alaska, over there in Pecan, they walling out, apparently, though the available documents did not specify whether it was the same cadet. Available documents did not specify whether it was the same cadet and now it talks about how he goes. He allegedly contacted a cadet in the Women's Army tennis team in January after he was instructed not to the court documents notes outlining that he has also accused of soliciting a cadet to wrongfully interfere with adverse administrative proceedings by instructing her to kill this and chat with a redacted individual.

Speaker 1: 18:35

So, yeah, it's a rough one. It's a rough one and this is what I tell you. I tell you guys, stay away from junior soldiers, stay away from junior NCOs, stay away from officers. What's the point? Man Like, ok, you guys go out and you guys drink together. Now what Like other than you trying to be their freaking friend, which you shouldn't? Other than you trying to potentially smash or something like that. Like have sexual intercourse with them? Like what you shouldn't? All you're doing is putting your whole career even if you're in the army for two years, it's still two years of your time that you are just throwing away. It just blows my mind. Stay away from it.

Speaker 1: 19:21

Case number five this happened in February of 2024. And this is the Ranger Battalion Commander. He was suspended over dating apps. I ain't gonna lie to you. I stay on these dating apps. So I don't know why he's I don't know the issue, but hey, let's read was the commander of the 5th Ranger Training Battalion. He was suspended after investigators flagged his dating profile and possible fraternization. His defense Everything was consensual. But here is the kicker In the Army, even consensual relationships can end your career if they create the appearance of favoritism, if they create the appearance of misuse of rank or undermine discipline.

Speaker 1: 20:18

Let's go into it. I'm going to tell you guys right now, if there was no fraternization, I'm not against this you can have a freaking dating profile all you want to. It's your personal life. You know what I'm saying. So here it goes Militarycom Army suspends Ranger Training Battalion commander as it investigates the use of online dating apps.

Speaker 1: 20:41

And this one doesn't have too much meat to the bone because they still at that time hadn't proven anything. This is written February of 2024. And this, just the most important part right here that I can talk about, is what his lawyer says. It says the investigation in no way is accusing Lieutenant Colonel Shulman of SH or any similar related allegations, said Robert Capovilla with the Capovilla Williams law firm. They told Militarycom. Rather, it appears the Army is attacking a single heterosexual man and his desire to have a dating profile and to have a consensual dating relationship with other adults. And then here it goes on to talk about where he commands, where the three phases of ranger battalion or ranger school, and then where he serves. So this just tells me that at that time there hadn't been anything going on and they hadn't proven anything, so they just went with that.

Speaker 1: 21:43

So let's talk about breaking down the terms that you typically see, because a lot of times I see on the other apps how they say well, when they talk about these people, they always say lack of confidence, but when they talk about these people they actually tell what it was that they did. So let's clear up the army language, these cases they always mentioned, the three big ones, like I said, is prohibited relationships, fraternization and loss of confidence, and here's what they really mean. So prohibited relations, defined under AR 600-20, which is the army command policy, it is any relationship between soldiers of different ranks that compromises the chain of command. Then number two is causes actual or perceived partiality of favoritism. The third one is involves or appears to involve improper use of rank or position. And the last one I would say is it undermines discipline, authority and or morale.

Speaker 1: 22:54

Let's talk about fraternization. Fraternization is kind of like the big one that everyone always talks about, so let's break it down. Fraternization is specifically, it's a prohibited relationships, let's just say that way. So traditionally it means like improper relationships between officers and enlisted, but it applies to like across all the ranks. Like, if officers and officers, a colonel can't date a lieutenant, a sergeant major or sergeant first class't date a lieutenant, a sergeant major or a sergeant first class cannot date a private, okay. So the key is the misuse of rank and position. So even though, like, if two people are consenting adults, if one has authority, it's a a problem. I don't care what you say, it's a damn problem.

Speaker 1: 23:48

The next one is loss of confidence, and this one, right here, is the catch-all right. This, this one, isn't actually a crime per se, it's a commander's judgment call. So let's say uh, if a senior leader believes an officer is no longer, they, they're no, no longer have the ability to lead effectively due to poor judgment, let's say misconduct or what they say loss of trust, they can be immediately relieved. And this is why you will often see that when the army says relieved due to lack of confidence in the ability to command, it's a catch-all phrase, but in cases like this, it's tied directly to relationships that undermine authority, right? So let's talk about the bottom line. The higher you go, the harder you fall. The higher you go, the harder you fall.

Speaker 1: 24:53

From light colonels to four-star generals, no rank protects you from the consequences of prohibited relationships, and that's what most soldiers don't realize is you don't need to break the law to end your career. The appearance of inappropriate relationships alone is enough. So these cases show that the army is enforcing standards at every single level. Even if you're like a leader, you can't no, not even if you're not a leader. If you're a leader, you cannot afford to blur the lines of the boundaries of what you're supporting. I'm telling you it's not worth it.

Speaker 1: 25:38

I would say you need to know the reporting process and what red flags to watch for, like you, because at the end of the day or I don't like saying at the end of the day, because when the sun goes down leaders set the tone. That's what we do, and when we fail, the whole formation is going to pay for it. That's that. It's a fact. So I want to know what you guys think. Are these firings proof that the army is holding leaders accountable, or do you think that the system only reacts once they go to, once they're too far gone? So do me a favor drop your thoughts in the comments. Don't forget to like, subscribe and share, and remember you don't have to embrace the sub if you got the right tools in your ruck. I'm Sarn Cruz and I'll see you in the next one. Peace, roger Sarn.