The Magical Time Machine
When the sham of my reprisal investigation was closed out by the DIA IG in November 2021, it had been open for 444 days. Of course (and here’s my shocked face), all subjects were exonerated and all allegations not substantiated. In an even bigger stroke of amateurism, they completely omitted one of the two reprisal allegations (they probably forgot about it – hell, it had been a year and half after all!), they didn’t interview any witnesses, they based one finding by purporting that they had the ability to predict the future (I can’t make this shit up), and they ruled out one allegation by essentially saying “yeah, you were probably the victim of reprisal, but the outcome benefited the government.” The report is a joke. If you need some levity, you can read it and my rebuttal on the website where I eviscerate them and their “investigation.” The point of this chapter is, however, not the corruption-riddled DIA or its IG, but rather this ridiculous notion that the reprisal laws in place today and the entities put in place to see those through (IGs), offer the military member any sort of real protection.
Let’s diverge into yet another alternate reality. Let’s say that on day 444, the DIA/IG, through some divine intervention, was hit with a bolt of integrity and morality (ok, that’s two bolts) and substantiated the allegations in the report. What then?
DIA/IG: “Hi, Lt Col Sweazey, this is the Inspector General of DIA. Remember when you were a victim of a reprisal almost two years ago in January 2020? Yeah, you were right – you were retaliated against for reporting wrongdoing. Really sorry about that.”
Me: “OK, well, since then, I’ve been exiled from the attaché service, sent back to my service, not been promoted and now no longer competitive for many future jobs in the military. I also spent 10 months in therapy which will affect my employment outside the military.”
DIA/IG: “Yeah, well…that sucks for you. Well, you can always petition the Air Force to have your record corrected.”
Let’s keep playing this game, just for chuckles. I call the Air Force board of corrections (by the way, the process is nowhere near that simple):
Me: “Hi Air Force board of corrections, DIA/IG just called and told me that since I was the victim of a reprisal, I can call you and get my old job back and get promoted and undo the therapy I went through and the hell I put my friends and family through and you can call the FAA when I try and get a job and tell them I’m psychologically ok to fly because it was DIA’s fault, and…”
You see where I’m going with this? It’s a farce. A total farce. This notion that current measures of recompense offer some sort of time machine to be able to go back and undo the effects of reprisals carried out years ago is laughable. The problem is, no one is laughing. I sure as hell am not.
A little more levity….
My colleague Brian had been the victim of reprisal at the hands of the DAS cabal. He filed a complaint in February 2020. The Wall Street Journal, when researching the article on DIA toxicity, called the DIA/IG on February 15th, 2022 to inquire as to the status of the investigation. The case, after being open for two years, was closed the very next day – February 16th. All allegations not substantiated. Like I said: cannot make this shit up.