Documented Examples

I am sending a documented example of how fruitless it was trying to change things at Menwith Hill. I had previously filed several IG complaints against SFC Dochterman, 1SG Riley, and a slew of others on the base who were continually harassing me and my soldiers, and attempting to ruin several careers in the process.

I had requested to the senior command and Army IG several times that I be placed in a different platoon due to the unethical bias of SFC Michael Dochterman (who I shall from this point forward refer to as DICKterman because he is truly a dick.), but the command stubbornly refused. As such, I continued to receive unverifiable, derogatory evaluation reports from DICKterman despite my best efforts as a Soldier.

It became a witch hunt, where DICKterman told everyone around me to give him all the information that they could so he could use it against me. Junior soldiers would whisper in my ear that SFC DICKterman had just been by to talk to them about me and wanted to know if I had done anything to them. Because Soldiers were refusing to talk to him, SFC DICKterman would make up statements and then force Soldiers into signing them. I learned this from my friend at the time, who said he was bullied into making this statement:



Which looks suspiciously close to this statement from one of SFC Dochterman's Senior Enlisted cronies:



Copy and paste much?

It turns out, then SFC DICKterman was so frustrated at not being able to find anything wrong with my performance, that he chose an incident where I had loosened my tie at work to exaggerate into something worthy of taking my rank. Granted, I probably shouldn't have been out of uniform, but keep in mind this is the ONE single item that they actually found wrong in the entire two years I was kept under scrutiny.

When the soldiers refused to follow along with his scheme, even after being threatened, SFC DICKterman collaborated with one of his bully counterparts, TSgt Harris, to construct the second statement, then threatened SSG Maurice Turner (One of the Soldiers who had previously experienced racism firsthand from 1SG Riley) if he did not submit a similiar statement documenting the incident.

SSG Turner refused, instead comprising by submitting the EXACT SAME STATEMENT as TSgt Harris, and admitting to me that he was doing so to save his career. There was no statement from CPT Jezercak, who witnessed the same incident, but did not want to become involved in the political witchhunt, and carried enough rank behind her to counteract SFC DICKterman's intimidating nature.

No soldier has confidence in a leader who has to whisper behind his subordinates backs instead of facing them head on, and the juniors knew SFC DICKterman was a complete tool. It backfired on him, as he quickly lost the respect of his platoon members and eventually left for a "day job".

But, not before giving me a series of horrible NCOER reports before he left. This was despite the fact that my supervisors...the people ACTUALLY WATCHING ME DO MY JOB said that I was the best soldier there and that they couldn't operate without me. DICKterman didn't listen to any of it...he made up a bunch of random derogatory bullshit and stuck it in my evaluation report, and since I didn't have the commands support, short of waiting three years for an army board to correct everything, there wasn't shit I could do about it.

Of course, all of this is in strict violation of AR 623-205, which states in paragraph 3-17:


"No references made to unproven derogatory information. No reference will be made to an incomplete investigation (formal or informal) concerning an NCO. References will be made only to actions or investigations that have been processed to completion, adjudicated,and had final action taken before submitting the NCO-ER to USAEREC; State AG; or CDR, AR-PERSCOM. "

So, despite the fact that the regulation clearly stated any negative NCOER information had to be investigated and adjudicated (of which this information had been neither), SFC DICKterman was blatantly allowed to disregard policy and throw a bunch of career-killing junk into my evaluation report with no ramification.

I tried to change this by appealing to the higher command for help. There is another clause in AR 623-205 that allows a soldier to request a commander's inquiry into a negative NCOER report. When SFC DICKterman sat me down, showed me a year's worth of negative counseling statements that he had just written in one day, and gave me a completely fabricated report, I told him straight to his face that I was going to request a commander's inquiry to LTC Pastore, the senior commander, and that it was illegal for the NCOER to be sent to PERSCOM (Where it is placed in your permanent folder) until the inquiry was completed. He said that was fine, and agreed. Here is the counselling form that he showed me, completely fabricated that day.



But, I knew SFC DICKterman all to well, and I knew that him and his racist good ole boy of a 1SG, Tommy Riley, would send the NCOER out under the rug, knowing full well that I intended to request an inquiry into it, and despite the fact that I had just told this to their faces. They were trying to keep things as quiet as possible.

So, I went down to the PAC office the next day, where they send paperwork out from the command. I walked right in the door, straight up to the SPC in charge of keeping track of the NCOERs, and asked if she had received mine yet. Indeed she had.

"Oh, it's right here. 1SG Riley told me that is was supposed to go out straight this afternoon." She pulled the paper out and showed it to me.

Like I said, they were trying to sneak it out under the rug. I'm glad I double checked, or I wouldn't even have had the chance to appeal. That's the way these people worked. If you weren't on the tip of your toes, they would sneak right past you, no matter what regulation it meant throwing out.

I explained to the SPC the regulation, and the procedures that had to be followed because I was requesting the commander's inquiry. That brave little bundle of 5 foot nothing walked right over to 1SG Riley's office and broke the bad news.

And he THREW A FIT!

There was screaming and stammering as he stood above her looking down and pointing. "Soldier that paperwork's supposed to go out today. Your not supposed to talk to that soldier about that paper."

God bless that little SPC, who coolly and calmly explained to the 1SG that she was going to have to follow the policy, and set the NCOER aside for the Batallion Commander to look at.

1SG Riley muttered under his breathe, "Fine, whatever, SSG ***, you're just digging yourself deeper," followed by another five minute lecture on not falling in line.

As part of requesting the commander's inquiry, I sent them this memo, along with the highlighted 623-205 NCOER Regulation:

THRU Sergeant Major, MHS MI BN (P)
MEMORANDUM FOR Commander, MHS MI BN (P)

SUBJECT: Request for Commander’s Inquiry


1. Under the provisions of AR 623-205, chapter 6, I am requesting a Commander’s inquiry into evaluation report ***. I have requested ongoing IG investigations into my rating scheme, and believe that because of this they are not serving my best interests as objective evaluators.

2. I believe that SFC Dochterman and 1SG Riley expressed biased judgment and included unverified, inaccurate information in the evaluation report mentioned above. My reason for this is the inclusion of several unproven statements of a derogatory nature in the Duty Performance/Values portion of the report, despite statements to the contrary from direct line supervisors who monitor my performance on a daily basis. I have also received Needs Improvement in the area of Responsibility/Accountability, with another derogatory statement pertaining to the same situation in support of the rating. I was also given a three in performance and two in potential, while ignoring several high profile contributions to the intelligence community. SFC Dochterman has ignored several of the efforts I made, that were mentioned by the commander of the MHS MI Grp in addition to national consumers, but abandoned them in support of his biased rating. He includes unsupported bullets that state I cannot perform without supervision, foregoing the input of direct supervisors that commend my daily mission contribution.

3. I respectfully request that all derogatory, unverified information be removed. SFC Dochterman has made blanket statements that I do not perform well without supervision, even though my direct line supervisor Annette Wilson will testify that I am the best operator on my position. I also request changing Duty from no, to yes in the Values portion of the report and eliminating a derogatory comment that does not support the rating. It also contains statements to the same effect as above, without evidence of what SFC Dochterman claims is substandard performance. In AR 623-205, this is specifically referenced, as statements of a derogatory nature must be fully investigated and adjucated before including them in an evaluation report. I would also like to receive a rating in performance and potential that more accurately reflects my abilities as an NCO. Peers, supervisors, and subordinates outside of the rating scheme still view me as a stellar NCO, and I have even been referenced at Navy training programs as an example of outstanding leadership. I feel that SFC Dochterman’s rating does not accurately reflect my performance, but rather provides an inaccurate, biased point of view, in retribution for ongoing requests for investigation into his conduct.


For months I got no response from the command on my NCOER. One afternoon I was bored and decided to check my OMPF, the permanent record where the army stores my NCOERs. Lo and behold, the original, unverified, made up NCOER appeared. The commander had supposedly "completed his investigation" and submitted my NCOER without notifying me. That's how confident the leadership was. They were afraid to tell me their findings to my face. I went to LTC Pastore's office to request the information.

I can't remember the entire conversation, but he said something like based upon reading the counseling statements provided by SFC Dochterman (The years worth that he came up with in a day), that the NCOER seemed accurate and that he could not change it. That's the extent of how hard the army investigates it's command issues.

With that type of hardcore detective work it's easy to see why 1SG Riley's racist reign of terror and CPT Riley's sexual harassment were allowed to last for so long.

I do remember the end of the conversation, however. I reread the regulation for LTC Pastore, explaining exactly why the NCOER was in violation. He has no response other than that he thought 1SG Riley and SFC Dochterman were not violating in his eyes. The army loves to look at it's regulations through various shades of gray. He said he didn't believe that they had any ill intentions.

Which is when I asked him "Well, then why did they try to rush my NCOER out the door without me knowing?"

"What do you mean?"

I explained what had happened, "I told them not to send it out yet, because I was requesting a commander's inquiry."

For the first time, LTC Pastore actually had a slight look of disgust on his face. He had brushed aside the stack of earlier complaints, but, I think a light bulb finally went on for him.

Still, he spoke, "SSG ***, I don't think they were doing anything unethical."

"Sir," I replied, "you don't try to hide things that are ethical."

LTC Pastore just said "Well," shrugged his shoulders and frowned a bit. He looked a little angry and confused as I grabbed my papers and left.

I was supposed to receive a written response to my commander's inquiry, but I didn't even bother asking. At this point, my fight was really through. They could write whatever they really wanted to about me, and there was nothing that I could do.

The funny thing though, is that I did get my written response. Months after getting out of the Army, while sifting through the stack of thousands of outprocessing papers that the command had given me, I found this small memo, that I never received but was obviously filed somewhere in the middle of my paperwork:

SUBJECT: Commander’s Inquiry — NCOER for ***


1. At the request of *** and lAW AR 623-205, I conducted an inquiry into his allegation that his NCOER (November 2004 — February 2005) contained unverified, derogatory, and inaccurate information. My main purpose was to provide a greater degree of command involvement in order to prevent injustices to the rated NCO and to correct errors before they became a matter of permanent record.

2. After personally discussing the evaluation with the entire chain of command and reviewing the NCOER, the Counseling Checklist (DA Form 2166-8-1), and a counseling statement, I’ve determined that SSG ***'s NCOER is accurate and lAW AR 623-205. The NCOER does not contain errors, injustices or illegalities.

3. Point of Contact: MAJ Kenneth Kaaihue, MHS MI Battalion (Provisional) Executive Officer at DSN (314) 262-7184 or Kenneth.kaaihue@menwithhill.af.mil.