Taken directly from Battle Rattle.
Col. Robert G. Petit, commander of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Lejeune, N.C., was relieved of command Saturday following his arrest a week ago in connection with a theft at Walmart in Jacksonville.
The decision by II Marine Expeditionary Force commander Lt. Gen. John M. Paxton to fire Petit “followed a Marine Corps inquiry into the facts relating to Petit’s Jan. 29, 2011 arrest by the Jacksonville Police Department for misdemeanor larceny,” according to a Saturday evening press release from Paxton’s office.
Petit was relieved “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command,” the release said.
Petit, 50, who took command of the 24th MEU in September, was detained by Jacksonville police shortly after 5 p.m. Jan. 29, and charged with one count of misdemeanor larceny for allegedly stealing printer ink and STP fuel cleaner worth about $65, according to police and court documents.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 22.
As a lieutenant colonel, Petit led Camp Lejeune’s 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, during combat deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Petit is a native of New Orleans, according to a Marine Corps news release, which also notes that the MEU is scheduled to deploy in early 2012.
This is too crazy to comment on.
Absolutely, positively AMAZING...and in a very bad way.
The commanding structure seems to be rotting from inside out.
ReplyDeleteif this short news story is to be believed then something went terribly wrong...
ReplyDeleteboth in Officer Selection when it comes to command and in this guys personal life.
i'd like to chalk it up to some temporary bout of insanity. correction, as cruel as it might sound, i HOPE it can be blamed on some mental defect that remained undetected...
When things go wrong in the US, "mental defect" always seems to be the cause. How convenient.
ReplyDeletei can't argue with that but you have to admit that a Colonel in the USMC with a history of sterling service to suddenly shit it all away because he chose to shoplift a couple of items that cost less than 100 dollars points to only one thing.
ReplyDeleteMENTAL ILLNESS.
OR...
ReplyDeletecosmos misalignment.
what do you mean by that?
ReplyDeleteIf we were to blame the unexpected, unexplainable and incomprehensible on "mental defect," we might as well collectively call them "cosmic misalignment."
ReplyDeleteI hope he obtains the help he needs. It just makes no sense that this man of this caliber would do such a thing. There has to be something more to this story. Simple as that. Either way, it's sad. Sad for all the years he gave the Marine Corps that are now history and sad for his Marines that probably looked up to him. He led many Marines in Afghainstan and Iraq in an honorable way. I just pray he gets help. I'm not going to judge this man. There is too much judging in this world of others from people that need to take a hard look at themselves first. He's human and messed up bad but I do agree he rates the same punishment as they would give out to a Lance Cpl that did the same act.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your time
T
Sister of a Fallen Marine
wow.
ReplyDeleteextremely well said.
i agree 1000%