Biden's son kicked out of Navy for cocaine use

[Balog]

http://www.businessinsider.com/hunter-biden-discharged-navy-cocaine-2014-10

I'm sure this will receive more coverage than when Bush's daughter were underage drinking, right? And much will be made of the sweet heart job his daddy landed him with Ukrainian energy co will be pointed out, right? Right guys?

Also, how long does coke stay in your system anyway, a day or two? He must've been railing lines while he was pissing or something.

[French G.]

72 hours after use was about the limit on urine detection IIRC from he urinalysis manual. So you gotta be a freaking idiot to get popped for coke and a freaking idiot to smoke weed which seems to linger the longest.

Oh, and you gotta be a complete idiot noob to think you're going to transfer commands and not get tested. Then there is the reserve thing, 20 days a month you can snort all you want, straighten on Monday the week before you go in. Or use a BS excuse and re-schedule your drill time if you know you're AFU. The scary part is that in his other life this guy is in charge of something. Couldn't think his way out of a paper bag.

[wmenorr67]

Hell if you come forward before popping hot and say you have a problem they will actually help you stop, if you wish to.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I am pleased that he got booted, no special treatment .


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[Fly320s]

I am pleased that he got booted, no special treatment .


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Me too, but why wasn't he prosecuted under UCMJ? Or given a dishonorable discharge?

[Fly320s]

He became an officer at 43 years old. That seems unusual to me.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I could be wrong but I believe his treatment was typical . They usually just boot you. To get persecuted you have to have screwed up on top of getting high.
The discharge type thing always mystified me. I think a lot depends on co recommendation. Sadly I've known a lot of guys tossed out


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[230RN]

Sounds like a deliberate ploy to get out of the Service.  (That's not an accusation, merely a supposition.)  I guess an "administrative" discharge does not affect his firearm so-called "rights."

Is anyone going to pursue the possession/sale back to its source?  IOW, where'd he get it?

[RevDisk]

Me too, but why wasn't he prosecuted under UCMJ? Or given a dishonorable discharge?

He became an officer at 43 years old. That seems unusual to me.

Not sure about Navy, but Army just kicks you out with an "other than honorable" on pissing hot. Administrative or general discharge is they really liked you, dishonorable or bad conduct discharge if you really pissed them off.  Mind you, this was in 2005 when I got out. Other time periods were more harsh, or more lenient. Smartest thing is indeed is to just toss folks out with an admin discharge. They don't need to be in the military with a drug habit, but you don't want to ruin their live with a BCD.

One, it burns people for the rest of their life. For smoking pot or snorting coke (theoretically) once? Politicians ARE that stupid (see low level drug offense incarceration rates), but even flag officers are not that stupid.
Two, it's more efficient. People generally don't fight an OTH, admin or general discharge. If they have a brain, they will fight a dishonorable or BCD.

Enlisted to officer at 43 is called "OCS" and normal. Civvie to PAO officer at 43 is unusual, but not impossible. If he was a doctor, shrink, chaplain or lawyer it'd be more normal. Public affairs office is where you stick morons or embarrassments, with a handful of competent people that are worked to death actually covering the load. Knew a lot of good PAO folks that were or wanted to be photographers, reporters or other news related professions. They were the very first to admit they had a lot of morons taking up slots.

Civvie to officer at 43, PAO and kicked out on drug charges say he was a political patronage officer. Thank the Gods that he snorted a drug of choice. I could care less about the "scoring political points against Biden".  He shouldn't have been even a Reserve Naval officer. DOD handled it appropriately.

[brimic]

He became an officer at 43 years old. That seems unusual to me.

That ran across my mind as well. A man from my hometown who I went to school with, who didn't come from privilege or wealth, is about that age, and is a CO on an Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I suspect he was building an electable resume


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[makattak]

I suspect he was building an electable resume


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Mission accomplished, as a Dem.

[dogmush]

Civvie to officer at 43, PAO and kicked out on drug charges say he was a political patronage officer. Thank the Gods that he snorted a drug of choice. I could care less about the "scoring political points against Biden".  He shouldn't have been even a Reserve Naval officer. DOD handled it appropriately.

This.  DOD gave him a quick out, that he wouldn't fight.  (Because if you fight it you end up with a dishonorable discharge, which is basically a felony conviction).  Easy, quick and no paperwork.  Whatever motive he had for joining (I suspect CSD is correct) is thwarted, and everyone can go on about their lives.  With our current RIFing going on, I've seen a lot of this kind of thing on hot piss tests.  JAG basically says "We've got you, here's the evidence, you'll lose.  But if you save us the paperwork and time, and just go away we'll call it cool".

Is anyone going to pursue the possession/sale back to its source?  IOW, where'd he get it?

No. Despite Mark Harmon's best efforts DOD investigative services are overworked and understaffed.  Pretty much if no one died, or there wasn't sexual harassment, CID won't even come out. I assume NCIS is pretty much the same.  I couldn't even get CID to come out over $10,000 worth of stolen equipment this summer.

As a side note: Did you know if you "right click->search on Google" Rev's signature it'll crash the search bot?  Complete with picture of broken robot.  I guess Google is close enough to an AI that that stuff'll drive it insane, too.

[Jamisjockey]

I saw it on CNN's twitter feed.  But everyone knows it won't get the attention the Bush daughters' underage drinking did.

[HankB]

Don't count on it remaining on Biden's son's record, since Biden's boss is POTUS.

IIRC, Jimmy Carter as POTUS instituted a policy so that marijuana-related discharges were upgraded . . . this was cheered by many. At least one story at the time noted that James Earl "Chip" Carter III, Jimmy's son, had his "general discharge" upgraded to "honorable" as a result of this policy change.

[rcnixon]

My long-ago primary care physician grew tired of the bs paperwork of being a physician and joined the Army at 55 years of age. He had ten years in the Navy in the late '60s - early '70s as a machinist mate (SS). The Army sent him to a two-week "charm school" and made him a lieutenant colonel. He has done an overseas tour in Iraq in 2009. It's kind of funny to see him in his ACUs with his enlisted dolphins over the pocket.

He is a great American and I am proud to know him.

Russ

[Firethorn]

My long-ago primary care physician grew tired of the bs paperwork of being a physician and joined the Army at 55 years of age.

It should be noted that the military makes exceptions for needed skillsets.  They'll take a pickaxe to the rules to get a physician, and prior honorable service only helps.  Plus, 10 years back then might not be a retirement, but it means that he only needs to serve until 65(in a hospital setting), to retire with that 50% paycheck, high-3, probably as a full Colonel.

[Scout26]

Yep, for Medical types (Doctors and Nurses) there are practically no rules if you want to join, whether active or reserve.  Even less if you have a needed specialty.   When the Former Mrs. Scout was a NICU Nurse at Landstuhl in the late 1980's they offered her a direct commission to CPT.  She turned it down.

I know of a few doc and nurses that at did the "Charm School" thing.  They often had to be reminded to return salutes, what the various ranks are, and not to call people by their first names.   

There might a couple other fields that do that (Lawyers/JAG officers, at times; Chaplins; and occasionally CPA's/Finance.), but otherwise it's really rare.

[MillCreek]

^^^I was cruised for this by the Army right out of chemistry graduate school to join the Chemical Corps with a direct commission to first lieutenant.  I don't know how the heck they got my name and found me to try and recruit me.  In later years, the same thing happened with the Navy to get me to work for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery in DC for their patient safety division.  I cannot recall if they were offering a direct commission as a full lieutenant or a lieutenant commander.  I know of a whole lot of physicians who got direct commissions at the O-5 level and above into the armed services.  Especially if you are an experienced surgical specialty (ortho, urology, thoracic, etc), you can pretty much write your own ticket.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

When I had a sick roommate in the military I met some docs like that I will never forget. In a very good way


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[lee n. field]

The scary part is that in his other life this guy is in charge of something. Couldn't think his way out of a paper bag.

He's the son of Somebody.  It's the way the world works.

[Hawkmoon]

The scary part is that in his other life this guy is in charge of something. Couldn't think his way out of a paper bag.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

If you think that's scary, consider that his father is next in line to be President of the United States if anything happens to the Big O.

[French G.]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

If you think that's scary, consider that his father is next in line to be President of the United States if anything happens to the Big O.

3rd in line don't inspire much confidence either.

[Scout26]

Given all the cuts that are happening, he probably could have just taken an early out and got a nice separation check from Uncle Sugar and an Honorable Discharge, instead of this.

Well, like father like son. 

[wmenorr67]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

If you think that's scary, consider that his father is next in line to be President of the United States if anything happens to the Big O.

Why do you think O picked him?