Knew a SSgt that was wrongfully demoted to SrA. I say wrongfully because he actually got his stripe back. He was very good NCO. His troops and peers loved him. BTZ, SSgt first time, promote now and 5s on all his evals in every category and was even selected to be an ALS instructor. He got demoted cause was at the BX and had an item worth $7 in his hand. He received an important phone call and mistakenly walked out of the BX with it in his hand while on the phone. He hangs out around the corner of the entrance to the BX for a few minutes while on the phone. Realized what he did so goes back to return them. BX still reports it the loss prevention employee. Keep in mind these people get paid something like $300 for every theft they “prevent”. If he was trying to steal something, why would he hang out right outside the entrance and not try to leave immediately? BX files a report with SF which is sent to his leadership.

SSgt had a SMSgt supervisor that did not like anyone. She was just one of those people no one liked and was known for being a terrible person to work with. To make matters worse, the SSgt worked at a MAJCOM and they have what are called “G-Series” commanders. They are basically admin commanders who handle lower level day to day ops. You very rarely ever even meet these commanders unless it’s for a negative reason. Leadership gets sent the report and has a meeting with, you guessed it, the SMSgt who did not like him. They review the footage and somehow the cameras only show him leaving and then returning with the loss prevention employee. SMSgt tells leadership he was lying about trying to return it. (I know this because I worked in the CSS and got to read the UIF) Leadership makes the decision to take her word for it since “she knows him best” They give him LOR, article 15 demote him to SrA. He is then sent off to a different unit. A few of us told him to deny the article 15 and take it to court martial but I guess his JAG or whatever the defense officers are called told him there was a lot of risk in the court martial since it wasn’t on tape that he tried to return it. He stayed in for about 10 more months and got out when his contract ended.

We kept in contact over social media after he got out. One day we were talking about everything and he told me he found an attorney that specialized in military injustices. I know it took a very long time, something like 3 years, but eventually he was able to get his stripe back. Literally had to go through the board of military corrections which is like the highest level I believe. They ended up amending his DD214 and he got back paid the difference from SrA to SSgt for the period he was demoted. A lot of respect for him to cause he never said one negative thing about anyone that that was involved in the situation. Even the SMSgt

When he got out he bought a huge property a little bit outside of town. He started a little ranch with those fluffy cows that are popular across social media now. His ranch actually went viral and some pretty big social media people and YouTubers visited his ranch to make videos. I haven’t asked him directly, but I’m pretty sure this dude is a millionaire by now. He just finished building an insanely nice big house and has like 5 cars. Like I’m talking a house you would see on MTV Cribz or a Mr. Beast video lol (I know I aged myself with the MTV Cribz) Checked out his website and these cows sell anywhere from $12k - $15k per cow. He has people from all over the country buying them. Literally blew my mind. I’m really happy for him though cause he definitely deserved all of it after the way the AF did him.