Army Investigating Senate Candidate Cal Cunningham Following Reports of Affair
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 1 month ago
The U.S. Army Reserve is investigating Democratic North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham, who is a Reserve officer, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The statement follows news reports that Cunningham, who is married and has children, had an affair this year with public relations consultant Arlene Guzman Todd of California, whose husband has served in the Army, according to published reports.
“The Army Reserve is investigating the matters involving Lt. Col. James Cunningham. As such, we are unable to provide further details at this time,” Army Reserve Lt. Col. Simon Flake said in the statement.
An Army document states that Cunningham is assigned to the 134th Legal Operations Detachment with the Army Reserve Legal Command and that he had deployments to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. On his campaign website, Cunningham touts that he has served as a military prosecutor.
The military prohibits adultery and other activities that it says are detrimental to the “good order and discipline in the armed forces” or bring discredit to the armed forces. Soldiers can be prosecuted for it.
After news of this affair and a possible second affair were made public late last week and on Monday, the campaign said this is a personal matter and Cunningham will not drop out of the race.
What a swell guy.
If the state of NC had any honor, the citizens would hang him from the nearest oak tree. But given Mecklenburg and Wake Counties, who knows? He could still win.
I received a mailer a few days ago showing Cunningham in his cammies (obviously from a deployment to enforce onerous ROE on the troops), and on the second page was his claim to fame.
He proudly earned the Bronze Star for “taking on corrupt military contractors.” And he’s pathetic enough to tout that in a mailer.
That’s right. He earned a Bronze Star for “taking on corrupt military contractors.”
What kind of a jackass commander puts someone in for a Bronze Star for something like that?
What kind of trash trots that out as something special?
Hey Cunningham. My son saw heavy combat in Fallujah, earning the CAR. What did you do during your deployments?
Jerk.
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On October 9, 2020 at 6:10 am, Old Bill said:
As your son will tell you, military awards are political. Rank gets you higher awards simply because it bolsters everyone else’s opinion that they’re better because they hold higher rank. The officer’s corps has even built these awards into their promotion formulas, rendering them de rigueur for anyone who hasn’t had disciplinary action against them. ACTUAL combat veterans, who’ve carried rifles & worn body armor in the face of the enemy often get left out so as not to “give too many awards, diluting their significance”.
Effectively, pay no attention to a service man’s awards, unless it’s to grow suspicious when he has too many (a sure sign of a back-stabbing REMF).
On October 9, 2020 at 11:19 am, Nemo said:
He’s a Demonrat. Therefore, not a darn thing is going to happen to him, other than a little embarrassment. If he was a Republican, he’d already be doing hard time in Leavenworth.
On October 9, 2020 at 11:22 am, J J said:
Are “non-valor” Bronze Stars handed out like participation trophies?
My Army Nat’l Guard officer nephew received one for Iraq…the citation basically said “here’s an award for doing your job.”
On October 9, 2020 at 12:05 pm, Duke Norfolk said:
Yep, as a retired USAF officer I’ll attest that Old Bill’s got it right. (And I retired 12 yrs ago, who knows how much worse it’s gotten.) I’m sure it’s as bad in all the services at this point.
In a way, they’ve effectively turned them into good conduct medals, with different medals awarded at different ranks. In the AF they’ve long been known (even semi-officially) as PCS (Permanent Change of Station) medals; awarded at the end of each location assignment. So the more you move, the more medals you’ll accumulate. It’s beyond absurd and insulting.
Of course it’s just one more symptom of a broken and corrupted institution, and a dying empire.
On October 9, 2020 at 4:33 pm, I R A Darth Aggie said:
So, that’s the military’s version of the zampolit.
On October 9, 2020 at 11:21 pm, Jimmy the Saint said:
“Hey Cunningham. My son saw heavy combat in Fallujah, earning the CAR. What did you do during your deployments?”
I ordered people into heavy combat, of course.
– Cal Cunningham
On October 10, 2020 at 1:16 am, Charles Miller said:
Awards are decided by by Awards Boards and I’ve seen clerks get BS for doing nothing but their jobs! Officers at the CPT rank and higher are almost automatic. Most never leave the FOB! Enlisted Soldiers and NCOs that are in the fight, very rarely get nominated or if the do, get them downgraded to a lesser award! They’ve cheapened the award so much that a BS means nothing anymore! I know officers that have multiple deployments as staff officers who have multiple Bronze Stars and have never left the office!
On October 12, 2020 at 7:27 am, Elmo said:
“Guzman Todd said on her now-deleted LinkedIn page that she is the media relations director for a representative body of cannabis distributors in California.”
This story just gets better and better.
On October 13, 2020 at 2:37 pm, Henry said:
The “participation trophy” generation gets older.