by Sharon Rondeau
Warrior Program, 2014
(Jul. 9, 2021) – In Part 48, former U.S. Army Capt. Gary Mason described how after he became an inpatient in a program designed to assist members of the military to overcome various forms of trauma, his chain of command at Ft. Lee, VA responded by permanently assigning him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which became a back-door method of effecting his medical retirement after 15 years of service.
Mason had feared for his life and safety and that of his family members after accusations arose from what became a toxic situation at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii for a number of years, following him to Ft. Lee after a transfer.
Rather than medical retirement and already an ordained Army chaplain, Mason had hoped to remain on active duty and transition to the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps to serve other soldiers in need for the remainder of his career. However, Mason told us he discovered, Ft. Lee would then discourage the advancing of his “packet,” or credentials, to the Chaplain Corps, and even those who had mentored him during his pastoral training declined to assist him in his hour of need.
At the same time, a congressional inquiry Mason requested of the office of Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) over the treatment he received in Hawaii remained open, of which Ft. Lee commanders were acutely aware and invoked as a pretext to deny Mason legal representation and other forms of support.
At one point, Mason recalled, he was told someone from Ft. Lee with a connection to a fraternity contacted the Chaplain Corps, instructing personnel there not to advance his packet. In turn, a Ft. Lee commander blamed it on an unnamed individual at “garrison.” “So now they were telling on each other, because they knew I was going to tell Sen. Cardin,” Mason said.
A chaplain who had been stationed in Hawaii contemporaneously with Mason and had written Mason a letter of recommendation arranged for Mason to meet with another chaplain, at the time promoted to full-bird colonel, who had supervised Mason while he attended air-assault school at Ft. Campbell, KY. During the meeting with the colonel at “garrison,” Mason said, he explained what had occurred at Ft. Lee and his desire to transfer out of the program at Walter Reed to enter the Chaplain Corps. “Gary, I’m not in a position to help you; this is above my head,” Mason recounted the colonel’s response. “I’m sorry that happened, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I can pray with you.”
Surprised, Mason asked the colonel for a recommendation. “’I need you to write something about my character serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Army,” he said. “You can pick up the phone and call someone at the Pentagon. Your recommendation would help me to transfer and keep my career.”
However, the colonel chose not to intervene. “Do you know what he did?” Mason said of the disappointing encounter. “He decided he wasn’t going to do anything to help me, and at that point, the Chaplain Corps had turned on me. They didn’t want to do anything.”