California National Guard general fired after allegedly forcing troops to take his mother shopping
Brady Knox
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A California National Guard general was relieved of command after a string of noted violations, including an instance in which he forced his men to take his mother shopping.
Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Magram is set to be “involuntarily transferred” to the U.S. Air Force retired reserve next week, an action that is “parallel” to a firing, California National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Brandon Hill said Friday, Stars and Stripes reported. Magram allegedly used his men to carry out personal errands for years. His firing is the fifth firing, retiring, or resignation of a senior commander in the California National Guard due to scandal in four years.
Magram used his subordinates for a wide variety of errands, perhaps the most notable of which was when he forced a guardsman to take his mother on a shopping trip.
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“She was particular. When I say particular, it had to be at Whole Foods. … It just took her a long time to decide what she wanted, a lot of comparison shopping amongst products,” the guardsman later told investigators.
Another notable instance saw him force one of his men to drive him to a dental appointment — a 120-mile round-trip journey.
“My job is to take care of the airmen in the state of California and not be a chauffeur for a general,” the guardsman later told investigators.
Magram has defended his conduct as consistent with the “wingman” principle and said that he would have corrected himself if ever made aware that his conduct with unethical.
“I want to reiterate that had I ever heard of any ethics issues like this from subordinates, peers or commanders, or perceptions of such, I would have corrected or addressed it on the spot,” he said in the statement obtained by Stars and Stripes.
This was despite the fact that he had already been warned about similar behavior in 2017, according to the investigation’s final report.
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Aside from making his troops do his chores, Magram also came under fire for ordering an F-15C fighter jet on standby, apparently to fly low over protesters in an event to disperse them. The general has denied the accusation.
“Your conduct has caused me to lose faith, trust, and confidence in your ability to continue serving,” Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, the National Guard’s acting adjutant general, told Magram in a memo obtained by Military.com.