Fraudulent Wg Cdr. Possibly.
Avoid imitations
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Normally that would have required obtaining a Permanent Resident Card ("Green Card" that isn't actually green) that allows you to enter and work in the USA and then after 5 years residency apply for Naturalization. One way of doing that would be to apply for an Employment Based Visa where the employer would need to sponsor someone as having special skills for a vacancy they can't fill with a US citizen. As an Exchange Officer he wouldn't have needed the Green Card to get in the US, work and be there for the requisite time. There are certainly former UK officers who have worked at NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT) as NATO civilians who have managed to go that route.
Best so far on ARRSE!
"I can't believe some of the comments regarding this.
Close the thread for this absolute legend.
He secures a 10 year posting to the states (who wouldn't fancy a bit of that as opposed to Bulford, Northolt, the Shot etc), squares away a 'special spending allowance' from the missus (must admit mine used to be around £50 for the odd night out on Adv Trg, so he is up there with the finest on this account) and he also buys a house in Las Vegas.
HE BUYS A HOUSE IN LAS VEGAS.
In the words of Winston Churchill - "Makes you bloody proud to be British" "
"I can't believe some of the comments regarding this.
Close the thread for this absolute legend.
He secures a 10 year posting to the states (who wouldn't fancy a bit of that as opposed to Bulford, Northolt, the Shot etc), squares away a 'special spending allowance' from the missus (must admit mine used to be around £50 for the odd night out on Adv Trg, so he is up there with the finest on this account) and he also buys a house in Las Vegas.
HE BUYS A HOUSE IN LAS VEGAS.
In the words of Winston Churchill - "Makes you bloody proud to be British" "
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The Sun quotes the charge directly and has the amount allegedly defrauded as much higher
Commodore James Farrant, prosecuting, told the court: "The final quantum figures involved relate to overseas rent allowance totalling $28,127 and fuel and lighting allowance of $3,708."
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/256151...n-trial-fraud/
Commodore James Farrant, prosecuting, told the court: "The final quantum figures involved relate to overseas rent allowance totalling $28,127 and fuel and lighting allowance of $3,708."
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/256151...n-trial-fraud/
A contemporary article shows that he was on 39 Sqn at Creech in 2013 - so it was not a matter of managing to hang on to the same post for 8 years before moving to the Pentagon.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Once you have been a permanent resident in the USA for 5 years you can find an immigration attorney who could probably navigate a path to US Citizenship.
Couldn’t understand that I was quite happy to go home and didn’t see having to start again in my 40s in a job with less holiday entitlement, having to pay for health insurance and a pension plan as an appealing prospect.
As it was my next position was on a 3 year secondment in Madrid.
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Ten years in the US seemed to become quite a thing. There were probably about half a dozen, maybe more, of this guy's contemporaries who started with a tour on 39 at Creech and then never left. If picked up, they would start lobbying desk officers various about the convenience of keeping them in the US considering they were already there, so they'd get bounced around staff jobs, roles with General Atomics, tours in Washington or Nellis, and so on. There's at least a couple of people I remember who went out to the US even earlier than this (2008-2009 maybe), and have never come back to the UK.
Gentleman Aviator
squares away a 'special spending allowance' from the missus
She: "What's this LOA I've been hearing about?"
He: "Don't worry dear - I'll pay that!"
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From the JSP:
'09.0101. Aim. The aim of Overseas Rent Allowance (ORA) is to reimburse Service personnel with the necessary cost of rent and utilities for rented accommodation when they are assigned overseas and no suitable Service Families Accommodation (SFA), Single Living Accommodation (SLA), Substitute Service Families Accommodation (SSFA) or Substitute Service Single Accommodation (SSSA) is available.'
So if it's true he received ORA when he wasn't renting a property It seems like a very quick court martial and a career/marriage ending move. Re not telling spouses about allowances, I saw that many time whilst in, the shift from receiving expenses in cash to bank payments 20 years ago caught a few people out and it's easy for a service person to syphon off an element of salary to a UK bank account and unless his spouse saw his pay slip she'd never know, unless he was stupid.
'09.0101. Aim. The aim of Overseas Rent Allowance (ORA) is to reimburse Service personnel with the necessary cost of rent and utilities for rented accommodation when they are assigned overseas and no suitable Service Families Accommodation (SFA), Single Living Accommodation (SLA), Substitute Service Families Accommodation (SSFA) or Substitute Service Single Accommodation (SSSA) is available.'
So if it's true he received ORA when he wasn't renting a property It seems like a very quick court martial and a career/marriage ending move. Re not telling spouses about allowances, I saw that many time whilst in, the shift from receiving expenses in cash to bank payments 20 years ago caught a few people out and it's easy for a service person to syphon off an element of salary to a UK bank account and unless his spouse saw his pay slip she'd never know, unless he was stupid.
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An ex officer colleague of mine in RAFG left his wife for another woman. Although they had been married for quite some years, she told my wife that she'd never had any idea about how much he was being paid because all his salary went into his own bank account and from that he gave her an allowance. When he left her living alone in the MQ to live "elsewhere", he insisted that she attended any squadron or station function with him, so as to hide the fact. He stopped her allowance so in effect she was instantly penniless. She eventually had to return to UK because in legal terms she lost her right to live in the MQ and the country. She was homeless on arrival in UK.
It's true to say that said officer caused quite a lot of angst amongst other wives because they could instantly see in what a precarious situation they could potentially be placed by their own husband and apparently without any sanction. He didn't make himself very popular amongst his fellow squadron members when the truth eventually came out.
It's true to say that said officer caused quite a lot of angst amongst other wives because they could instantly see in what a precarious situation they could potentially be placed by their own husband and apparently without any sanction. He didn't make himself very popular amongst his fellow squadron members when the truth eventually came out.
It was so cheap I briefly considered buying a second 'vacation' home there.
Found on ARRSE - from Telegraph:
"A top RAF officer based at the Pentagon has been convicted of fraud over £20,000 payments he hid from the defence department and his wife.
Wing Commander Alex Drysdale defrauded the Ministry of Defence to claim £19,500 in allowances he was not entitled to.
The fraud arose when the father-of-two bought a home in Las Vegas – a sprawling four-bedroom house with access to a communal pool and spa – which his family had previously been renting for £2,408 a month.
However, he failed to tell the MoD of the purchase and carried on banking so-called Overseas Rent Allowance – a full rent reimbursement he was no longer eligible for. The money was deposited in a personal account he hid from Mrs Drysdale.
The Scottish officer, who has served in the US since 2011 was promoted to Wing Commander in 2021 and assigned to serve with the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability (AFWIC) at the Pentagon.
His fraud was uncovered by Stuart Phillips, a fellow wing commander, with whom he had served in Nevada for some nine years.
He believed Drysdale may have lied to him when he claimed not to have bought the home in a conversation in April 2022.
The wing commander searched court records to discover that Drysdale had bought the house in February 2022 and raised his concerns with Air Cdre Jez Attridge, UK Air and Space Attache to the United States.
In a statement, Wing Commander Phillips said he had been friends with Drysdale for nine years, that their families would socialise together and they had taken skiing trips together.
He said: “He had told me of his intention to purchase the Las Vegas property so that when he was posted to Washington DC his wife and children could stay there when he moved.
“We spoke via Facebook messenger and he said he was yet to purchase the property as his landlord was making it difficult.”
Cdre James Farrant, prosecuting, told the military court at Catterick: “The prosecution case is that Wing Commander Drysdale deliberately and dishonestly concealed the fact he purchased his home from British Defence Services in order to continue claiming the allowance.”
Drysdale told the military court at Catterick he had no idea he had infringed MoD rules and was open and honest about purchasing his home, which he bought for $645,000 (£508,131).
However, he was convicted after a four-day trial of fraud by misrepresentation and will be sentenced at a later date.
Adjourning the case until April, Judge Advocate Smith told Drysdale: “This one blemish detracts from, but does not take away completely, from your 20-plus years of service.”'
"A top RAF officer based at the Pentagon has been convicted of fraud over £20,000 payments he hid from the defence department and his wife.
Wing Commander Alex Drysdale defrauded the Ministry of Defence to claim £19,500 in allowances he was not entitled to.
The fraud arose when the father-of-two bought a home in Las Vegas – a sprawling four-bedroom house with access to a communal pool and spa – which his family had previously been renting for £2,408 a month.
However, he failed to tell the MoD of the purchase and carried on banking so-called Overseas Rent Allowance – a full rent reimbursement he was no longer eligible for. The money was deposited in a personal account he hid from Mrs Drysdale.
The Scottish officer, who has served in the US since 2011 was promoted to Wing Commander in 2021 and assigned to serve with the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability (AFWIC) at the Pentagon.
His fraud was uncovered by Stuart Phillips, a fellow wing commander, with whom he had served in Nevada for some nine years.
He believed Drysdale may have lied to him when he claimed not to have bought the home in a conversation in April 2022.
The wing commander searched court records to discover that Drysdale had bought the house in February 2022 and raised his concerns with Air Cdre Jez Attridge, UK Air and Space Attache to the United States.
In a statement, Wing Commander Phillips said he had been friends with Drysdale for nine years, that their families would socialise together and they had taken skiing trips together.
He said: “He had told me of his intention to purchase the Las Vegas property so that when he was posted to Washington DC his wife and children could stay there when he moved.
“We spoke via Facebook messenger and he said he was yet to purchase the property as his landlord was making it difficult.”
Cdre James Farrant, prosecuting, told the military court at Catterick: “The prosecution case is that Wing Commander Drysdale deliberately and dishonestly concealed the fact he purchased his home from British Defence Services in order to continue claiming the allowance.”
Drysdale told the military court at Catterick he had no idea he had infringed MoD rules and was open and honest about purchasing his home, which he bought for $645,000 (£508,131).
However, he was convicted after a four-day trial of fraud by misrepresentation and will be sentenced at a later date.
Adjourning the case until April, Judge Advocate Smith told Drysdale: “This one blemish detracts from, but does not take away completely, from your 20-plus years of service.”'
Disappointing that people like him serve among us, although reassuring there are people/near peers willing to call it out.
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In the Air Force I served in, had something like this happened then it could have been dealt with internally without having to resort to a CM. And I'm not condoning fraud at all, but let he who is without blame cast the first stone. I certainly bent the regulations from time to time and even broke them on more probably more then one occasion without even knowing because I have better things to do than read JSP whatever, which is something blunties should know all about but sharp pointy operators should be ignorant of, IMHO, and give me a 1771 all day long rather than the total abortion that was (maybe still is!?) JPA.
Can't think of someone I'd want less on my wing than a person who is 'calling out' (as you put it) regulatory transgressions by making anonymous accusations rather than taking me to one side in the bar and giving me an ear full.
But like I said, maybe I'm too old fashioned.
Thread Starter
WhoNeedsANav
I can see where you’re coming from but no, I think the time for ‘a quiet word in the ear’ has long since gone. For better or worse I think times have changed and we can’t afford to turn a blind eye to blatant fraudsters.
BV
BV
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We could never afford to turn a blind eye to people making bad decisions, it's just that back in my day I believe we had a more grown up and pragmatic way of dealing with it.
But it's not my day anymore so I guess I should return to my hole. There is just something about officers who should be looking out for each other but are actually launching their own criminal investigations, searching court documents and collecting evidence on their fellow officers behind their back that doesn't sit well with me.
Good luck to all still serving.
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Is it just me or does the 'outing' of the Whistleblower in the Press not sit very well? I'm all for Military courts being conducted in a way that broadly matches proceedings in a standard ('civilian') court, but would we expect such details to make it to the public arena if this were a 'civvi' case?? I know it's not, so the point is maybe moot, but.....surely 'witnesses' are afforded some protection?