At one time the Navy rank above paygrade O-6 (Captain) was Commodore, the lowest flag rank. Next up was Rear Admiral, originally a two-star rank. The Army used Brigadier General for O-7, one-star. The Army one-star was a General and the Navy one-star was not an Admiral, inducing rank name envy. The rank of Commodore was withdrawn and the rank of Rear Admiral was split in half, RADM upper and lower, referring to time in rank. RADM (lower) (O-7) is a one-star and RADM (upper) (O-8) is a two star, and rank name envy was solved.
Pursuant to the IG Report, the matter was taken up as an administrative action by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, reaching a decision to change Jackson's retirement rank to O-6, Captain in July 2022.
This had nothing to do with any judicial procedure such as a court-martial. IG investigations allow rumors and third-hand hearsay. The standard is preponderance of the evidence (more likely than not). These procedures would not quite rise to the level of a J-6 committee investigation and report. The allegations might be interesting if contrasted with his fitess reports for the same time period.
As this appears to be a purely administrative procedure performed by SECNAV Del Toro, I suspect it could be reversed by another administrative procedure performed by future President Trump, if there be one.
I provide the timeline as it may lead to some curiosity.
TIMELINE:
IG Report at 5-6 [pdf 7-8]
October 1, 2016
The Navy promotes RDML Jackson to Rear Admiral (Lower Half).March 28, 2018
RDML Jackson ends his duties as the Physician to the President.April 16, 2018
The President nominates RDML Jackson to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.April 26, 2018
The Senate Armed Services Committee asks the DoD OIG to investigate RDML Jackson.April 26, 2018–June 7, 2018
The DoD Hotline receives 12 complaints against RDML Jackson.May 18, 2018
The DoD OIG initiates the investigation. [wp: The report is dated March 3, 2021, nearly three years later, about six weeks after President Biden assumed office.]June 20, 2018
The President withdraws RDML Jackson’s nomination to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.February 2, 2019
The President appoints RDML Jackson as Assistant to the President and Chief Medical Advisor.December 1, 2019
RDML Jackson retires from the Navy.
Lawmaker who claims to be a retired rear admiral was actually demotedBy Geoff Ziezulewicz
March 7, 2024
Navy Times source does not allow excerpts.
I saw that, but didn’t comment.
When I feel the need to comment on something military related, I try to get those details right. Some of it I know (Navy related) but some I don’t (such as unit designations in the USMC, or various ratings that I am less familiar with.)
When I don’t, I make an attempt to find out. In this case, I had no idea if the new, woke military was fudging around with designations and such (particularly the USN differentiation-Commodore is an unusual designation during peacetime, IIRC, it was only used in war as a temporary designation for a Captain who was temporarily in charge of a large sub-unit, but otherwise, the transition was always from Captain to Rear Admiral, not Captain to Commodore to Rear Admiral) so...I just let it pass.
It is telling when journalists don’t even bother to determine details, that oversight something they appear to excel at.