Colonel, Former aide to General, 3 grad degrees, can't "even find work as a janitor", now homeless

[Liberal_in_LA]

Former aide to top general is now homeless
Robert Freniere used to be a top assistant to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, but like tens of thousands of other U.S. veterans, is now homeless

Robert Freniere, who at the peak of his storied military career worked as a special assistant to McChrystal as vice director of operations of the Joint Staff, is living out of a van in the Philadelphia suburbs after hitting a sustained run of bad luck following his retirement from the Air Force in 2006, Philly.com reported.

Throughout his 30 years in the military, Freniere, 59, worked his way to the rank of colonel and earned three graduate degrees. But despite his varied accomplishments, he couldn’t even find work as a janitor.

"Well, I've tried that,” Freniere told Philly.com about being turned down for even the most low-level custodial jobs.

He earns a standard military pension of more than $40,000, according to Philly.com, but it isn’t enough to make ends meet.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/aide-top-general-homeless-article-1.1567644#ixzz2pfoFx1Eg

[CatholicEdHead]

1. You can live and not be homeless on $40,000/yr in most parts of the country

Just move west to more affordable areas. It covers a basic apartment and food.

[Art_from_Ark]

3. I could live pretty well in Arkansas on that amount

Lots of people I know there are living on less than that.

[FatBuddy]

28. i can live like the king of arkansas or texas on that amount

plus texas has the added benefit of great debtor protections (still).

[Art_from_Ark]

49. Arkansas also has good debtor protections

For example, the Arkansas Homestead Act of 1868. The intent of the law was to protect Arkansas families from want and dependence, according to the Arkansas Bar Association. The concept of protecting families as opposed to individual creditors carries forth to this date in Arkansas.

The function of the Arkansas homestead exemption is to protect the primary residence of either a married Arkansas couple or a single person with minor children. The law prevents certain creditors from placing liens and attempting to seize the primary residence of these classifications of people.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. The article mentions he has what appears to be serious debts.

Mr. Dixie and I are living ok on half that guy's pension
but we have zero debts, low mortgage.

Debts can make an enormous difference.

tho I don't see why he does not attempt a move to more affordable climes.

[bluestate10]

14. He could move to a cheaper place to live and pay off the debt over time.

Creditors want the money and will agree to payments terms proposed by the Debtor. But having written that, a person with that guy's qualifications should have many job offers to choose from, that fact that he doesn't should worry us all.

[Stargazer09]

51. Can't blame him for staying

He wants to be close to his sons. Have to admire him for that.

[TwilightGardener]

2. There is no way his pension is $40,000. My husband is a retired Major with

20 years in (as opposed to 30 years for this guy), prior enlisted, and his is $36,000.

[Journeyman]

4. Military.answers.com says after 20 years a retiree gets 50% of base pay, and after 30 years . . .

they get 75% of base pay.

For a Colonel with 30 years, that gets them somewhere around $8,000 a month, or $96,000 a year.

Either the Colonel has an agenda or a serious problem with addiction.

[freshwest]

10. We'll never know, though. Report is sparse on details. Interesting though, that this comes out now

with the UEB vote coming up. His claim is that he can't find a job. Just like many longer term UE.

Republicans want to keep veteran votes. A story here on DU seemed to say that the GOP wants to pit the long-term UE against the military benefits, not fund both of them.

Agenda? He worked for the general whose men got introuble for abuse and corruption, and is in trouble from that. 'Bad luck,' it says.

Perhaps this story is a righwing set up to apply pressureto deny the UE to others and raise military pensions.

[hfojvt]

19. apparently got deep into debt

I guess scraping by for years on a $100,000 salary can build up some debt.

[TroglodyteScholar]

35. I'm dusting off my tiny violin right now

I guess the story is supposed to be relatable to middle class white people or something, but it just looks like a whiny, entitled right winger to me.

[DonViejo]

29. He gets full health insurance too...

so does his family. Not that it's such a big deal but, he also has commissary privileges. Something is definitely wrong in this Colonel's story.

[Kaleva]

24. Unless his ex is getting half of his retirement.

[freshwest]

5. I could buy a home with an income like that. Something is missing, link doesn't say much.

And with guaranteed income, he doesn't even need a job.

Unless his opension is being garnished for his student loans.

He's retired, needs to get assistance if his net is unliveable after the loans. And he needs to get out of that cold climate unless someone is taking care of him some way in PA.

IDK, just doesn't quite pass the smell test with me.

I know people with student loan debts who are working to pay them or in bad strais, but don't have a big pension like his.

And they've been border line, under employed, unemployed and broke for much more than a few years.

This may be publicity for a book or something.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. as for the debts..

He had a defense contractor job in 2012, the same year he separated from the wife.

Dunno what spousal support requirements are in Conn.
DO know those college debts can be horrendous.
car payments?

So, lost his contractor job and his wife same year.

Drinking????

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. "most prominently the bills for putting his two sons through college" and he stays in a hotel

Probably co-signed or took out the student loans in his name. And hotel stays block the ability to save for apt down payment

[sammytko]

12. If he is divorced, half his pension goes to wife, but

Wonder if he is getti g anything from VA for some disability.

[Kaleva]

22. Then that 40k a year as mentioned in the article would be about right.

[haele]

21. He's not on the hook for student loans. The military paid for all his degrees he got

while he was in. The military will also have scholarships for his kids. They also did a lot to pay for any house he bought while he was in. Suspect that he might have gotten a divorce or two, and there's child support in the mix.

Haele

[freshwest]

31. I've heard of that. Something is up here, IDK why he's doing this at $8K+ monthly income.

[VanillaRhapsody]

27. If he got divorced...his wife gets half right off the top...

I know my mother is married to a retired career military man. She told him after he retired if he wanted a divorce he could have their motorhome...she was staying in the house. They haven't fought so much since!

So if he was bringing in $80,000 a year...she is getting the other $40 thou.

[freshwest]

33. If he's halved $40K to $20K, he still doesn't fit the profile of the typical 'down and out.'

I'm wonder if he got into some of that grifter birther crowd and got in debt that way, or as someone said, he was gambling.

I'm not sure what his 'run of bad luck' as the article says is. To be homeless requires a lack of income to live on, but he has a guaranteed income.

At any rate, with the divorce and whatever else he's into, he's holding to a life that doesn't want him now. If you know what I mean. He'll have to make changes, go somewhere he can afford to live, do what he can.

Many retired, homeless or otherwise disadvantged people do just that -- and he is retired.

[VanillaRhapsody]

37. If he was left to also pay the mortgage on their house

child support and other bills...that could eat up alot of his retirement check half...

Not discounting there is something wrong with this picture...just find it interesting.

[freshwest]

38. I'm starting to feel this is part of the GOP pit the military versus the UE. That was described in a

DU article this past week, but I can't find the link. It said that the GOP was playing a game to get concessions.

That is to say, they refused to pay for some retired veterans AND the folks on UE right now. They want the Democrats to pick one of the other to get screwed.

And while I was shopping today, I heard the radio in the background at the store, and an announce was just carrying on about 'our veterans are heroes and they deserve...'

I don't remember what the whole phrase, but it was in that fulsome tone of voice that sounded like he was discusssing saints. Some of these veterans are contractors, not soldiers. I know some and they did not make the lousy pay or risk their lives doing their jobs, either. They made big money, like Blackwater.

I think a psychological push is at work to demonize the UE group. I already saw an article here that claims a huge amount of budget deficit for continuing to pay the UE; and then we have this story and a few others.

I don't want to take away anything from the veterans, certainly not the elder or the disabled. I know from reading some publications that some of the returning veterans with mental disorders aren't able to get work. This is not their fault.

This guy worked with McChrystal (sic?) and some under his command in Afghanistan have been charged with corruption. Not the kind of soldiers that people think of when they talk about the elderly veteran who was committed to saving the world in WW2.

There may be nothing to what I am suspecting. It just seems like a photo op to me. Anyway, hope whatever is wrong with him, if something is, he gets some help. And I acknowledge his divorce may have had a lot to with his financical situation. Too bad he's not living at home with his wife and or family if there were kids.

[VanillaRhapsody]

39. Well we know that it couldn't be caused by medical bills....

so it is entirely strange to say the least....

[Ken Burch]

6. ...and the Right STILL acts like the jobless could all get worked "if they just tried".

[Enrique]

8. his 40,000 income puts him in the 47th percentile

just a little perspective.

[Enrique]

13. here is his page at TeaPartyNation.com

http://www.teapartynation.com/profile/ColonelRobertWFreniereUSAF

[Liberal_in_LA]

15. whoa, good find

[Katashi_itto]

23. As a vet, my sympathy stopped the moment you found he was a Teabagger.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

26. TeaPartyNation, huh? In that case, all he needs is for one of us to sell him some bootstraps.

With nominal interest, of course. I know Teabaggers wouldn't want it any other way, and that they're all self-sufficient. Actually, I'm sure he'll be giving back that pension soon too, government handout that it is.

I know...maybe Sarah Palin could help him out, since he helped her out:
"Sarah Palin is the mother of a Veteran and served as a govenor in command of US National Guard assets -- she's a proven winner, an outstanding mother, leader and patriot! She's earned my vote for president for 2012. "
Robert W. Freniere, Kensington, MD
http://vets4sarah.net/vetcomments.shtml

[VanillaRhapsody]

40. Ugh he lives near me....

[TeeYiYi]

50. Wait, what?...

Sarah Palin earned his vote for president in 2012? Did she run for president in 2012? How did I forget that?

re: "Sarah Palin is the mother of a Veteran and served as a govenor in command of US National Guard assets -- she's a proven winner, an outstanding mother, leader and patriot! She's earned my vote for president for 2012. "
Robert W. Freniere, Kensington, MD

TYY

[FarCenter]

48. Here is his LinkedIn page

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/col-bob-%22lightning%22-freniere-usaf-ret-phd-abd/2/7b8/866

There is probably limited civilian application for experts in identifying targets to bomb. To "degrade system function and performance" or to "induce cascading, chaotic behavior" is rarely a business objective, although some executives produce those results.

Air campaign planners historically focus on levels of destruction to determine success. The authors argue that by focusing on system complexity (the degree to which the system contains interacting entities with coherent behavior) and system entropy (the amount of work lost within the system when destructive forces are introduced), planners can take advantage of both kinetic and nonkinetic approaches to degrade system function and performance. By focusing on complex system characteristics, planners can induce cascading, chaotic behavior that achieves campaign objectives more dramatically and effectively.

[Stargazer09]

52. Ugh

Screw him. The tea party is a large part of the problem vets are having with jobs. In the past, you could take off your uniform one day, then wear a suit to the same workplace the next day. We used to reward our veterans with government jobs that put their experience right back to work.

Now, thanks to the tea party and the GOP, there are very few new government jobs being created.

Most civilian companies do not want to hire former military members (in my experience), so it's hard to find jobs after retirement.

[LiberalEsto]

16. Well that makes me feel a tiny bit better

after 5 years of being without a job. I just have a BA and 25-plus years of newspaper reporting experience and 7 more years as a semi-technical marketing writer.

But it totally sucks that even people like Freniere can't find work.

[Egalitarian Thug]

17. Thank The Gods we got bankruptcy "reform", otherwise this deadbeat might be able

to get out from under the debt.

[hfojvt]

18. wow, not even as a janitor

you can NOT get much lower than that, eh?

He makes more than $40,000 a year and gets medical from the VA and has commissary benefits and cannot make ends meet.

I'd feel sorry for him, but in 2010 I made ends meet on $12,000 a year as a part-time janitor.

$40,000+ a year and cannot make ends meet.

Was one of his graduate degrees in finance?

[Katashi_itto]

25. Exactly, my disability pension is nowhere near his,

and he's a teabagger

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. I make ends meet on ---

half that. In San Francisco. It's very hard, but doable.

With that said, the problem of older Americans not being able to find work, let alone work that can financial sustain them is VERY real and a problem that I have yet to see addressed by our leaders.

[Demo_Chris]

30. This story is pegging my BS detector. nt

[TroglodyteScholar]

32. Horseshit!

THIS is the kind of lazy, unemployed piece of shit we should be heaping scorn on...not people who are actually poor and actually unable to find work.

I'm betting a huge unspoken aspect of his story is that he can't find "good work," i.e. he's been overcompensated all his life but now the market views him as the worthless taker he has always been.

"Can't find a job as a janitor" is almost certainly a lie. Now, if he'd said, "Can't find a $90,000/yr job as a janitor," I'm guessing that's a bit more accurate.

Just a guess though.

[HangOnKids]

34. BAM!

Fucking asshole has ALWAYS been paid more than he is worth, now he is coming out as the CREEPY LOSER he has always been. FUCK HIM.

[nadinbrzezinski]

36. 40K, 30 years, full bird

why am I not buying this?

I mean if he was a retired Command Master Sergeant, but this guy retired as a full bird. Something ain't matching here.

Something is definitely NOT RIGHT.

http://military.answers.com/military-benefits/retirement-pay-for-a-colonel-in-the-u-s-military

[Kaleva]

42. If half half of his retirement is going to his ex?

Then I think that would be about right.

[nadinbrzezinski]

44. Even then, something is not smelling right

he has no student loans (well except the kids, who might also qualify for evil Gub'mint loans due to his military service, at very low interest rates).


And not being able to make it on 40K. I would say the hotel has a lot more to do with it. and other bad decisions. Of course he is blaming the black man in the WH and that same evil gub'mint that is paying him a pension, and medical care.

I think this is more the reporter not asking the right questions, and this guy using his circumstance to make a point about evil gub'mint.

As to his inability to get a job, with that resume I hear mercenaries are hiring. I suspect this guy has a few other issues that are preventing his success, directly tied to his military service, probably PTSD and a drinking problem. And that has nothing to do with being a tea bagger.

[Kaleva]

45. I agree that alot of this story doesn't add up.

But the part where he gets something a little over 40k a year for retirement may be accurate IF the ex is getting half.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. I will repeat this, my BS detector is on overdrive.

on this one.

[VanillaRhapsody]

41. My parents live on a military Retirement check

of about a 1/3 of what he is claiming and their SS checks along with VA and commissary if they choose (albeit in SC)....something sure smells fishy.

[VanillaRhapsody]

43. found this...

His struggle to find a job after retiring from the Air Force collided with the end of his marriage nearly two years ago. Unable to return to the home he shared with his estranged wife, and faced with expenses including bills for two sons in college and debts that mounted when he maintained a nicer lifestyle, he took up a nomadic existence.

[TheKentuckian]

47. Not to be a dick but it is hard for me to worry much

about a kat pulling down more than I do before he works a lick.

I'm not hating on him, I'll stipulate that he earned it but most have it worse on a good day and appreciate the blessings they have.

[dem in texas]

53. How does Bull Shit like this ever get in the news?

[exboyfil]

54. With his degrees

he could adjunct teach, even online, and pull down some bucks.

[Liberal_in_LA]

56. adjunct teaching jobs are very competitive these days with all th phds looking for wk

[exboyfil]

57. We are begging for adjuncts in Iowa

The pay is bad. A friend does it out of a sense of guilt (Statistics and other lower level math courses).

You are probably right about other areas of the country. It was just one suggestion. He should move to Iowa. Relatively low cost of living and we have lots of jobs (even more so North Dakota). It is not like he has a home to sell.

The man is a lousy money manager and he had a lousy lawyer for his divorce. While I value his service to our country, his problems are of his making. I have a lot more sympathy for the minimum wage worker couple who have had health problems and are struggling.

[Sheldon Cooper]

55. I would advise Colonel Freniere to delete his grad degrees from his resume.

I do some hiring for my company, and I would not hire someone with his credentials for a janitorial position. He is vastly 'overqualified' for a position of that nature, and my concern as an employer would be that he would leave the second he found anything better. So, why devote time and money for training him when he will almost certainly leave at the first opportunity?

Also, if he's making $40K with his pension, I don't understand why he's homeless. That doesn't add up.