
An Army First Sergeant somehow managed to be demoted to a specialist after serving for 17 years.
Specialist Miguel Garza, a food inspector assigned to the Public Health Command Europe, career began its decline on New Year’s Eve in 2021 and ended in under a year.
After drinking alcohol with his family, he decided to drive to a party to continue celebrating.
He was eventually pulled over for suspicious driving near the German village of Enkenbach-Alsenborn on Jan. 1, 2022.
He refused to take a Breathalyzer test and had to be forcefully removed from his vehicle by German police officers.
After being handcuffed and taken to a police station, he refused to cooperate or answer questions.
“I don’t talk to Nazis,” he told one officer.
When asked where his driver’s license was, he told the officer “the Nazis took it.”
“He said to my colleague that his rank was so high up that nothing would happen to him,” the officer added, according to Stripes.
The officer also claimed that when Garza was eventually released from the station, he gave an officer a Nazi salute.
His blood alcohol content was four times the legal limit at the time of his arrest.
After the incident, the Army removed him from his first sergeant position but he was still able to maintain his pay grade as a master sergeant.
Nine months later, in October of 2022, he found himself in trouble again after drinking alcohol.
While outside a bar, in downtown Kaiserslautern, he shoved a male airman and inappropriately touched a female air force tech sergeant after they refused to accept a ride with him.
“He was belligerent and angry, and I was scared,” the female tech sergeant said in court.
Garza’s defense attorney said Garza was “a good man who drunkenly made mistakes.”
But his defense was not enough to keep him from being punished.
Master Sgt. Miguel Garza pleaded guilty to drunk and disorderly conduct, driving while intoxicated, and two counts of assault with battery.
In exchange for his plea, five counts of sexual assault were dropped.
He was reduced to the rank of specialist (E-4), ordered to forfeit all pay and allowances, receive a bad conduct discharge, and be jailed for at least 18 months and up to two years.
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