1st Special Forces Command Sergeant Major removed amid sexting scandal

Command Sergeant Major Brian Rarey has been removed from his position as the 1st Special Forces Command CSM as of today, his name disappearing from the unit’s official table of organization chart on their website.  1st Special Forces Command is the umbrella organization under which the entire U.S. Special Forces operates, including 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 10th, 19th, and 20th Special Forces Groups.   This makes CSM Rarey the most senior enlisted soldier in U.S. Special Forces.  The Command Sergeant Major serves the role of advising his commander on all matters relating to enlisted personnel, and also serves as a mentor and role model for younger Non-Commissioned Officers.

While the Army has thus far declined to elaborated on why CSM Rarey was removed on October 26th, sources spoke to SOFREP on the matter.  They described how CSM Rarey became involved in a sexting scandal in which he sent obscene photographs to a female civilian employee within the Army.  That employee then used the obscene material to blackmail the 1st Special Forces Command CSM.  The pictures were used as leverage to try to get Rarey to intervene on the woman’s behalf regarding an unknown issue.  How this information leaked out to the command is also unknown at this time.

Command Sergeants Major are supposed to be their unit’s standard bearers and often lecture younger troops about discipline.  In recent years, there have been a number of Command Sergeants Major being removed from their posts in the Special Operations community.  These indiscretions range from more minor violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice to more major ones, like a CSM in a different unit who was having sex with the wives of his enlisted men while they were deployed.  That CSM was quietly removed and allowed to retire.

The removal of wayward Sergeants Major at least shows some level of accountability in the ranks, but how this change will impact 1st Special Forces Command remains to be seen.

(Featured image courtesy of DVIDs.  CSM Rarey speaking to Special Operations Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve troops in Afghanistan this year)