Quiana, thank you for this opportunity to clear the air concerning the facts concerning Conrad Candelaria's enlistment in the New Mexico Army National Guard (NMARNG) in 2005.
It saddens me that Albuquerque Police Department's (APD) Captain Conrad Candelaria, would disparage the Army and in particular, the NMARNG in his efforts to further his Law Enforcement career by spreading "Falsehoods" concerning his enlistment.
I retired from APD in December 2005 (18 years service early retirement rolling 18 years sick leave into early retirement). Before this, Captain Candelaria approached me asking how to join the Army.
This was unsolicited on my part. At that time, I was Chief of Personnel, New Mexico National Guard - for Army and Air Force Guard Personnel.
This was in my Part-Time capacity in the Guard at the rank of Colonel.
I had served with Captain Candelaria for many years and respected him and truly thought this a terrific career move on his part.
I was empowered to mentor him into a full time position which in time, could be permanent based on merit. I could conceivably align him for Colonel in 20 years give or take a few hard years of work!
I had made the calls, asked the questions and pressured the recruiters not to sit on any paperwork to get it done ASAP!
Time and in particular - his age of 39 was of concern. I had to have his training and commission in place before he turned 40 in February 2006. We could do it and it would have been completed, had Conrad Candelaria followed orders to report to Fort Benning, Georgia in September 2005. He would have to complete 90 days of Officer Candidate School(OCS). Conrad would have commissioned as second lieutenant in December 2005 - two months before his 40th birth date.
Conrad Candelaria had a "wake up call" of sorts, perhaps in Basic Training. In any case, he did not report to Fort Benning as ordered and they called Headquarters in Santa Fe. They called me and asked where he was. He insisted that "Waivers" needed to be filed. What he equivocated on, was his reluctance to continue as planned. At that time no waivers would be considered for over 40 within the Guard. Only the Regular Army had that program and the Guard is usually two to three years behind that regulation change or any change instilled in the Active Force.
He received a "General Discharge" as the result. Why consider this, when any good soldier serves and completes his enlistment to gain a "Honorable Discharge" from the service? It remains a black mark or stigma for good reason. These are the facts.
Howard S. Thevenet
Colonel (RET) Air Defense
NMARNG
This morning I interviewed Candelaria who says he never went to Officer Candidate School because his age waiver was never approved.
Here's a quote from Candelaria I used for broadcast on KOB today:
"Maybe you want to call this the dirty side of politics. I don't know what it is, but I'm not going to allow these disparaging comments, these false rumors, these false statements to discourage me in anyway. "-Conrad Candelaria
Candelaria says Thevenet doesn't have access to this military file and would open up his personal file to the commission to prove he never disobeyed an order.
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jeremyjojola.com
3 comments:
Jeremy, this was really interesting article. I wonder if Candelaria had told the US Marshall and the Bernalillo County Commission any of this when he applied. Here are a couple of questions for you if you do a follow up.
1. Is this why Candelaria dropped (or was dropped) from the US Marshall position. His story of withdrawing from it to pursue BCSO is weird. Why would you give up a 6 figure Federal government, top dog position, to take a $68,000 job as Sheriff. It is not passing the smell test. I wonder if, when doing his background, the US Marshall found this bad discharge and dropped him. Can you find out?
2. Just what kind of background check is the county commmission doing? Are they doing one? Could I apply and say I invented the Internet and no one check it to see if it is true?
3. Can you get a government clearence with any discharge less than an Honorable? If Candelaria's discharge is not Honorable, and the security clearence can't be obtained, shouldn't that automatically remove him from consideration? I mean the Sheriff has to deal with Homeland security and other Federal Branchs, if they will not talk to him, what good is he?
Jeremy,
It has been five days since your report, has Candelaria provided you or the County Commission his dd214 discharge papers? Why didn't he provide these papers when he submitted his resume? A lie by omission is still a lie.
Good reporting, I hope you follow this up.
I believe that Candelaria is avoiding showing these "documents" because he knows that it will just prove the militarys records to be correct. Candelaria is a snake in the grass and should not be trusted with a position such as U.S. Marshall or Sheriff either. They should drop him back to a regular beat cop.
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