13-1 - Division Of Administration - Louisiana: Fill & Download for Free

Are you talking about officially, like can you call a phone number or go to a website and look up a person to see if they are a soldier? (BTW soldier is a term to describe Army personnel only) No, there’s no official way that’s that easy to do to get that information. Military personnel files and information are not free to view by the general public, they have no rights to view that information. It’s essentially classified. However, there’s plenty of questions you can ask them to determine if they are telling the truth. For example as them to show you their CAC card (military ID). All military personnel have one and if they are in a uniform they should always have it on them. I keep mine in my wallet so I have mine with me at all times. On the topic of uniforms, you can tell a fake by the uniform most of the time just with a quick google search of “Army combat uniform standards” or something like that and you can usually find pictures. The uniform code for the Army standard of wear is called AR 670–1. Of you do yourself a little research into units, uniform wear, different patches and service badges and ranks, you can usually use that to determine if someone is a fake. A great way to catch someone in a lie is asking about their MOS (military occupational specialty) which is the job they perform. Each job has an MOS code, for example in the Army for officers and enlisted personnel it’s 2 numbers and a letter that correlate to their job. For example, Infantry in the Army is an 11 series MOS, an infantry officer is an 11A, an enlisted infantrymen is either an 11B which is straight up Infantry or 11C which is a mortarmen. Armor is 19 Series, Special Forces is 18 Series, Artillery is 13 Series, EOD is either an 89E for officers and 89D for enlisted and so on. You can find more details about it on the internet. The army also have warrant officers, they are technical specialists in a specific job like engineering or mechanical jobs, but the majority of warrant officers are pilots for Army helicopters. Again you can look into it on the internet for more detailed information. Warrant officers MOS codes are 3 numbers and a letter, for example a special forces warrant officer is a 180A. Another way to probe a suspected faker is to ask them about the basic training for the job they did and know where each job usually sends it’s per for basic training and the AIT or advanced individual training in the specific job they do. Basic training is split in to 2 parts, the basic training cycle where it’s the crash course to the Army where you learn generic stuff about the Army, things like ranks, drilling, shooting a rifle, basic things of that nature like correct uniform wear. The second cycle is the job specific phase, your AIT phase in most cases, this is where you learn to be an aircraft mechanic or truck driver or computer or signal Corp soldier. It’s the job specific training. Now for some jobs like infantry, Cavalry/Armor, combat engineers and some others you do OSUT (one station unit training) this is where the basic training and job training is all smashed into one. With other jobs you usually do your entry training in the 2 cycle system and usually at 2 separate bases. With OSUT it’s all one cycle and it’s all done at one base with no break in between. Infantry and armor/Cavalry are all OSUT at Fort Benning near Columbus Georgia. Combat engineers is OSUT at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri or Fort Sill in Oklahoma I believe, don’t quote me on it, I chose Infantry instead of my other choices, Cavalry Scout and Combat Engineer. Cavalry scout is also at fort Benning. The thing is, there’s lots of simple, easy and quick research you can do that can help to determine if someone is lying or not. Knowing unit locations can help, if someone is wearing a 25th Infantry Division patch or says they are/were in the 25th ID, they are/were either stationed in Hawaii or Alaska. 101st Airborne in fort Campbell Kentucky, 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg North Carolina, 1st Armored in Fort Bliss Texas, 1st Cavalry in Fort Hood Texas, 2nd Infantry Division headquarters and combat aviation brigade are in South Korea while the 2 ground combat brigades (Stryker Brigades) are in Fort Lewis in Washington and fall under administration of 7th Infantry Division, 3rd Infantry Division is in Fort Stewart Georgia, 4th Infantry Division is in Fort Carson Colorado, 10th Mountain Division is fort Drum New York with a brigade that used to be in Fort Polk Louisiana which now falls under the Army National Guards 36th Division as 3rd Brigade Combat Team 36th Infantry Division, there’s also 6 separate Brigades or Regiments that don’t fall under the Divisions, 173rd Airborne Brigade in Vincenza Italy, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment (Stryker) in Vilseck Germany, 3rd ACR in fort hood Texas, 11th ACR at Fort Irwin California, 1st Battalion 509th at Fort Polk La, and 1st Battalion 28th at Fort Benning Ga.its all about what you know and what they know when it comes to figuring out if they are for real or not. Most fakers don’t take much time if any to do research before they put on a uniform ant talk about how they served. Most of the time you can spot them right away by the uniform, collar up, not fully dressed in a uniform, patches and medals all over the place, the American flag on the wrong side (always on the top right shoulder of an Army uniform), and so on. Just do some research and if they tell you a story that sounds crazy you can usually look it up. Almost all major battles and unit deployment are available on the internet for the current wars. Special Operations like green berets and rangers may be a little harder to back track a story as they don’t usually have that information free to public but there’s plenty of ways to figure out the real from the fake if you do some research for yourself.

When I looked at your article, it seemed to have roughly equal numbers from both parties. So I wrote a quick program to count them up. You are correct that there are only 57 Democrats compared to 64 Republicans (all listed below).But I’m not convinced of your pattern. For one thing the list is not complete. For another, there’s a huge variation in charges. The first Republican entry, for example is 11 days in jail for DWI, while the first Democratic one is 3 and a half years in prison for bribery. I think a complete list, weighted for severity, would show about equal for both parties.I did a word count on the lists to get some crude idea of any differences between the parties. Here are the most common words excluding common English words that don’t convey much information, along with how often the words showed up for each party.Campaign violations seem equal, as does fraud. But Republicans seem much more likely to perjure and obstruct, while Democrats conspire. Republicans seems to get lighter penalties, more fines, jail, probation, resignation and suspended sentences; less prison and sentenced. Depending on your partisanship, you can assume Democrats commit worse crimes, or Republicans get lighter treatment from courts. There is a huge gender gap in federal crimes, but the Democrats are more equal than the Republicans.One surprise is only two from each party were pardoned, I had an idea that federal officials convicted of crimes had good chances of pardons. Also, four Democrats but no Republicans were re-elected.DemocratsAlbert Bustamante (D-Texas) was convicted of accepting bribes and sentenced to three and one-half years in prison. (1993) [69]Alcee Hastings (D), Federal District court judge impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate of soliciting a bribe (1989).[166] Subsequently, elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1992)Andrew J. May (D-Kentucky) Convicted of accepting bribes in 1947 from a war munitions manufacturer. Was sentenced to 9 months in prison, after which he was pardoned by Truman (D) in 1952.[143]Anthony Weiner (D-NY)[3] was convicted of sending sexually explicit photos of himself to a 15-year-old girl and was made to sign the sexual offenders register. (2017)[4]Austin Murphy (D-PA) was convicted of one count of voter fraud for filling out absentee ballots for members of a nursing home. (1999) [55]Bertram Podell (D-New York), pleaded guilty to conspiracy and conflict of interest. He was fined $5,000 and served four months in prison. (1974)[123]Carl C. Perkins (D-Kentucky) pleaded guilty to a check kiting scheme involving several financial institutions (including the House Bank).[58]Carroll Hubbard (D-Kentucky) was convicted of illegally funneling money to his wife's 1992 campaign to succeed him in congress.[59]Chaka Fattah (D-PA) was convicted on 23 counts of racketeering, fraud, and other corruption charges. (2016)[10]Charles Diggs (D-Michigan), convicted on 29 charges of mail fraud and filing false payroll forms which formed a kickback scheme with his staff. Sentenced to 3 years (1978) [110]Cornelius Gallagher (D-New Jersey) pleaded guilty to tax evasion, and served two years in prison.[130]Corrine Brown (D-FL) was convicted on 18 felony counts of wire and tax fraud, conspiracy, lying to federal investigators, and other corruption charges. (2017)[5]Dan Flood (D-PA) censured for bribery. After a trial ended in a deadlocked jury, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year's probation.[103][104]Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison, in 1995.[63]Daniel Brewster (D-Maryland) pleaded no contest to accepting "an unlawful gratuity without corrupt intent."[134]Darleen A. Druyun (D), Principal Deputy United States Under Secretary of the Air Force.[46] She pleaded guilty to inflating the price of contracts to favor her future employer, Boeing. In October 2004, she was sentenced to nine months in jail for corruption, fined $5,000, given three years of supervised release and 150 hours of community service.(2005).[47] CBS News called it "the biggest Pentagon scandal in 20 years" and said that she pleaded guilty to a felony.[48]Frank Ballance (D-NC) admitted to federal charges of money laundering and mail fraud in October 2005 and was sentenced to four years in prison. (2005)[40]Frank Boykin (D-Alabama) Was placed on probation and fined $40,000 following conviction in a case involving a conflict of interest and conspiracy to defraud the government. He was pardoned by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.[137]Frank Brasco (D-New York) Sentenced to three months in jail and fined $10,000 for conspiracy to accept bribes from a reputed Mafia figure who sought truck leasing contracts from the Post Office and loans to buy trucks.[105]Frank M. Clark (D-Pennsylvania) pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion on June 12, 1979 and sentenced to two years in prison.[112]Frank Thompson (D-NJ) Sentenced to 3 years.[94]Frank W. Boykin (D-AL) was convicted of conspiracy and conflict of interest in July 1963.[135]Fred Richmond (D-New York) – Convicted of tax fraud and possession of marijuana. Served 9 months in prison. Charges of soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy were dropped after he submitted to counseling. (1978) [109]Frederick W. Richmond (D-NY), Convicted of tax evasion and possession of marijuana. Served 9 months (1982) [102]Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ) Convicted on 9 counts of bribery and conspiracy. Sentenced to 3 years in prison.[89]Harry Claiborne (D), Federal District court Judge was tried and convicted of federal tax evasion; he served over one year in prison (1983). He was later impeached by the House, convicted by the Senate and removed from office (1986).[169]James M. Curley (D-Massachusetts) fined $1,000 and served six-months for fraud before Harry S. Truman commuted the rest of his sentence.[144]Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) pleaded guilty February 20, 2013, to one count of wire and mail fraud in connection with his misuse of $750,000 in campaign funds. Jackson was sentenced to two and one-half years' imprisonment. (2013)[18]Jim Traficant (D-OH) was found guilty on ten felony counts of financial corruption, sentenced to eight years in prison and expelled from the House of Representatives. (2002) [42]Joe Kolter (D-Pennsylvania) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and sentenced to 6 months in prison.(1996)[64][65]John H. Hoeppel (D-CA) convicted in 1936 of selling an appointment to the West Point Military Academy. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 4–12 months in jail.[145]John Jenrette (D-SC) sentenced to two years in prison for bribery and conspiracy.[90]John M. Murphy (D-NY) Served 20 months of a 3-year sentence.[95]John V. Dowdy (D-Texas), Allegedly tried to stop a federal investigation of a construction firm. He served 6 months in prison for perjury. (1973) [121][122]Joshua Eilberg (D-PA) pleaded guilty to conflict-of-interest charges. In addition, he convinced president Carter to fire the U.S. Attorney investigating his case.[105]Laura Richardson (D-CA) was found guilty on seven counts of violating US House rules by improperly using her staff to campaign for her, destroying the evidence and tampering with witness testimony. The House Ethics Committee ordered Richardson to pay a fine of $10,000. (2012)[19][20]Lieutenant General Michael Flynn (D) National Security Advisor. Pled guilty to lying to the FBI. (2017)[1]Mario Biaggi (D-NY) Convicted of obstruction of justice and accepting illegal gratuities he was sentenced to 2½ years in prison and fined $500K. (1987)[97]Mary Rose Oakar (D-Ohio) pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor campaign finance charge not related to the House Bank.[60]Matthew Lyon (Democratic Republican-Kentucky). First Congressman to be recommended for censure after spitting on Roger Griswold (Federalist-Connecticut). The censure failed to pass.[158] Separately, found guilty of violating Alien and Sedition Acts and sentenced to four months in jail, during which time he was re-elected (1798) [159]Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography. (1997) He was later convicted of 12 counts of bank fraud. (1999) Reynolds served his entire sentence stemming from the first conviction and served 42 months in prison for the bank fraud conviction at which point his sentence was commuted by President Bill Clinton.[49] As a result, Reynolds was released from prison and served his remaining time in a halfway house.[50][51]Michael Myers (D-PA) Accepted $50K saying, "...money talks and bullshit walks." Sentenced to 3 years and was expelled from the House.[93]Michael Myers (D-Pennsylvania) Received suspended six-month jail term after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct charged stemming from an incident at a Virginia bar in which he allegedly attacked a hotel security guard and a cashier.[111]Nicholas Mavroules (D-Massachusetts) was convicted of extortion, accepting illegal gifts and failing to report them on congressional disclosure and income tax forms. Mavroules pleaded guilty to fifteen counts in April 1993 and was sentenced to a fifteen-month prison term. (1993) [67][68]Raymond Lederer (D-PA) "I can give you me" he said after accepting $50K. Sentenced to 3 years.[92]Richard T. Hanna (D-CA), convicted in an influence-buying scandal. (1974)[124]Richard Tonry (D-Louisiana) pleaded guilty to receiving illegal campaign contributions.[113]Robert Frederick Collins (D), Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, was convicted of bribery and sentenced to six years, ten months. (1991)[167]Robert Garcia (D-NY) sentenced to 2½ years.[98]Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) US Senator, drove his car into the channel between Chappaquiddick Island and Martha's Vineyard, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended sentence of two months (1969)[129]Thomas F. Johnson (D-Maryland) was convicted of conspiracy and conflict of interest regarding the receipt of illegal gratuities.[136]Thomas J. Lane (D-Massachusetts) convicted for evading taxes on his congressional income. Served 4 months in prison, but was re-elected three more times.[138] before his 1962 defeat due to re-districting. (1956) [139]Thomas Porteous (D), Federal Judge of the U.S. Eastern District of Louisiana was impeached, convicted and removed from office December 8, 2010, on charges of bribery and lying to Congress. (2010)[160][161]Wade Sanders (D), Deputy Assistant United States Secretary of the Navy, for Reserve Affairs, was sentenced to 37 months in prison on one charge of possession of child pornography. (2009)[43][44][45]Walter Fauntroy (D-District of Columbia) was convicted of filing false disclosure forms to hide unauthorized income.[61]Walter Nixon (D) Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi was impeached by the House and convicted by the Senate for perjury November 3, 1989.[168]William J. Jefferson (D-LA) was charged in August 2005 after the FBI seized $90,000 in cash from his home freezer. He was re-elected to the House in 2006, but lost in 2008. He was convicted November 13, 2009, of 11 counts of bribery and sentenced to 13 years in prison. (2009)[36] Jefferson's Chief of Staff Brett Pfeffer, was sentenced to 84 months for bribery. (2006) [37]RepublicansFrank Horton (New York politician) (R-NY) Pleaded guilty to Driving While Intoxicated (arrested at 105 mph) served 11 days jail(1976)[116][117]Albert Fall (R) Secretary of the Interior who was bribed by Harry F. Sinclair for control of the Teapot Dome federal oil reserves in Wyoming. He was the first U.S. cabinet member to ever be convicted; he served two years in prison. (1922) [150]Andrew J. Hinshaw (R-CA) US Representative was convicted of accepting bribes. He served one year in prison. (1977)[114][115]Bill Janklow (R-SD) was convicted of second-degree manslaughter for running a stop sign and killing a motorcyclist. Resigned from the House and given 100 days in the county jail and three years probation. (2003)[41]Bob Ney (R-OH) pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements as a result of his receiving trips from Abramoff in exchange for legislative favors. Ney received 30 months in prison. (2007)[38]Bob Packwood (R-OR), 19 women accused him of sexual misconduct. He fought the allegations, but eventually, the US Senate Ethics Committee found him guilty of a "pattern of abuse of his position of power and authority” and recommended that he be expelled from the Senate. He resigned on Sept. 7, 1995.[52]Buz Lukens (R-Ohio) convicted of bribery and conspiracy.[57]Catalina Vasquez Villalpando, (R) Treasurer of the United States, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and tax evasion. (1992)[66]Charles Colson (R) Special Counsel to the President for Public Liaison, convicted of obstruction of justice. Served 7 months.Claude Allen (R) Director of the Domestic Policy Council, was arrested for a series of felony thefts in retail stores. (2006) He was convicted on one count and resigned soon after.[35]David Durenberger Senator (R-Minnesota) denounced by Senate for unethical financial transactions and then disbarred (1990). He pleaded guilty to misuse of public funds and given one year probation (1995) [70]David Safavian (R) Administrator for the Office of Management and Budget[27] where he set purchasing policy for the entire government.[28][29] He was found guilty of blocking justice and lying,[30] and sentenced to 18 months. (2008)[31][32]Dennis Hastert (R-IL) Speaker of the United States House of Representatives pleaded guilty in court for illegally structuring bank transactions related to payment of $3.5 million to quash allegations of sexual misconduct with a student when he was a high school teacher and coach decades ago.[11] (2016)Duke Cunningham (R-CA) pleaded guilty November 28, 2005, to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion in what came to be called the Cunningham scandal and was sentenced to over eight years in prison. (2005)[39]Dwight Chapin (R) Secretary to the President of the United States, convicted of perjury.Earl Butz (R) United States Secretary of Agriculture. He was charged with failing to report more than $148,000 in 1978. Butz pleaded guilty to the tax evasion charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation and was ordered to make restitution. He served 25 days behind bars before his release.[118][119]Edwin Reinecke (R-CA) convicted of perjury and sentenced to 18 months in prison as part of the Watergate investigation.Egil Krogh (R) United States Undersecretary of Transportation, sentenced to six months.Elliott Abrams (R) Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, convicted of withholding evidence. Given 2 years probation. Later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush.[86]Ernest K. Bramblett (R-California) Received a suspended sentence and a $5,000 fine in 1955 for making false statements in connection with payroll padding and kickbacks from congressional employees.[140]General David Petraeus (R)[8] Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. On April 23, 2015, a federal judge sentenced Petraeus to two years’ probation plus a fine of $100,000 for providing classified information to Lieutenant Colonel Paula Broadwell.(2015)[9]George V. Hansen (R-ID) censured for failing to fill out disclosure forms. Spent 15 months in prison.[101]George V. Hansen (R-ID) US Representative, first member of Congress to be convicted of violating a new 1971 campaign law requiring disclosure of financial contributions(1974)[132][133]Greg Gianforte (R-MT) pled guilty to charge of assault. (2017)[6][7]H. R. Haldeman (R) White House Chief of Staff, convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Served 18 months in prison.Harry E. Rowbottom, (R-IN) was convicted in Federal court of accepting bribes from persons who sought post office appointments. He served one year in Leavenworth.(1931)[147]Henry B. Cassel (R-Pennsylvania) was convicted of fraud related to the construction of the Pennsylvania State Capitol (1909).[153][154]J. Herbert Burke (R-FL) pleaded guilty to disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest, and nolo contendere to an additional charge of witness tampering. He was sentenced to three months plus fines.(1978)[108]J. Irving Whalley (R-Pennsylvania) Received suspended three-year sentence and fined $11,000 in 1973 for using mails to deposit staff salary kickbacks and threatening an employee to prevent her from giving information to the FBI.[105]J. Parnell Thomas (R-New Jersey): a member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), was convicted of salary fraud and given an 18-month sentence and a fine, resigning from Congress in 1950. He was imprisoned in Danbury Prison with two of the Hollywood Ten he had helped put there. After serving his 18 months he was pardoned by Truman (D) in 1952.[142]James F. Hastings (R-New York), convicted of kickbacks and mail fraud, he also took money from his employees for personal use. Served 14 months at Allenwood penitentiary. (1976) [120]James Fred Hastings (R-NY) Resigned on January 20, 1976 after being convicted of kickbacks and mail fraud. He served 14 months at Allenwood penitentiary (1976).[120]James G. Watt (R) United States Secretary of the Interior 1981–1983, was charged with 25 counts of perjury and obstruction of justice. Sentenced to five years probation, fined $5,000 and 500 hours of community service[84]Jay Kim (R-CA) accepted $250,000 in illegal 1992 campaign contributions and was sentenced to two months house arrest. (1992)[71][72][73][74]John Dean (R) White House Counsel, convicted of obstruction of justice, later reduced to felony offenses and served 4 months.John Ehrlichman (R) former White House Counsel, convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury. Served 18 months in prison.John Hicklin Hall (R) US District Attorney for Oregon appointed by President McKinley, convicted of not prosecuting suspects and then blackmailing them later during the Oregon land fraud scandal(1903)[157][81]John Hipple Mitchell Senator (R-Oregon) was involved with the Oregon land fraud scandal, for which he was indicted and convicted while a sitting U.S. Senator. (1905) [155]John N. Mitchell (R) former United States Attorney General, convicted of perjury.[126]John W. Langley (R-KY) Resigned from the US Congress in January 1926, after losing an appeal to set aside his conviction of violating the Volstead Act (Prohibition). He had also been caught trying to bribe a Prohibition officer. He was sentenced to two years, after which his wife Katherine G. Langley ran for Congress in his place and won two full terms.[148][149]Jon Hinson (R-MS) was arrested for having homosexual oral sex in the House of Representatives’ bathroom with a government staffer. Hinson, who was married, later received a 30-day jail sentence, and a year's probation, on condition that he get counseling and treatment. At the time, homosexual acts were criminalized, even between consenting adults. He then resigned his seat and began working as a gay rights advocate.(1981) [106][107]Joseph R. Burton Senator (R-Kansas) was convicted of accepting a $2500 bribe in 1904.[156]Lester Crawford (R) Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, resigned after 2 months. Pleaded guilty to conflict of interest and received 3 years suspended sentence and fined $90,000. (2006) [34]Lewis Libby (R) Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney (R). 'Scooter' was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Plame Affair on March 6, 2007 and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $250,000. His sentence was commuted by George W. Bush (R) on July 1, 2007. (2007)[33]Mark E. Fuller (R) U.S. District Judge was found guilty of domestic violence and sentenced to 24 weeks of family and domestic training and forced to resign his position. (2015)[21][22][23]Martin B. McKneally (R-New York) Placed on one-year probation and fined $5,000 in 1971 for failing to file income tax return. He had not paid taxes for many years prior.[131]Maurice Stans (R) United States Secretary of Commerce, pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the reporting sections of the Federal Election Campaign Act and two counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions and was fined $5,000.(1975)[128]Michael Deaver (R) White House Deputy Chief of Staff to Ronald Reagan 1981–85, pleaded guilty to perjury related to lobbying activities and was sentenced to 3 years probation and fined $100,000 [87]Michael Grimm (R-NY) pleaded guilty of felony tax evasion. This was the fourth count in a 20-count indictment brought against him for improper use of campaign funds. The guilty plea had a maximum sentence of three years; he was sentenced to eight months in prison. (2015)[12][13]Michael J. Hogan (R-NY) was convicted of bribery and sentenced to a year and a day in a Federal Penitentiary.(1935)[146]Pat Swindall (R-GA) convicted of 6 counts of perjury. (1989) [99][100]Richard Kelly (R-FL) Accepted $25K and then claimed he was conducting his own investigation into corruption. Served 13 months.[91]Richard Kleindienst (R) United States Attorney General, convicted of "refusing to answer questions" given one month in jail.Rick Renzi (R-AZ) was found guilty on 17 of 32 counts against him June 12, 2013, including wire fraud, conspiracy, extortion, racketeering, money laundering and making false statements to insurance regulators. (2013)[17]Robert Archbald (R) U.S. Commerce Court Judge of Pennsylvania, was convicted of corruption in 1912.[152]Samuel B. Kent (R), Federal District Judge of the Galveston Division of the U.S. Southern District of Texas, was sentenced May 11, 2009, to 33 months in prison for having lied about sexually harassing two female employees. (2009) [165]Scott Bloch (R) United States Special Counsel. pleaded guilty to criminal contempt of Congress for "willfully and unlawfully withholding pertinent information from a House Committee investigating his decision to have several government computers wiped ..."[24][25] On June 24, 2013, U. S. District Judge Robert L. Wilkins sentenced Bloch to one day in jail and two years' probation, and also ordered him to pay a $5000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service.(2010) [26]Senior Federal U.S. District Court Judge Jack Camp (R) was arrested in an undercover drug bust while trying to purchase cocaine from an FBI agent. Judge Jack T. Camp resigned his position after pleading guilty to three criminal charges. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 400 community service hours and fined. (2010)[162][163][164]Spiro Agnew (R) Former Vice President of the United States, convicted of income-tax evasion.[127]Steve Stockman (R-TX) was convicted of fraud. (2018)[2]Trey Radel (R-FL) was convicted of possession of cocaine in November 2013. As a first-time offender, he was sentenced to one year probation and fined $250. Radel announced he would take a leave of absence, but did not resign. Later, under pressure from a number of Republican leaders, he announced through a spokesperson that he would resign. (2013)[14][15][16]Walter E. Brehm (R-Ohio) convicted of accepting contributions illegally from one of his employees. Received a 15-month suspended sentence and a $5,000 fine.[141]Wes Cooley (R-OR), was convicted of having lied on the 1994 voter information pamphlet about his service in the Army. He was fined and sentenced to two years probation (1997)[53] After leaving office, Cooley was convicted of income tax fraud connected to an investment scheme. He was sentenced to one year in prison and to pay restitution of $3.5 million to investors and $138,000 to the IRS.[54]William Lorimer Senator (R-IL), The 'blond boss of Chicago' was found guilty of accepting bribes in 1912.[151]

Here’s something that’s mainstream opinion in Europe, but barely ever whispered in the USA: Not only was the American Revolution destined to fail without French aid, it would also most likely have failed without the help of Baron von Steuben, or if the Spanish and Dutch hadn’t gotten involved.Spanish forces defeating the British in the Battle of Pensacola, an event that’s often left out of American history books. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.At this point, many of my fellow Americans will feel some cognitive dissonance. Weren’t the American revolutionaries a determined group of bold patriots who used Native American guerilla tactics to embarrass the British until they gave up? That’s what we were taught in school, and it’s not entirely wrong. It’s also not the whole story. It would be like telling the story of World War II by describing the brave exploits of Charles De Gaulle and the Free French, while glossing over British, American and Soviet contributions.None of this is to say that Washington and the other revolutionaries were a bunch of starry-eyed fools with no chance of victory. Like De Gaulle and the Free French, they had a plan. To understand this, we need to take a look at what was going on in the Thirteen Colonies at the outbreak of war. So strap in, because it’s time for a history lesson. And history can be complicated, so this is a long answer.1775: The year a local rebellion in Massachusetts turned into a warThe thing that’s most often misunderstood about the American Revolution is that it wasn’t just a war. It was also a political movement. Much of George Washington’s genius was off the battlefield, in the business of keeping thirteen fractious colonies united in their common struggle.I’m going to try to limit this answer to the war itself, but trouble had been brewing in the colonies for some time. What’s important to remember is that the Thirteen Colonies were separate entities, with their own competing interests and their own complaints against the British Crown. The Canadian colonies of Rupert’s Land, Newfoundland, Quebec, and Nova Scotia were administratively similar, but none of them ever sent delegates to the Continental Congress or joined the revolution.Another thing that’s misunderstood is the timeline of the war itself. Many people will probably remember something like this: A bunch of politics happens, then the Declaration of Independence then the Revolutionary War breaks out. In fact, war broke out more than a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed in July of 1776.The war started back in April 1775. Due to a long series of trade disputes, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress had declared an official boycott on British goods. As a result, the British Parliament declared the Colony of Massachusetts to be in revolt, and authorized the use of military force to put down the “rebellion”. On April 18th, a detachment of British Army regulars set out to disarm the Massachusetts Colonial Militia arsenals at Lexington and Concord. Militia troops fought them off, and within a day a militia army of over 15,000 troops was besieging the British garrison in Boston.The Battle of Lexington. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.By June 14th, the Continental Congress approved the formation of the Continental Army, and on June 15th George Washington was marching to Boston to assume command of the now 22,000-strong Continental Army besieging the British. By July 18th, the Continental Congress had called on all thirteen colonies to raise troops to fight the British.Why did they think they could win?Rule Britannia: Why Conquer the World When You Can Buy It?To understand Britain in 1775, we have to understand that it wasn’t just Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies. It was a whole bunch of territories around the world, from the coast of West Africa to India and Ceylon, to the Caribbean. You can’t see it on the map because it’s so tiny, but they also already controlled Gibraltar.The British Empire in 1776. Image courtesy of Desmond Ng, from: Desmond Ng's answer to Did Great Britain have the greatest empire in the world during the American War of Independence as claimed by Americans?This was an empire based on trade. Tea from India. Slaves from Africa. Sugar from the Caribbean. Tobacco and fur from North America. To protect this trade, the British had built the Royal Navy into the world’s greatest naval force. They had over 100 ships of the line, 80 cruisers, hundreds of transports and numerous smaller vessels.With this massive naval force, the population of the British Isles (between six and eight million people in 1776) ruled over an empire of millions of others around the globe. They didn’t do it with their (relatively paltry) army of 50,000 men. They did it by ensuring a constant flow of trade, and propping up political allies in their colonies around the world.Twelve years before the American War of Independence, in 1763, the British had been on the winning side of the Seven Years’ War (the French and Indian War to us Yankees). Without going too much into history, this was a major European war that involved most countries in Europe, and Britain didn’t win a single land battle on the continent. What they did instead was use their massive navy to strangle France’s colonial possessions to death. Between 1756 and 1763, France lost its territory in India and West Africa, as well as islands in the Caribbean and all of New France (a huge territory extending from modern-day Louisiana through the American Midwest up through the Eastern half of modern-day Canada). Well-fed, well-supplied British expeditionary troops and their local allies easily smashed French forces that were overextended, undersupplied, and had no hope of reinforcements from the homeland. While the British economy continued to thrive on global trade, France’s economy ground to a halt. At the war’s end, France managed to salvage her Caribbean islands and Indian outposts, but lost everything else.This was a bit of a digression, but it goes to show two things:The British strategy of naval supremacy, combined with a “divide and conquer” diplomatic approach to local populations (more on that later) allowed the British Empire’s economy to prosper, in war or peace.In 1775, France was angry at Great Britain. King Louis XVI was eager for any way to smack down the British, and was willing to back any credible anti-British rebellion.King Louis XVI of France; in this war, at least, he managed to keep his head. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.Basically, the British Empire in 1775 was a maritime empire with a small army. It could shut down the shipping of any other nation on the planet, isolating them economically. It could offer payments to local allies to fight for Britain in any theatre. But was not prepared or willing to engage in a protracted land war in the European style: regular army lined up against regular army.This plays against some familiar stereotypes. If you went to school in America, you were probably taught about how the British lined up in long rows, shooting at the enemy in organized ranks, and how the American colonists used more modern tactics to defeat them. For more explanation on why British tactics were much smarter than they seem to the modern eye, see David Loeb’s excellent answer to: What is the official name for 18th century ground warfare, where one side engages in a slow march toward the other? Why were such inefficient tactics and strategy used? Was it based on the concept on civility of warfare?Long story short: The idea of lining up in ranks and firing at a relatively short-range enemy was the natural evolution of earlier military tactics. Every military of the time used these tactics. Moreover, the British redcoats may have been a small army, but they were well-trained and well-supplied by the standard of the times. The colonial militias used the same tactics in several major battles — Bunker Hill is one example — and they failed against better-trained troops. This led to the use of guerilla tactics. Not because they were objectively better tactics given the technology of the time, but because the Continental Army couldn’t possibly stand toe to toe with the British Army without some help.Remember how I mentioned the British divide and conquer policy? This was most obvious in the British Raj, where the East India Company managed to dominate Indian trade with only a few thousand troops. They did this by allying with local rulers, paying them to fight other local leaders who refused to submit to a British trade monopoly. The British did a similar thing in North America to check the ambitions of the Thirteen Colonies. At the end of the Seven Years’ War, King George III signed the Royal Proclamation of 1763, forbidding colonists from settling lands West of the Ohio River. This made many colonists angry, particularly in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, which all claimed parts of the Ohio Territory for themselves. However, it ensured that the Iroquois Confederation, the Cherokee and the Algonquin tribes would side with the British Crown in any dispute with the Thirteen Colonies. So, not only were the colonists battling the redcoats and the Royal Navy, they also had to deal with British-allied Native Americans in the Northwest.Finally, the British did have one major disadvantage against the colonists: logistics. While the colonists were fighting in their own backyard, travel time between Britain and North America was roughly a month each way. This wasn’t just an issue for moving troops back and forth. It also affected basic communications, meaning that instructions from the home island were often months out of date by the time they arrived in the New World.The Thirteen Colonies: David Searching for His SlingIn 1775, the population of the Thirteen Colonies was approximately 2.4 million people, as opposed to the British population of between 6 and 8 million. Let’s call it 7 million. Right off the bat, the colonists were outnumbered roughly three-to-one, and that’s not counting the British Native American allies.Furthermore, unlike Great Britain, the Thirteen Colonies lacked a professional army. They did rectify this quickly as I mentioned above, but militia units played a huge part in the war up until the very end. Nonetheless, most of these “soldiers” were farmers and craftsmen. Times being what they were, most of them would have had experience with firearms in hunting, but being able to bring down a ten point buck is not the same as being able to maintain discipline in the face of cannon fire.The exception to this was the officer corps and some of the militia veterans, many of whom (including Washington) had served under the British in the Seven Years’ War. Those people did indeed have military experience, but it was the exception rather than the rule.George Washington in British uniform as a member of the Virginia Colonial Militia (1772). Image courtesy of atlasobscura.com.Many people also forget that the colonists were not all united. Historians disagree on the exact numbers, but only about a third of the colonists sided with the revolutionaries. This group came to be known as “patriots”, while those who favored the status quo (also about a third of the population) came to be known as “tories”. So not only were patriot militias fighting British regular troops, they were also dealing with tory militias.As for strengths, the Thirteen Colonies did have one major advantage, and it’s the one my fellow Yankees were taught in school: home field advantage. I won’t belabor the point because it’s one of the few things our American high school history books got right. The colonists knew their local terrain, had the advantage of supportive friends and neighbors, and had a personal stake in the outcome (unlike the average British redcoat who was there for a paycheck).Plan A: Use the Threat of War to Apply Political PressureGiven the obvious British advantage, how did the colonists expect to win? As you probably guessed from the fact that the war broke out by accident, nobody could agree on a plan. Indeed, in 1775, some revolutionaries still opposed outright independence. As late as July 1776, early revolutionary leader John Dickinson famously refused to sign the Declaration of Independence.While not all revolutionaries were agreed on independence, they were violently opposed to British economic and trade policies, as well as being opposed to paying taxes while having no representative in Parliament. While the British army could certainly defeat them, the thinking went, it would be a costly endeavor. Fire a few shots at the redcoats, seize a few key strategic forts, and surely King George would negotiate. Then the trade imbalances would be fixed, the colonies would elect representatives to Parliament, and everyone could go back to being loyal British subjects.I’ve been long-winded so far, so I’m not going to spend 10,000 words writing a blow-by-blow history of the first year of the war. Suffice it to say that King George did not negotiate. He ordered more troops sent to the colonies to put down the rebellion. Nonetheless, there was a strong Whig faction in the British Parliament that opposed the war and did their best to obstruct funding. This faction was active up until the end of the war. The British public was also divided on the issue, with many of them opposed to what they saw as violent repression against people who were, at the end of the day, fellow Englishmen.During the first year of the war, the patriots drove the British out of Boston, occupied Montreal, and forced the British fleet to evacuate from Boston to Nova Scotia. Perhaps encouraged by their early successes, the Continental Congress famously voted to declare independence on July 4th, 1776, although it wasn’t officially signed until August. There would be no political compromise. Plan A had failed.Plan B: Deny the British a FootholdThe first year of the war had been mostly successful for the revolutionaries. With the British driven out of Boston, and with no significant British forces in the rest of the thirteen colonies, the British army couldn’t fight effectively or resupply. If the British were going to put down this rebellion, they would need to take control of a major harbor to bring supplies and troops into the theater. Washington knew this, and had already moved his army to New York City to defend the harbor there.Even as the ink was drying on the Declaration of Independence, a British force of of 73 warships, over 300 transports, and 30,000 troops was massing on Staten Island. On August 22nd, they began ferrying troops to Long Island. Washington deployed troops to defend the island, and the British attacked on the night of August 26th. Washington’s force was badly defeated, and he was forced to withdraw to Manhattan on the night of August 30th. To his credit, Washington did not lose a single man or piece of equipment during the retreat.But the damage was done. By the end of September, the British controlled all of Manhattan, and the Continental Army was retreating south into Pennsylvania. Worst of all, the British now had a foothold in the colonies. The war to come was guaranteed to be long and bloody.Battle of Long Island. Note that the Continental Army’s battle flag already has some familiar red and white stripes. Image courtesy of the U.S. National Guard.Plan C: Keep an Army in the Field Until Something ChangesOn their way south, Washington’s army famously crossed the Delaware River to drive out the British garrison in Trenton, and ended up capturing 900 Hessian mercenaries who were quartered there. He went on to defeat a British force at Princeton before finally settling into winter quarters in Morristown, NJ.While these incidents are famous, and were significant because they boosted the morale of the Continental Army after their series of losses in New York, the strategic situation remained bleak.The colonial forces consisted of roughly 11,000 troops in the Continental Army under George Washington, a smaller army/patriot militia force under Horatio Gates in New England, and a variety of disparate state militias in the Southern states. This was the force the colonists had to fight the mightiest nation on Earth.The strategy Washington developed is the same strategy that has been used by revolutionaries since then, most notably by Mao Zedong during the Long March and by the Taliban in Afghanistan: keep an army in the field. Washington understood that the British could not keep fighting indefinitely. They could certainly win, if they defeated the Continental Army, but as long as the colonies kept an army in the field it would require the British to spend resources fighting them. Eventually, King George would have to give up.This was probably a rose-colored view of things. Unlike the case of Mao Zedong versus Chang Kai-Shek, King George was thousands of miles away, and the Continental Army could not directly threaten the British homeland. Unlike the case of the Taliban versus the Soviets, the patriots did not have the overwhelming support of the local population.However, there is one parallel here worth noting: just as Mao’s revolutionaries managed to control the countryside, slowly isolating Chang Kai-Shek’s army to urban centers, the patriots began to dominate the colonial countryside. While tory militias could, in theory, have gone toe-to-toe with patriot militias, tory militias began to disband, and tory citizens were migrating to British-controlled cities en-masse. They did this because they feared patriot militias, and they were seeking protection from British regular troops. Patriots, on the other hand, could count on no such protection, so they remained in the countryside, conducting guerilla raids on British patrols and supply trains. Thus, by fielding a large regular army on the American continent, the British unwittingly strengthened the revolutionary cause in the countryside.Nonetheless, the picture looked grim. And the British had an intangible factor that was as potent as the colonists’ home-field advantage: George III’s stubbornness. To understand this, let’s put the British military effort in perspective:At this point in the war, there were over 30,000 British regulars and mercenaries in the colonies, with more on the way. This is more than twice as many troops as the US has in Afghanistan in 2018, and we have a population more than fifty times the British population during the American Revolution. Furthermore, the logistical nightmare of moving troops and equipment halfway across the world in 2018 doesn’t even compare to the challenges the British faced with 18th-century technology. This was a huge, expensive undertaking, and it wasn’t unreasonable for the colonists to expect the British to negotiate. George III’s stubbornness is what kept the war going.George III’s coronation portrait. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.The Continental Army faced numerous difficulties that had nothing to do with the British, and I’m not going to spend another thousand words going into them here. Suffice it to say that the Continental Congress had some funding issues, and ended up paying their troops in paper currency that only had value if you were buying from patriots who believed in the cause. Inflation rates were on par with Weimar Germany, and Washington’s army nearly disbanded more than once due to lack of funding. They also faced a Smallpox epidemic, and were so poorly supplied that Washington had to personally go to Congress and demand that they issue blankets to his troops or they would all freeze to death. Washington is often criticized for his dubious tactical decisions, but he deserves credit for keeping an army in the field at all. Had the war continued from here, with no foreign support for the revolutionaries, it’s reasonable to suspect that the British crown would eventually have won.Except, as mentioned before, the French had a bone to pick with the British, and a young French nobleman named Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de LaFayette, came to visit Washington. This mission was not officially approved by the French crown. Indeed, France had considered sending officers and military advisors a year earlier, in 1776, but King Louis had decided against it. Nonetheless, the young nobleman made the journey on his own, and arrived in the colonies on June 13th, 1777.LaFayette in 1791. Image courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsBy the 31st of July, LaFayette had met with Congress, and obtained a commission as a major general in the Continental Army. By August 15th, he had been introduced to Washington, who immediately took a liking to his fellow mason. On September 11th, he saw his first action at the Battle of Brandywine. The Americans were initially routed in the battle, but LaFayette rallied the troops and salvaged an orderly retreat. He was also wounded in the battle, and his courage earned him command of a division.On November 5th, LaFayette fought in the Battle of Gloucester, where the 350 troops under his command defeated a force of 450 Hessian mercenaries, suffering only 1 killed and a few injured in the process.The Battles of Saratoga also took place during this time. An American army had surrounded a British army a few miles south of Saratoga, New York. The British tried to break out twice, and failed both times. These battles, on September 19th and October 7th respectively, were hugely consequential. Had the British broken out, they would have marched south across New York to meet another British army near Albany, effectively cutting the 13 colonies in two by isolating New England from the middle and southern colonies. Instead, their army of over 6,000 men was captured.Between these military victories, entreaties from American diplomats like Benjamin Franklin, and glowing reports from LaFayette, Louis XVI was convinced to formally join the cause of independence. On February 6th, 1778, France formally recognized the United States of America as a sovereign nation, and signed a treaty of defensive alliance. On March 13th, the French ambassador announced the treaty to the British. On March 17th, Great Britain declared war on France, and the two nations were officially at war.Baron von Steuben Visits Valley ForgeIn the middle of all this, a renowned Prussian officer named Baron von Steuben was on his way to the colonies. The Prussian Army was to the 18th century as the American Army is to the 21st century: better trained, better disciplined, better drilled than any other army in the world. And von Steuben was one of their best, having served as an aide-de-camp to Frederick the Great during the Seven Years’ War.Driven out of Prussia due to rumors he was gay, he fled to Paris, where the French Minister of War introduced him to Benjamin Franklin, the American ambassador to France. Franklin was impressed by the Prussian Captain, and wrote him a letter of recommendation to George Washington that mistranslated the word “Captain” as “Lieutenant-General”, further burnishing his resume.Von Steuben departed in late summer, and arrived in New Hampshire on September 26th, 1777, but he and his men had gotten bad information, and arrived dressed in British Redcoats uniforms. The confusion was soon cleared up, and they passed through Boston on December 1st, and finally arrived in Valley Forge on February 23rd, 1778.Baron von Steuben in 1780. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.Von Steuben quickly impressed Washington with his military acumen, and was appointed provisional inspector general of the Continental Army. He quickly toured the camp, and ordered changes in layout and sanitation that would be the world standard as late as World War I. He also selected 120 of the best troops to be an honor guard for Washington, trained them in the latest Prussian drill methods, and appointed them as trainers for the rest of the army.On May 5th, Congress commissioned von Steuben as a major general in the army, and made his position of inspector general official. Von Steuben immediately set to work, and uncovered a number of schemes by Congressmen and others to siphon off military supplies for their own profits. By some estimates, he saved the US $600,000 in material (over $15 million in 2018 dollars).In 1779, he published “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States”, which came to be known as the “blue book”, the very first US Army manual. Von Steuben’s reforms turned the ragtag Continental Army into a force that could contend with the best militaries of Europe, as they would ultimately prove in the decisive siege of Yorktown two years later.Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown. Image courtesy of goodfreephotos.comSpain Jumps on the BandwagonIn 1779, Spain joined the war, eager to avenge losses to the British in the Seven Years’ War, particularly the loss of sugar-producing Florida. This was significant, because the Spanish Navy, combined with the French Navy, was able to challenge Britain’s control over the Caribbean. A combined Franco-Spanish force also laid siege to Gibraltar.The siege lasted from June 16th, 1779, until February 7th, 1783, making it by far the longest battle of the war. The British garrison only survived because they were resupplied three times by sea, due to a combination of British naval daring and Franco-Spanish naval incompetence. The Spanish fleet also sank two major British supply convoys in 1780 and 1781, hampering British military efforts in the Americas.In February, 1780, the British sent a fleet, including a young Horatio Nelson, to attempt to seize Nicaragua from Spain. Nelson acquitted himself with valor in the first battle. The British did successfully seize a Spanish fort, but a combination of bad weather and disease forced them to abandon the expedition and return to Jamaica.Spanish forces in then-Spanish-controlled Louisiana attacked over land, overwhelming British defenders in Mississippi and driving out the last British troops in Florida at the Battle of Pensacola in 1781. This eliminated any possibility of British troops resupplying from the south, or opening a second front along the Mississippi river.In 1782, the Spanish seized the Bahamas from Great Britain without firing a shot, and a plan was underway to invade Britain’s last Caribbean possession - Jamaica - when Britain finally surrendered in 1783.Dutch Material AidFrom the beginning of the war, individual Dutch traders, angry about British trade abuses, began surreptitiously funding American revolutionaries. The Royal Navy started seizing many of these ships and the Dutch joined the League of Armed Neutrality, a collection of European countries who reserved the right to trade with anyone and would fire on hostile interceptors.In 1780, Britain declared war, kicking off the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. While the Dutch eventually lost, this war further overstretched British resources.In Conclusion: Why Plan C WorkedSome historians have argued that the Battles of Saratoga were important in and of themselves, and showed that American armies could defeat the British in large-scale battles. This may be true on paper, but these battles were fought in conditions that uniquely favored the Americans. The Battles of Saratoga took place far from the Royal Navy, far from any British forts, in an American hinterland that was dominated by patriot forces. It would probably have gone quite differently if the battle had taken place somewhere the British had naval support or even fortifications.Were these battles important? Undoubtedly, they kept the colonies in the war for another year, and convinced the French to join the war, but the idea that they prove the Continental Army of 1777 could go toe to toe with British regulars is pure American cowboy fantasy. By the end of the war, they most certainly could, but this is not due to American-made ingenuity. Improvements in Continental Army training happened thanks to Baron von Steuben.French and Spanish military action, as well as Dutch aid, were indispensable to the war effort. Without the Royal Navy being stressed to its breaking point, the Continental Army would ultimately have succumbed to British military might.This is not to say that the founding fathers don’t deserve credit. They do. They just don’t deserve sole credit for defeating the world’s strongest military through sheer American can-do spirit. What they deserve credit for is winning the political struggle. While Washington kept an army in the field and wisely made use of von Steuben’s genius, Ben Franklin and others cajoled France, Spain and the Netherlands into joining the war. Sadly, many Americans give our founding fathers far less credit than they deserve by downplaying the American Revolution as a mere military victory, rather than a geopolitical victory.Edit: Several of the comments contain interesting facts that would make this answer way too long, but are definitely worth learning about. Thanks so much to everyone for commenting and also for corrections. I’ve also added a few more pictures.