Major Robert Green - Prejudice and Misconduct

I have known Major Robert Green, and his wife, Charma, for more than three years. We met shortly after their appointment as Corp Officers for The Carr P Collins Social Services Center in Dallas, Texas, where I was the Billing and Finance Manager. This piece covers some serious issues; his lack of respect, prejudice and gross misconduct on the job.

Major Robert Green is still a Salvation Army officer and is now assigned to The Lancaster Corp in Fort Worth, Texas. The Salvation Army transfers officers who commit misconduct. Officers are never held to the same standards it holds its employees. The bar for ethical and moral behavior is much lower for officers.


The following statements are direct quotes from Major Robert Green.  

“Did you see the way that woman was dressed? If I were her husband I would have hit her too. Oh, I'm not saying I condone domestic violence, but I do understand why her husband hit her." 

Major Green made those two statements about a client in the Domestic Violence program at The Carr P Collins Social Services Center, a facility owned by The Salvation Army.  At the time he was the Corp Officer for the facility.


“I don't know why The Salvation Army does business with Home Depot. They hire gays.”

Major Green made that statement to the finance staff of The Carr P Collins facility.  The facility has an account with Home Depot.

I know gay and lesbian employees who work for The Salvation Army. Does Major Robert Green believe you should not donate to The Salvation Army? After all, they hire gays and lesbians.


Major Green committed gross misconduct on the job:

In the fall of 2012, at a golf outing (Top Golf) for the program managers of the Carr P Collins facility Major Green took pictures numerous inappropriate pictures of the rear ends of some of our female program managers. He was observed taking the pictures and was asked to delete them from his camera, which he agreed to do. However, instead of deleting the pictures, at the next managers meeting he included them in a PowerPoint presentation, complete with inappropriate captions.

One of the shots was the rear end of The Director of Operation for Carr P Collins, Ms Blake Fetterman. The tag line Major Green chose was, "It's all in the wiggle".  Other female employees were treated to the same disrespect in Major Green's presentation.


Major Green thought his presentation was funny. Everyone else was embarrassed, insulted and outraged.

Several managers, including me, complained in writing about the incident. The Texas Divisional Headquarters of The Salvation Army sent two human resource employees to interview those who complained.

Because I saw a pattern of escalating bad behavior in my dealings with Major Green, I included the other issues documented in this piece in my complaint. I wanted Salvation Army leadership to know I had not chosen to write a complaint about Major Green without seeing the pattern of misconduct.

I was asked why I included other incidents in my complaint. One of the two Human Resources employees asked if I thought mentioning the other issues was appropriate. Yes, his pattern of behavior was relevant.

Three other questions I was asked; “Don’t you think Major Green was just joking?” and “Did you see anyone laugh at the presentation?” and “Will you still be able to work at Carr P Collins with Major Green?”

I saw the final question for me the same way everyone else saw it. We were being invited to leave if we could not work with Major Green. It was a veiled threat, but I got the message and so did others. The Human Resources employees had a job to do and that job was to downplay the issue.  Their mission was to sanitize Major Green’s actions and begin the job of sweeping those actions under the carpet. They should have been carrying brooms, instead of pens and paper.

The Carr P Collins Human Resources Manager, Ms Kacye Harvey, gave the two-person clean up squad a pass, telling me “they are doing what they have to do to keep their jobs.”That was a true statement.

For the next two months Major Green continued to work at Carr P Collins, while The Salvation Army considered what to do. He held his daily devotionals, preached his Sunday sermons and continued to interact with those he offended. In devotionals he and his wife talked about the evil at Carr P Collins that was working against them. Neither ever admitted that Major Green's misconduct was the issue.

Around two months after the slide presentation it was announced that Major Green and his wife were transferring to Fort Worth, where they now serve as Corp Officers. The decision to transfer them was belatedly made by The Salvation Army’s Divisional Commander for The State of Texas, Lt. Colonel Ken Luyk and Major Ward Matthews, Dallas/Fort Worth Area Commander. 

The transfer was announced about a month before it took place, leaving Major Green plenty of time to rub in the fact that he was not really being punished for anything.  Most of the time he claimed victory over all of us who complained about his actions. Of course there were times when he played the victim, blaming everyone at Carr P Collins for persecuting him. Some days he claimed victory, other days he was the victim.

Lt. Colonel Ken Luyk and Major Ward Matthews knew Major Green's actions were wrong, but they also knew all along that appropriate actions would not be taken.  Both of them failed the backbone test. Both are morally bankrupt. Their handling of this incident proves it.  If I had been the cameraman, they would have fired me immediately.  Their moral standards bar is much lower for a fellow Salvation Army officer.

Lt. Colonel Ken Luyk and Major Ward Matthews protected a fellow officer while treating loyal employees like that pile of stuff the neighbors dog leaves in your front yard.

Here is the final blow with respect to Major Green. On May 21, 2013 The Salvation Army released a bulletin announcing that Major Robert Green was sent to Moore, Oklahoma as a counselor, in the aftermath of the tornado that recently moved through the area. With everything The Salvation Army knows about this man, he was still sent to be a counselor. Major Robert Green should be receiving counseling, not giving it.