What crime have I committed? 'See offense report'

Temple – When the top kick started blogging, his world turned cold. Colonels and Command Sergeant Majors began to question his military mind.

Over the course of 6 years – nearly the last half of a 15 year career – Master Sergeant C.J. Grisham, who is 39, has had some dramatic dust-ups involving the internet, video, and the skillful application of administrative authority. For instance, there was the time he and Mrs. Grisham took exception to a new school board policy  requiring students to wear uniforms to class.

The couple made videotapes at the board meeting, recording their remarks and the response of the officials. Sgt. Grisham blogged about the matter.

The Army saw that as a no no.

The Colonel at that former duty station, Redstone Arsenal at Huntsville, Alabama, had him standing tall on the carpet after the Command Sergeant Major held an initial counseling session with him.

They wanted the offending blog entries removed. They said so. 

They didn't really get anywhere. Sgt. Grisham kept on plowing straight ahead, making an issue of his constitutional rights, among other concerns, and the matter finally blew over as the Army's growing number of blogsters sat up and took notice.

All four editions of the military “Times” - Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force – featured his struggle on their back cover, the “Off Duty” section.

It seems the Army's bloggers all fell silent for a day in support of Sgt. Grisham's hassle over taking a Boy Scout hike with his son, an AR-15 strapped across his chest on an elastic sling.

In the world of corporate politics, it's a headache for management, this thing of the blogsters. And make no mistake about it, the Department of Defense is probably the world's largest and most influential corporation, its conglomerate ties to defense contractors and military suppliers the biggest business in America.

The current hassle all started at a few minutes after high noon on Saturday, March 16, when a passing citizen felt threatened by the presence of an Army trooper dressed in fatigues, his assault rifle at the ready, his .45 holstered by his side, as he and his son strolled down a narrow country road in the 7000 block of Prairie View. That location is in a rural neighborhood of West Temple, very near the intersection of State Highways 36 and 317.

Blocks away there are strip malls with doughnut shops, suburban banks, filling stations, pizza parlors, soccer fields, jogging paths, playgrounds, and exercise emporiums.

The Sergeant was reportedly locked and loaded, strolling along the blacktop.

'In this day and age...'

Badge 465 is Temple Police officer Steve Ermis, 48. He didn't see a violation of the law, but he did see a valid reason for concern, according to a videotape made at the time of the arrest. 

“In this day and age,” he said, people have a need to be concerned when they see a man so heavily armed and out for a stroll on a country road.

He wanted the weapons, and he wanted them pronto. He may be heard to say that until he obtained a positive identification of the sergeant, he wanted control of both weapons – the carbine and the handgun. In return, he got some static.

He and a backup officer took them with little ceremony, and even less conversation.

The weapons are still held in evidence, pending the sergeant's appearance in court. The video is on the internet, on public display.

Look-see pidgin. Too much monkey business 

They originally charged him with the Class A misdemeanor of resisting arrest, but supervisors changed their mind about it. He's now charged with interfering with an officer, a Class B misdemeanor that carries as much as a $2,000 fine and 6 months in the County Jail.

The offense could nevertheless very well end the career of a high-ranking NCO who is nearing a comfortable retirement.

When asked for a copy of the offense and arrest report, police department officials responded with a 'first page' of the report, as required by the Texas Open Records Act.

Asked for a narrative account of the arrest, their laconic response was, “See offense report...”