Army officer accused of multiple affairs and faking deployments recommended for separation
“In the long run, his behaviors will affect more than just the people he served with."
A board of inquiry for Lt. Col. Richard Kane Mansir — who was accused of lying to and deceiving multiple women while he was still married to his wife, and faking military awards and deployments to bolster his falsehoods — has recommended that he be separated with a general discharge, Task & Purpose has learned.
The board of inquiry, which convened on Monday, recommended that Mansir be separated with a general characterization of service, according to an Army official who spoke on condition of anonymity. A board of inquiry is an administrative proceeding, during which officers superior in rank to the officer in question examine allegations and investigative findings and makes recommendations on if the officer should be retained or not.
The discharge would allow Mansir to retain his VA benefits, but ultimately keep him from retiring. While a general discharge is “considered ‘good paper,’” according to the Army, “a discharge under general conditions may result in the loss of GI Bill benefits and civil service retirement credit.”
Lt. Col. Randy Ready, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, confirmed that the board “concluded its proceedings and made their recommendations.” Those recommendations will now be sent to Army Human Resources Command for a decision.
“As the board proceedings are not complete until HRC takes final action, no further details will be released due to Lt. Col. Mansir’s privacy interests as the case is still ongoing,” Ready said.
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Mansir’s actions were first exposed by The Daily Beast last year, which reported that the civil affairs officer based at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia, was engaged to and expecting a child with one woman, all while being engaged to another woman and still married to his wife of 18 years, with whom he had three children. As The Daily Beast reported, he had serious relationships with at least six women over five years while he was married.
He also reportedly lied about deployments and military awards and decorations, going so far as to even provide one woman with fake deployment orders and claimed he received the Silver Star. According to his Army record, Mansir has served with the 91st Civil Affairs Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, and Army Special Operations Command. He has deployed twice to Afghanistan, in 2011 and in 2012, and has served in Mali, Kuwait, and Germany, though his record does not provide details.
Among his military awards and decorations are the Bronze Star, Joint Service Commendation Medal, four Meritorious Service Medals, and three Army Commendation Medals. He does not have a Silver Star, according to his record, but in the grand scheme of things, the Silver Star is just one thread of an intricate web of lies Mansir was accused of spinning.
Chelsea Curnutt, who was engaged to and having a child with Mansir, told The Daily Beast that in retrospect there were things in their relationship that seemed off, but that he always explained away. In one instance, she recalled finding a video of Mansir online, in which he spoke about a daughter that he’d never told Curnutt about. When asked, Mansir said his daughter had died.
In another instance, after the couple had decided to move in together, Mansir told Curnutt he had been suddenly deployed. She’d already gone ahead to their new townhouse in Virginia and he was expected to follow shortly, but just two months before he planned to relocate he called her from Kuwait, The Daily Beast reported. He said he didn’t know how long he’d be deployed.
Four months later in August, Curnutt saw his jeep near the Army post, and while he originally denied it was his car, she saw him again a few days later. He “played it off as if he was trying to surprise me post-deployment,” Curnutt told The Daily Beast.
“He did his typical thing of belittling me, making me feel like I’m the crazy one, and then [saying,] ‘I love you, everything will be fine, don’t overthink it,’” she said. In September 2021, Mansir was relieved of command of U.S. Army Support Activity Fort Eustis following an Army investigation that substantiated allegations against him.
In a statement to Task & Purpose on Thursday, Curnutt urged others in the military to “report instances of abuse of power and wrongdoing when they’re actually happening,” and said Mansir’s affairs aren’t even the main problem with his case. His “duty to uphold the law while being in senior command of others, while so readily willing to break it himself, is the biggest issue here,” she said.
“In the long run, his behaviors will affect more than just the people he served with,” Curnutt said. “There are children that will be affected greatly by his behaviors as a father and to see someone do these things and not take into account those repercussions is really sad. I hope that this brings everyone he ever came into contact with some peace.”
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