Winning the battle, but losing the war

Col. Pat Meagher doesn't have the look of a vindicated man.

Steely eyed, his head shaved, and with the squared-away bearing that comes from 25 years as a military pilot -- including overseeing airlifts into Iraq and Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- Meagher also has an edge about him that is always just beneath the surface.

It isn't the result of his time at war. It comes from a five-year battle with his own people.

Meagher tangled with a brigadier general in the Minnesota Air National Guard who had wanted to run the airlift himself. Others -- including the onetime head of the Minnesota Guard -- claimed that the general sabotaged Meagher's career, including accusing him of improper contact with a female officer.

The dispute was resolved only recently.

In an unusual move, an Air Force panel concluded that the accusations against Meagher were an "injustice," and recommended reinstating him so that he qualifies for an immediate pension. But the panel's decision doesn't mean that Meagher can return to active service, or to military flying. His Guard career is over.

"I'll never feel vindicated. My military career was destroyed, my reputation was ruined. I'm going to carry this with me the rest of my life," he said.

During the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Minnesota Guard played a significant role in getting troops and airmen to the new wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Few could have guessed that, while that drama was unfolding, another one was playing out at home.

Meagher (pronounced Mar), who also is a pilot with Northwest Airlines, contends that his trouble began as the Guard was gearing up for mobilization.

In April 2002, he was made commander of an airlift squadron to fly supplies from Kuwait into Afghanistan. At the time, the man directly above him in the chain of command was Col. Terry Heggemeier.

Heggemeier, who has never spoken publicly about his relationship with Meagher, has said in court documents and other investigative files that he believes he did nothing wrong regarding Meagher.

But from the outset, Meagher, 51, and other high-ranking Guard officials contend, Heggemeier undermined Meagher's authority, tried to run the deployment from Minnesota and even suggested that he should replace Meagher in the high-profile assignment.

Unwanted help

Meagher said interference from Minnesota was the last thing he and the other Guard airmen needed in the desert, where temperatures depleted strength, the maintenance shelters still had holes in them from "smart bomb" attacks from the Gulf War, and night vision goggles were required for multihour missions into Afghanistan.

The airlift made supply drops along the Horn of Africa, inserted special forces troops into northern Afghanistan and brought the wounded out of combat zones.

"It wasn't a very pleasant environment to be in, and anytime anybody would come up with some sort of rumor sent from home it always caused disruption to the operation," Meagher said.

The duty also exacted a price on Meagher's airline job, where his pension accrual was put on hold and a promotion to captain was delayed. A shoulder injury suffered on active duty also forced him to temporarily suspend his Federal Aviation Administration license. But he believed in what he was doing.

"I wasn't out there because it was some sort of jobs program, I was out there because I thought what I was doing was important," Meagher said.

Called on the carpet

Meagher's downfall was the result of a web of allegations and internal Guard politics that put him between warring superiors.

Less than a week after Meagher returned from overseas, he and Heggemeier argued. Heggemeier relieved Meagher of his duties and ordered him off the base. Heggemeier's boss, Adjutant Gen. Eugene Andreotti, ordered that Meagher be reinstated. When Heggemeier refused, Andreotti relieved him of his command and charged him with insubordination.

A month later, Andreotti would find himself on the hot seat. A complaint filed by one female officer and the wives of two male officers accused Andreotti of sexually harassing, intimidating and demeaning women during his 15-year career.

Among the accusers were Heggemeier's wife, Cheryl.

Under pressure from the allegations, Andreotti retired as adjutant general in July 2003. His exit cleared the way for Heggemeier, who had taken a non-flying job at Guard headquarters, to resume his own advancement. He was subsequently promoted to brigadier general after Maj. Gen. Larry Shellito was named the new head of the Minnesota National Guard.

Soon, Heggemeier took aim again at Meagher.

When Meagher submitted his résumé to a board convened to identify candidates for promotion, Heggemeier was one of its members. Meagher later learned from another board member that Heggemeier claimed that Meagher had stalked a female subordinate. An audit of Meagher's government-issued cell phone showed that he made 234 calls to the woman in a 3 1/2-month period.

Meagher said that the woman was a friend and that the calls were not sexual in nature. But, angered by the accusation, Meagher confronted the female officer; he admits to leaving her an angry voice mail. Armed with a transcript of the voice mail, Meagher's wing commander and another senior officer asked him to resign.

He refused, and was involuntarily discharged from active duty, casting him into a limbo known as the Standby Reserve.

The Guard: Case closed

Heggemeier, now retired, declined to comment concerning his relationship with Meagher, but in a 2006 deposition, he said that he relayed the information about the allegations to ensure that the best candidates were selected.

"Any statements I made regarding [Meagher] before or during that General Officer Board were made in good-faith performance of my duty to provide candid information," he testified.

The Minnesota Guard said that it accepts the Air Force's decision to reinstate Meagher's pension, and considers the case closed. In a sworn statement, Shellito said he was aware of the allegations against Meagher before Heggemeier brought them up, and said Heggemeier would have been derelict in his duty if he had failed to do so.

Heggemeier remained a lightning rod within the Guard until he retired in 2006 after a 36-year career. He had been nominated for the Legion of Merit, the military's highest noncombat award. But a group of retired senior officers objected, citing an Air Force Inspector General's report that substantiated allegations against him, including evidence that he once used Guard aircraft to visit his daughter and newborn grandchild. The nomination was dismissed without comment.

At about the same time, Meagher's supporters were appealing to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's office to intervene on his behalf. Former state Rep. Lynn Wardlow said he spoke with fellow Republican Pawlenty several times about the case, but never received an answer.

"My gut feeling is that [Meagher is] getting a raw deal," Wardlow said. He's a patriot. A good military man. Your serve your country and you are a steadfast, loyal member of your unit, and then they zapped you like that."

For Pawlenty's office, the issue was complicated by the fact that Cheryl Heggemeier was a volunteer in his political campaign. Pawlenty's office now characterizes its involvement as simply forwarding information to the military and that the affiliation between the governor's campaign and Cheryl Heggemeier didn't affect the outcome of the case.

"Thousands of people volunteered in some capacity, from putting up lawn signs to making calls at phone banks or assisting in other ways," Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said.

A rare case

When the Air Force Board for Corrections of Military Records in August ruled in Meagher's favor, it cited a lack of due process and overwhelming support from former colleagues, "along with abundant evidence of the applicant's exemplary 25-year career."

"While [the panel] normally proffers great deference to commanders' decisions with regard to managing their force, in rare instances we feel it necessary to set aside that deference. This is one of those rare instances," the panel concluded.

Meagher, who spent $60,000 in attorneys' fees to argue his case, still awaits formal notice that his full pension will be approved. But there are some things he will never get back.

"I cherished my commission. I cherished my military career," he said. "I wish I could still be in, but I don't have a prayer of ever being able to do anything again in the military, the way this all came down."

Star Tribune staff writer Dan Browning contributed to this report. Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636