1. There was, or was not, an incident of physical and verbal abuse. She filed for an order of protection.
2. She either realized the impact it would have on his career, or genuinely wanted to try to reconcile, or both.
3. Once it became public...the commander had no choice but to take the action he did. Otherwise, he ran the risk of being accused of attempting to cover it up, and possibly putting HIS career at risk.
4. What is saddest about this, aside from the family tragedy, is the the military is so paranoid about this, top to bottom, is that he was not given the opportunity to quietly retire. He's had an outstanding, and decorated career..served his country well, and he has go go out this way. Again, I suspect that the chain of command wouldn't allow him to retire, again for fear of being accused of orchestrating a cover-up, and risking their own careers.
You hit the nail on the head. Look at the Generals that weren’t allowed to do so under Clinton. It depends on who’s in the W.H. Remember Stinglaub? Jimmy Carter at least left him alone. Generals who work for Democrats are politicians-even Powell.
Now that the protection order has been dissolved—and the couple is attempting to reconcile—I think he will be allowed to retire. The question is what punishment, if any, the Command CMSgt receives on the way out.
Thankfully, this isn’t another situation like the Gurney mess. He was the senior enlisted adviser for Air Force Material Command who got caught in a “swinging” scandal a couple of years ago. Apparently, Gurney and his wife were into group sex and he used his position to solicit potential partners. At court-martial he entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to prison and dismissal from service. His sentence was later reduced to four months, and the reviewing authority changed his discharge from dishonorable to bad conduct, so after 30 years of service, Gurney went out the door as an airman basic with no pension.
Gurney deserved to be punished. But when I think of the number of senior officers who engaged in similar conduct (and got a slap on the wrist), it’s sickening. One of the worst offenders was a full Colonel who led an EC-130 squadron back in the early 90s. From what I’ve been told, he had sex with anything that had a pulse; in fact, the Colonel and his wife organized a swinger’s club at the base in Arizona where he was stationed. He was court-martialed and sentenced to a year in Leavenworth but was NOT dismissed from service. So, after 12 months at the disciplinary barracks, he quietly retired, pension and other benefits intact.
Since leaving the service, this same dirt bag has run an Air Force-affiliated think tank and is currently CEO of a large non-profit in northern Texas.
His wife got caught cheating on him!!!!!