He lost his family, his career is in the toilet, nobody can ever trust him with real responsibility ever again, and he has to pay $300,000 out of his pocket. I’d hardly call that a “slap on the wrist.”
To a BCT Commander, this is worse than death. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t off himself in the near future.
His retirement will be in the neighborhood of $85,000.00 a year. He has been making a fairly healthy 6 figure income for several years so should have something stashed back. A $300K fine will be a little rough for a few years, but nothing he can’t handle. As far as his integrity blemishes, you would be surprised at the numbers of retired officers who have blemishes like this and have jobs that 99% of John Q. Public would love to have.
The honorable thing would have been for the president of the court martial panel to hand him a .45 and one round, put him in a locked room and prepare a body bag for him.
He didn’t “lose” his family, he called the base commander in Italy and lied and said he and his wife were divorcing. He lied and said his wife was going to the States and leaving their teen son, in Italy. They had no such arrangement. The base commander arrived home to find Mrs. Johnson sobbing with his wife, and realized the good Colonel was lying.
When Mrs. Johnson did leave Germany with their son, he tried to have his wife and the mother of his kids charged with kidnapping.
Gee, wonder why he “lost” his family. He didn’t “lose” them, he destroyed his family with his selfish and criminal actions.
If an enlisted man had done just a bit of what this guy did: reduced to e1- Leavenworth-no retirement benefits-wife and kids totally screwed with no healthcare, etc.
It is a slap on the wrist. It is disgusting. He is married to two women right now. He used his power and rank to enrich the Iraqi family of his lover with taxpayer funds.
Of all the jacked up stuff a military man can do- this guy did it ALL. Cheating, lying, using thousands of dollars illegally, giving his lover fake orders for travel, fake security clearance, taking his wife off DEERS illegally and putting his 2nd wife and her child on DEERS.
The reason all of this happened is because he made it happen. He broke his own life and career. He won’t kill himself because his daddy is a General and will probably pay his $300,000 fine for him, and the he and his new piece are gonna start a new life together.