Looking at his timeline, seven years ago, he was in a leadership position in a training wing.
Bad.
We don’t know the details of the female(s) involved or if she (they) had a family.
Let me explain: When I was flying F-15Es we had an ops officer in a training wing that trolled for young wives of students. This O-4/5 would hit on the wives.
In one particular case the wife’s husband wasn’t doing well and the ops officer offered to help her husband pass if she did the nasty with him. She objected and spoke up. This led to an investigation that spanned years.
The investigators found many wives that were hit on but said nothing at the time because they didn’t want to hurt their husbands career by speaking up (fear of retaliation. . .if you want to fail someone on a ride, you can always find a reason).
The investigators basically had to speak with all the wives of the students that were under is command for several years. Time. This takes time. Eventually the investigation was complete and the guy was fired, removed for cause.
Perhaps something like this was going on regarding Gifford? Who knows. But at the very least he was a vile piece of scum because when you are in a command position you never hit on the wives or girlfriends of your subordinates.
Oh, Gifford went from being a tanker toad to a F-15E? A golden boy, a rising star for sure. No one but the “chosen” make that sort of transition. He was not a victim of a Zero purge. He was a victim of his abuse of power and arrogance.
Affairs happen. However, as an officer, especially a commanding officer, you never abuse your power and position. Gen Ron Fogleman resigned early from the USAF because he would not compromise his integrity regarding the Kobar Towers bombing and Lt Flynn.. .a female that was having an affair with an enlisted married man.
(http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1997-07-29/news/1997210031_1_air-force-fogleman-force-chief: “Fogleman, a 1963 Air Force Academy graduate who was awarded the Silver Star for heroism in Vietnam and the Purple Heart for his wounds, also had other run-ins. In May, he tangled with senators over the case of First Lt. Kelly Flinn, the Air Force’s first female B-52 pilot who was charged with adultery, lying and ++ disobeying orders.
When one senator — like many others on Capitol Hill and the public at large — focused on the adultery charge and criticized the Air Force for wanting to court martial Flinn, Fogleman grew testy. “This is an issue about an officer who is entrusted to fly nuclear weapons who disobeyed an order, who lied,” the general snapped. “That’s what this was about.”
“He has a good nose for getting in trouble, I mean that in the best sense,” said McPeak. “If there’s a fight out there, he can find it.”
Fogleman also strove to hold all Air Force personnel to high standards, said McPeak, who was Fogleman’s squadron commander in Vietnam.”)
We had a similar problem at a base. Best advice a wife got was: “Blackmail the asshole. Record him then tell him his wife and the entire command chain finds out if her husband isn’t promoted pronto.” It worked. Many promotions were made until he was found out and prosecuted.