Word: ralston
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Cohen thought. The Defense Secretary's assertion, while technically justified under military law, hit Capitol Hill like the heat-seeking missiles Ralston once fired from his F-105 Thunderchief fighter over Vietnam. Some lawmakers immediately charged that Ralston was getting a free ride for behavior that has sunk the careers of several officers and drove First Lieut. Kelly Flinn out of the Air Force last month. "It is very clear that the Pentagon is selectively enforcing its rules on sexual conduct," said Democratic Representative Nita Lowey of New York. "We cannot have one set of rules for the big boys...
Thus no sooner had the nation met Ralston than it prepared to say farewell. Within 24 hours of the disclosure, the Pentagon was distancing itself from the man Cohen had anointed as his choice to replace Army General John Shalikashvili, and was scrambling to find a replacement to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before the Senate leaves town in August. Worries about a double standard aside, many military experts said the uniformed services desperately need a leader with impeccable credentials in the realm of sexual ethics. In the wake of Cohen's dispensation, even Colin Powell...
...Ralston's tailspin came at the end of an unprecedented fortnight at the Pentagon, where senior officers held their breath amid almost daily charges and revelations about career-ending sexual misconduct. No sooner had the Air Force completed its awkward ejection of Lieut. Flinn than allegations of wrongdoing by officials high and low began landing in the Pentagon's backyard. Army Major General John Longhouser, commanding general of Aberdeen Proving Ground, decided last week to retire after a telephone tipster told Army investigators of an affair Longhouser had had five years ago. Army Brigadier General Stephen Xenakis was relieved...
...Cohen said he had to "draw a line." But that line seemed skewed in favor of a man with four stars on his shoulder and 32 years of service. The Pentagon chief and his aides spent much of last week splitting legal hairs to show why Ralston's transgression wasn't as severe as Flinn's. Whereas Flinn, the Air Force's first female B-52 pilot, lied about her affair and disobeyed an order to stop seeing her boyfriend, Ralston had his fling when the then colonel and his first wife were separated. Because Ralston and his love...
Cohen learned of Ralston's affair only last Monday from reporters who had heard of it from Ralston's former war-college classmates. His only discussions with Ralston on the matter have been over the phone (the general was on an official, week-long trip to central Asia). Ralston, 53, told Cohen the affair occurred while he and his first wife, Linda, were separated. She disputes that assertion, claiming the affair continued and led to their 1988 divorce. The next year Ralston married his current wife, who was not involved in the affair...