Adultery with contractor

[mharper4]

I am being investigated for adultery (I am married and was in the midst of seeking a divorce). The wife found out that I was seeing soemone else and went to the 1st Sgt and My CC. The only proof that she has is a verbal confession on the phone (was not taped). The person I am dating is pregnant with my child. She is a contractor employee (procurement officer for her company). I am the NCOIC of all Construction projects and her company is just one of 16 that I deal with. I have never done anything during duty hours or to bring low morale or bad discipline within my unit. There is no ethic violation that I am aware of (correct me if I am wrong) because I do not show her company any less or more support tahn I do with any other company. I do not take bribes or kickbacks or anything to jeopardize projects. ALso, when the girlfriend and I work together in either her field office or my own it is strictly professional and noone says otherwise. In fact until her pregnancy, noone knew the extent of our relationship. However, now that my spouse has gone public with the military, they have to investigate. I am seeking a civilian lawyer because I do not want to lose my rank over this, but I have been in for 12 years so if I have to get a art 15...my career is over. Obviously now the divorce will be accelerated. I have been given a no contact order with both the spouse and the girlfriend. The girlfriend is telling me to deny everything, but I don't want to lie and get caught up further in any investigation for teh adultery charge. Please advise what should I do??? I am USAF.

[RealAmerican]

You should prepare yourself for a change in position. When the other contractors find out what has happened I would imagine they would demand it. It does not matter if you have or have not shown preference to your girlfriends company, it is the implication that you may do so, conflict of interest. An article 15 may be in your future but it is up to your command and how they decide to deal with your indiscretions.

[SHORTY LONG]

Outstanding RealAmerican!

[RealAmerican]

On the back side of my original post, if there is any resemblance of favoritism to your girlfriends company you can prepare yourself for a summary crucifixion.

You may be facing much more than an article 15 and you may be looking at some serious brig time. If I was you I would consult a lawyer and be sure he is present with you at any questioning that may occur from this point forward. Get your ducks in a row here Ssgt./Tsgt. (not to sure which one you are). You are in a world of hurt and can expect some real repercussions to your career and your record. At the very least you can expect a Letter of Reprimand and a transfer to a job with no responsibility whatsoever. If you are very lucky, you may be able to finish your 20 years but you can expect to retire at your current rank.

Best of luck.

[mharper4]

RealAmerican you mentioned it is the implication that I may do so [show favortism], conflict of interest. and that IF any resemblance of favoritism to my girlfriends company you can prepare yourself for a summary crucifixion. From what I am gathering, there isn't any inkling that this occurs. I am fair and professional with her company and every other company that is contracted out with construction. I do not sign any invoices or progress schedules or review any bid proposals. That is all for the inspectors and project managers. I am only a technical counsltant. My position is to guide the team of military, government civilian, and contractors to give the best quality of construction for the dollars taht is allocated form teh government. I do have responsibilirties for denying/approving base passes but I treat her company the same as I do with all others. My boss told me
that the ethic thing is not an issue because what I do off-base has never reflected to my job or on-base. Besides I treat all contractors with the same standards and relationship. I never took a bribe, shared sensitive information, or caused any problems in my work place.
We do have other contractor's that work and would have said something by now (some of the other contractor's are very petty people that would love nothing more than to burn other people just for fun). I am ready for a change of position if that is required of me just to eliminate the implication, which I still strongly disagree taht there is any. Contractors, military, and civilian all hear me yell at her company and her employees the same way I do with all teh others. My bosses (the ones in my chain of command leading up to the commander) all agree that this part of the investiagtion is a dead-end and that they would have spoken to me about possible preception of me doing anything that would bring discredit upon the military with regard to contractors. I am awaiting a law associate (civilian) to get back with me so that I can get legal representation throughout this mess. As to the adultery charge, don't they have to prove all three requirements: investigators will have to fulfill ALL 3 things then for the adultery accusation:

1)PROVE 100% I had sex with someone other than .my spouse. Photo, caught in
the act, voice recording, or a confession from both me and the girlfriend.

2)Prove I was married to Kelly at the time of the accusation. (That will be easy to do).

3) Prove that my conduct was "to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the air force or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.

I am an SSgt. Up until all this mess, I have been the model of an NCO (which works in my favor). I have gotten accolades all teh way to Base Commander. I have just been put in for the Sijan Leadership award from my Captain. ANd most of everyone knew that my spouse and I were having very HARD times and knows of a couple of incidents that my spouse caused and I "came to the rescue". With any marriage, fidelity indescritions is a symptom of bigger problems. But that is to be dealt with the civilian courts rather than military. Am I right or wrong? I will be fine with a general discharge if it gets to that point (which I hope not). But an Article 15 is pretty harsh. I would say transfer me into another NCOIC position if they want to get draconian with me, but if they do the impact will be more deterimential to the flight and it's cohesion with all teh contractors if I stayed. If another military, contractor, her company, or any of my bosses suspected anything or thought for a moment that I showed the implication that I may show favortism, conflict of interest. and that IF any resemblance of favoritism to my girlfriends company they would have crucified me and tossed me to the wolves. They haven't and all of them is supporting me.

[fozzy2]

"1)PROVE 100% I had sex with someone other than .my spouse. Photo, caught in
the act, voice recording, or a confession from both me and the girlfriend.

2)Prove I was married to Kelly at the time of the accusation. (That will be easy to do).

3) Prove that my conduct was "to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the air force or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces."

Number one is simply incorrect. No one has to prove anything "100%". Indeed, if you go to NJP the standard will be *lower* than the "beyond a reasonable doubt" required for a criminal conviction. The normal standard for NJP is "preponderance of the evidence", which means that the finder of fact only needs 51%. The CO does not need photos or anything like it. S/He just has to think it is a little more likely that you did than you didn't. This is one reason you can refuse NJP and go to a court martial -- the court martial has a higher standard of proof, BUT the consequences of losing are vastly greater. Refusing NJP is very rarely a good move. And let's face it, if your girlfriend is pregnant...

Number Three is almost a given. The fact that your spouse found out and is upset is enough to qualify (dependant morale is part and parcel of a commanders mission). The fact that now "everyone knows" is also enough, no matter how they found out. Normally, this is a relatively easy element for a commander to meet.

Number Two, well, as you said that will be a piece of cake.

Quite bluntly, you appear to be in deep Kimchi. You may not like an NJP, but you may be able to serve out your enlistment and retire, etc. If you lose at a court martial you could literally end up in jail, having all your benefits stripped, etc. etc. You did the crime -- yes, as much as people disregard and/or hate it, it is the law -- now prepare yourself for the consequences. As for lying, that is often the trap that people spring on themselves. If you lie to the investigators there will almost certainly now be more charges thrown at you and your chain will probably just get pissed and write you off. Take the charge you've go, don't go handing the military even more charges to throw at you.

You definitely want to talk to an attorney before you go and do something like refuse NJP or lie to an investigator. Indeed, you need to speak to one as soon as possible in order to find out exactly how you should handle yourself during the investigation. If you are very lucky the AF may screw up the investigation and/or simply decide it isn't worth pursuing further.

[RealAmerican]

"I am fair and professional with her company and every other company that is contracted out with construction."

You keep saying that you are professional. Banging the people you work with, while you are married to someone else or any other time, is not professional. If you read my post again you will see I used "may" which indicates a probability that none of that will happen. My first post is probably more on target for your situation but you need to prepare to defend yourself if it does escalate to this level. There was a saying when I was in, "Hope for the best and expect the worst."

As for the ethics issue, it will only take one company to get pissed off over something and they will quickly point out that your baby's momma works for their competition. After that the proverbial **** hits the fan. You and your boss need to take a crash course in ethical behaviors and what defines ethical standards in business. If I was a contractor on that base I would be hunting for your head on a plate and considering a lawsuit right now.

Good Luck.

[mtnstyne]

OK, maybe everyone else didn't catch it in the first post, but;

"The person I am dating is pregnant with my child." is probably all the proof they will need to prove you had sex with her.

You might also want to do some additional research on how the services (Boeing and the Air Force for example) handle preferential treatment and how intense it can get. I know if I was one of the companies passed up over your girlfriends company, I would be contacting my Congressman as well as in service investigators. It is merely creating the perception of inappropriate behavior and character that will be judged.

I would also think that if this get's ugly and contracts have to be rebid her job could be in jeapardy as well.

[mharper4]

heyr compamy has removed her from any dealings with the military and any projects that would even hint at conflict of interest. i am recieving an article 15 (if I do not choose court martial). the divorce is almost final, but as the military says, as long as the personnel records show I am married, even if we are seperated, it is still viewed as I am married. no other contracts, contractors, or projects were in bid. nor did i have any influence in procurement, payments, invoices, or anything that would unduly influence the company. The contacting office has already been contacted and after invesitigation found that I violated ethics by developing a relationship with the secretary, but neither she nor I recieved any monetary gains nor did any contractor not given a fair and reasonable chance to sub-contract for the prime contractor.

Thank you everybody for the brutal honesty in this forum.

I have already contacted a attorney in law to represent me.