THE SUDDEN destruction of Maj. Gen. John E. Longhouser's 32-year Army career over an affair he had with a civilian five years ago while separated from his wife provokes the question: How many more will the military sacrifice before the frenzy ends?
The nationwide telephone hot line set up in the wake of the Aberdeen Proving Ground scandal involving drill sergeants having sex with female recruits -- to the point of rape -- has snared one of the Army's rising stars because of an unrelated personal indiscretion.
Longhouser, 53, who became APG commander in September, joins a growing list of senior officers, including generals, admirals and even the sergeant major of the Army, who have become targets of the search for sexual misconduct in the military and the demands of political and gender correctness.
Defense Secretary William S. Cohen insisted that he saw no "epidemic" of such cases but acknowledged the current political climate. "I think we're going through a period in which this has become very much in high profile," he said.
The investigation that became the instructor-recruit sex scandal began a week before Longhouser, a West Pointer and decorated Vietnam veteran, took command at APG. Sometime later, the hot line received an anonymous allegation that Longhouser had had an affair while he and his wife were separated in the early 1990s.
Confronted with the allegation, Longhouser acknowledged the affair and, even though he and his wife reconciled years ago, agreed to retire for the good of the service. His fate was sealed when the New York Times learned of the situation and began preparing an article about it.
If Longhouser had not quit and the Pentagon had tried to save him -- an unlikely event in today's climate -- the outcry that sergeants go to jail while generals go free would have erupted, and might have led to Longhouser's being court-martialed.
The Times reported that Pentagon officials said Longhouser appeared to be resigning partly out of disgust that his entire career would be judged on the basis of what he and others would regard as a minor dalliance. Longhouser reverted to the one-star rank of brigadier general because he had not served long enough as a major general to retire at that rank.
"We expect the highest of standards from our military leaders. They fully understand that and this individual is retiring based upon his belief that it is in the best interests of the Army," Cohen said, adding, "So these happen from time to time, but I think that it's the appropriate thing to do."
