Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The court-martial of Col. Johnson

The court-martial of Col. James Johnson III, once the high-flying commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, is scheduled to begin next week in Germany. (His wife helpfully gave the investigatory report to the Fayetteville Observer.)  He faces 27 charges of false official statements, forgery, fraud, conduct unbecoming,  adultery and such. I’ve been searching my memory ...

Wikimedia
Wikimedia
Wikimedia

The court-martial of Col. James Johnson III, once the high-flying commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, is scheduled to begin next week in Germany. (His wife helpfully gave the investigatory report to the Fayetteville Observer.) 

The court-martial of Col. James Johnson III, once the high-flying commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, is scheduled to begin next week in Germany. (His wife helpfully gave the investigatory report to the Fayetteville Observer.) 

He faces 27 charges of false official statements, forgery, fraud, conduct unbecoming,  adultery and such. I’ve been searching my memory and can’t remember a similar case. The one that comes closest is the general who was based in Turkey, retired, and then about 15 years or so ago got recalled to active duty to face a similar set of charges.    

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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