Army strips star from general in text scandal
He’s forced to retire after flirting with soldier’s wife
WASHINGTON – The Army stripped a star from a general who flirted on social media with the wife of an enlisted man, finding his actions “dissolute and immoral,” and forced him to retire, the Army announced Friday.
Maj. Gen. Joseph Harrington will lose one rank in retirement after the Army determined he had engaged in inappropriate online communication with the woman in more than 1,000 messages. Harrington had been in charge of U. S. Army Africa from a base in Italy when the relationship, first reported by USA TODAY, became known in August.
Harrington and the woman had exchanged Facebook messages for four months. She is married to an American soldier over whom Harrington had jurisdiction under military law.
The Army issued Harrington a letter of reprimand, a career- killer. The letter noted that Harrington, while not found guilty of a crime, was expected to behave honorably on and off duty.
“Over the course of four months, you participated in the exchange of flirtatious messages with the spouse of an enlisted soldier,” the letter says. “This behavior reflects poorly on you as a senior officer and commander.”
Harrington, in a written statement, apologized to his family and the Army. “I made a mistake by responding to and entering into a private discussion with a soldier’s spouse,” Harrington wrote. “While we both considered it a friendship-based conversation, it is clear that the discussion should not have occurred. I hope others can learn from and avoid my mistake.”
The woman who received the messages told USA TODAY last year that the texting began as friendly banter after she had met Harrington at the gym. She became concerned with the texts when they grew suggestive.
Investigators found his repeated attempts to keep their relationship secret showed he knew it was out of bounds.