4 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

I was prosecuted for fraternization and irresponsible drinking

So you drank alcohol with the Es? Welcome to every guard squadron. WTF.

5 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

Before my trial my commander didn't want to send me to SOS in-res. But after I was acquitted, my new leadership wanted to "make up" for the ordeal and started dumping opportunities on me.

😂 same...I literally laughed in his face and said 'no thanks'

1 hour ago, brabus said:

So you drank alcohol with the Es? Welcome to every guard squadron. WTF.

No no, it was much more than that, but the charges were contradictory, which was my point. I see how I made it seem that way though, my bad.

Short(ish) version: got wasted at a house party full of all ranks and hooked up with an E who was married. I was too. Mild petting. Really fucking dumb, I know, but pretty tame as far as the Sport of Kings™ goes.

But she was married, and had been caught cheating a couple times before by her husband, so when he found out, she claimed she was raped.

The investigation was... Sloppy. OSI wired my accuser to try to catch a confession, which they didn't remotely get, but for whatever reason they wrote in the summary that I confessed. So that convinced the chain of command to press charges.

But then they charged me with sexual assault and fraternization, which are kinda mutually exclusive in this context. That resulted in a really disjointed prosecution that fell apart for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was the absence of rape and the lack of a confession.

I'll never know for sure, but I think the judge was so pissed at the prosecution for throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck that he looked at the frat charge in a way that favored my case. Either way, I was found not guilty.

Of course I admitted to drunkenly fooling around with the accuser on the stand, yet was found not guilty. So my SqCC who married an E and my WgCC who was a well known recovering alcoholic gave me an LOR for drunken fraternization; conduct unbecoming. I get it, my conduct was rather unbecoming, but it was very clear to everyone (including my next commanders) that it was sour grapes for losing the case in court.

So yeah, @illusive it could be a whole lot worse. But I still had a lot of fun in the AF, so you're probably fine.

Sorry, if I write any more then Boomers' hemorrhoids are going to flare up 🤣😂.

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by Lord Ratner

On 11/28/2025 at 5:05 PM, Lord Ratner said:

You're more of a "color inside the lines" guy.

Not getting caught diddling an E is a pretty low bar.

Photo evidence submitted at Ratner's trial:

@Lord Ratner Yeah you did fuck up, but damn dude, what a bunch of bullshit to go through that was way beyond reasonable or warranted. Glad you got through it. Too many stories along those lines in the mil.

11 hours ago, Lord Ratner said:

No no, it was much more than that, but the charges were contradictory, which was my point. I see how I made it seem that way though, my bad.

Short(ish) version: got wasted at a house party full of all ranks and hooked up with an E who was married. I was too. Mild petting. Really fucking dumb, I know, but pretty tame as far as the Sport of Kings™ goes.

But she was married, and had been caught cheating a couple times before by her husband, so when he found out, she claimed she was raped.

The investigation was... Sloppy. OSI wired my accuser to try to catch a confession, which they didn't remotely get, but for whatever reason they wrote in the summary that I confessed. So that convinced the chain of command to press charges.

But then they charged me with sexual assault and fraternization, which are kinda mutually exclusive in this context. That resulted in a really disjointed prosecution that fell apart for a lot of reasons, not the least of which was the absence of rape and the lack of a confession.

I'll never know for sure, but I think the judge was so pissed at the prosecution for throwing everything at the wall to see what stuck that he looked at the frat charge in a way that favored my case. Either way, I was found not guilty.

Of course I admitted to drunkenly fooling around with the accuser on the stand, yet was found not guilty. So my SqCC who married an E and my WgCC who was a well known recovering alcoholic gave me an LOR for drunken fraternization; conduct unbecoming. I get it, my conduct was rather unbecoming, but it was very clear to everyone (including my next commanders) that it was sour grapes for losing the case in court.

So yeah, @illusive it could be a whole lot worse. But I still had a lot of fun in the AF, so you're probably fine.

Sorry, if I write any more then Boomers' hemorrhoids are going to flare up 🤣😂.

I know several GOs who made BPZ for doing far worse than "Mild Petting".

11 hours ago, Boomer6 said:

Not getting caught diddling an E is a pretty low bar.

Photo evidence submitted at Ratner's trial:

Carnies. Small hands.

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by FourFans

I'm a retired old fart MSgt, got out at 21 mainly because I would never see another stripe, all my time was on the flightline, had a boss tell me all you did was deploy a bunch and do your job, never saw you at Sq parties or top 4 meetings. When I was stationed at Andrews, I was more an aircraft detailer than Crew Chief, I absolutely hated being there, hated the mission. Back in those days I could call my AFSC's manager at Randolph and ask for a PCS. He said you want Iceland, hell yes, I said just to get out of Washington DC. Guess what happened, I loved being in the USAF again. I think being in the Air Force is a lot like real estate, location, location, location. Before that I was ready to move on, get out and go home to Chicago and be a cop. I'm Sure glad I didn't do that. Now I'm semi-retired living the life in my mountain home in Colorado getting 4 checks monthly because I decided to stay in not go back to Chicago. 15 years is a bunch of years to walk away from, think really hard about it.

So, is it better to admit up front to hanging out with all the unsavory types on BO next time I fill out an SF-86 or try to explain it after the fact to investigators?😁

Don't forget to include your screen name as an alias.

Big second on what Prosuper said. We've all had times we've been fed up but it can be a lot of money left on the table when it's all said and done.

5 hours ago, brabus said:

@Lord Ratner Yeah you did fuck up, but damn dude, what a bunch of bullshit to go through that was way beyond reasonable or warranted. Glad you got through it. Too many stories along those lines in the mil.

I could be pissed and resentful that the Air Force came after me for an accusation that every judge or JAG in the process saw as obviously absurd. It cost a lot of money and it put my family through quite a bit.

Or I could be thankful that I made my stupid mistake in 2015 instead of 2007, when the Air Force was balls deep in the "women never lie about rape" narrative. I'd probably still be in jail if it had been in that era.

I choose the latter. Most people on earth would cut off their right arm to be where I am professionally, financially, and medically.

1. Timing is Everything

2. It's better to be lucky than good

3. There is no justice

I wish I remember who the first person to share those rules with me was, because while they aren't a moral framework, they've always been a quick antidote to any potential pity-parties I've thrown for myself.

4 hours ago, ClearedHot said:

I know several GOs who made BPZ for doing far worse than "Mild Petting".

You're never going to have men and women working together without fraternization. I know you know that too. I wasn't mad they went after me, but the mock indignation was pathetic.