General Admits Adultery, To Retire

In a demonstration of the military’s heightened sensitivity to sexual misconduct, the commanding general of the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground has decided to retire after admitting that he committed adultery while separated from his wife more than five years ago, Pentagon officials said on Monday.

The officials said the commander, Maj. Gen. John Longhouser, became the subject of an inquiry after an anonymous tip about the affair was received over a telephone hot line established because of a flurry of sex abuse cases at Aberdeen, in eastern Maryland, where male drill sergeants had preyed on young female recruits.

Pentagon officials noted that while adultery is a crime in the military, Longhouser’s case involved an affair with a civilian that occurred long before he arrived at Aberdeen, and that his offenses were not in any way equivalent to those committed by Aberdeen drill sergeants.