Army General's Pension Docked, But He Still Gets Military Retirement

The Army will give Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair a demoted pension. He was accused of sexual assault among other crimes by a female soldier with whom he had an extramarital affair.

In March, Sinclair pled guilty to lesser charges of adultery, maltreatment and possession of pornography in a combat zone. He was sentenced to be “reprimanded” and fined $20,000. It looks like the nebulous “reprimand” meant reducing his retirement status to that of a lieutenant colonel and putting him out to pasture, according to the New York Times.

“While retirement benefits are mandated by federal law, there is a requirement that an individual must have served satisfactorily in rank before receiving those benefits,” the Army secretary, John M. McHugh, said in a statement. “Sinclair displayed a pattern of inappropriate and at times illegal behavior both while serving as a brigadier general and a colonel. I therefore decided there was sufficient evidence and cause to deny him those benefits.”

Sinclair’s lawyer says that her client will retire as soon as this summer but others still feel the punishment doesn’t fit his crimes. Honestly, after reading the claims of Sinclair’s accuser and remembering how his lawyers claimed that the court martial itself was all just a political show — not, you know, the repercussion of possibly breaking of the law in a number of ways — nothing the Army does will satisfy my disappointment.