A helicopter pilot who had an affair with the wife of a Special Forces soldier fighting in Afghanistan and who harassed her after she broke off the relationship says his dismissal from the Army was too harsh a punishment.
Maj. Jason A. Scott, who pleaded guilty at his court-martial to conduct unbecoming an officer and failure to obey an order, is asking the military’s highest court to overturn the sentence.
After serving for more than 20 years, including combat missions in Iraq, he argued he is entitled to a pension and other retirement benefits, which he said he would have received if not for his incompetent military defense lawyers.
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces this month agreed to review the case.
Scott, an Apache helicopter pilot, met the woman — the wife of a deployed sergeant first class assigned to the 19th Special Forces Group — in May 2015 at a spin class she was teaching at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The two soon began dating, according to court documents.
Unaware for some weeks that she was married, Scott introduced the woman as his girlfriend to co-workers. By October, the command had learned the woman was married and Scott’s supervisor, a colonel, ordered an end to the romance. Scott did not comply.