The Air Force general who ran the aerial campaign against the Islamic State was fired after it was found he exchanged unprofessional and inappropriate emails with a lower-ranking female officer.
Lt. Gen. John Hesterman, now the assistant Air Force vice chief of staff, was found guilty of misconduct of emails he exchanged with an Air Force lieutenant colonel between March 2010 and May 2011, service spokeswoman Anne Stefenek said Thursday.
Hesterman previously served as the commander of Air Forces Central Command, leading the early days of the U.S. air war against the Islamic State while deployed at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar from July 2013 to June 2015.
Though Hesterman denied any sexual relationship took place, emails were entered in the eventual divorce proceedings between the female officer and her husband, who himself was also an Air Force colonel, and then examined by the inspector general. The female officer said she had never been unfaithful to her husband in any way, but that he had.
One of Hesterman’s emails concluded with “much love” and in another he talked about wanting to see her, writing “I’ve missed you my lovely girl.”
“The language used by Lt Gen Hesterman goes far beyond a mentorship scenario and is sexually suggestive in places and romantic in other places,” the report said. “In engaging in such email exchanges, Lt Gen Hesterman violated [Air Force rules] because he adversely affected the Air Force, helped dissolve a marriage between two members, eroded good order, discipline, and respect for authority, and these exchanges indicate an abandonment of Air Force goals for personal interests…
“Simply put, Lt Gen Hesternan’s emails to [the woman] — two officers, both married but not to each other — are sexually suggestive and indicate a strong desire to be with her in a romantic way,” the report adds.
According to the Air Force, the investigation found no other misconduct by Hesterman.
