Roger That: Pentagon chief nominates first female head of a combatant command

Defense Secretary Ash Carter has nominated Gen. Lori Robinson to be the next head of the U.S. Northern Command, the Pentagon said Friday morning, according to Air Force Times.

Robinson will be the first woman ever to head a combatant command, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said in a tweet announcing Robinson’s nomination.

Robinson is now commander of Pacific Air Forces. Before heading PACAF, Robinson was vice commander of Air Combat Command. She is a senior air battle manager with more than 900 flight hours in the E-3B/C and E-8C aircraft.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Adm. Bill Gortney, who held the position since December 2014.

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A senior Air Force general officer has been fired from his job and will retire after an investigation found that he had an inappropriate and unprofessional relationship with a lower-ranking female Air Force officer, according to Miltary.com.

The Air Force released an investigation Thursday saying that Lt. Gen. John Hesterman, the assistant vice chief of staff, was found guilty of misconduct. The charges stem from several groups of emails he exchanged with an Air force lieutenant colonel during 2010-2011.

The investigation found that the emails included language that was "sexually suggestive in places and romantic in other places." One of Hesterman's emails signed off with "much love" In another, he talked about wanting to see her, saying: "I've missed you my lovely girl."

According to the investigation, there were email exchanges between the two officers when both were based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in England, where the U.S. has a military presence. Other more recent exchanges were when he was stationed at the Pentagon and later when he was deployed to Qatar and she was living in Virginia.

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What to do with a soldier who contends his war-related psychological problems led him to commit a violent crime?

That’s the question being raised by case with Joshua Eisenhauer, a combat veteran eligible for health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs, as reported by the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer.

Eisenhauer, a former Fort Bragg staff sergeant -- who shot at police and firefighters from his Fayetteville apartment in January 2012 -- was released from the Army in late February on a general discharge under honorable conditions, said his mother, Dawn Erickson.

The designation ensures that Eisenhauer, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, is eligible for VA benefits.

But Eisenhauer won't receive those benefits while he is in a North Carolina prison. Eisenhauer was sentenced in August to between 10 and 18 years behind bars after pleading guilty in February 2015 to shooting at the police and firefighters from his Austin Creek apartment.

Eisenhauer contends that he had a flashback to his days of Army combat duty in Afghanistan and didn't understand what he was doing. No one other than Eisenhauer was seriously injured.

Today, he is in the Pender Correctional Institution. Family members say the prison isn't adequately treating his PTSD or a traumatic brain injury, an opinion disputed by the state's prison system.

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A proposal to limit interest rates on all troops' loans to 3 percent would offer unprecedented sweeping new benefits to service members if it became law, according to Military Times.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced the SCRA Enhancement and Improvement Act of 2016 on Thursday, proposing stronger and more far-reaching financial legal protections under an amended Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act.

Under the SCRA, service members are supposed to receive a 6 percent interest rate cap on debts incurred before they enter active duty. That applies to loans service members took out either before they joined the military on active duty, or before they are called to active duty as a Guard or Reserve member.

The legislation proposed Thursday would require all loans to service members be capped at a 3 percent interest rate, regardless of when the debt is incurred. For service members who are eligible for hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay, the interest rate would be zero.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Roger That: Pentagon chief nominates first female head of a combatant command."