Greitens' fateful affair began during crossroads of his military life

By Kevin McDermott St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In February 2015, former Navy SEAL Eric Greitens signed a four-year commitment to return to active reserve status. Two months later, he told the Navy he was backing out of it.

What happened in between, the record now shows, is that Greitens began the extramarital affair that’s currently at the center of one criminal case against him — an affair that could theoretically have tarnished his military career had he carried out his original plans and returned to active status in the reserves.

“(I) had hoped to continue to serve, but just found that I couldn’t be a great Navy officer in the reserves again and a great Dad at the same time,” Greitens would later explain in an email to a reporter.

He cited in particular how weekend reserve drills would cut into family time: “Weekends were incredibly precious.”

Greitens went on trial Thursday in St. Louis on a felony charge of invasion of privacy. Prosecutors allege he snapped a nonconsensual photo of his extramarital lover while she was bound, blindfolded and partly undressed during their first sexual encounter, on March 21, 2015 — a Saturday.

Records show it was less than a month later, as the tumultuous affair continued, that Greitens backed out of his Navy reserve agreement, with a significant loss in pay and benefits.

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