Sources: CMC did not get honorable discharge

Sources: CMC did not get honorable discharge
By Mark D. Faram - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Feb 22, 2008 17:25:51 EST

The former command master chief of Naval Base Kitsap, Wash., was not given an honorable discharge after being convicted of Internet-predator charges in July, as a local newspaper reported, according to Navy sources. Instead, he was given an other-than-honorable discharge, Navy Times has learned.

The Kitsap Sun reported Feb. 16 that former Command Master Chief Edward E. Scott, who was convicted of attempted rape of a child and having immoral communications with a minor and sentenced to nine months in jail, was given an honorable discharge and permitted to retire as an E-8. But Navy sources, speaking anonymously because of privacy laws, told Navy Times that Scott’s discharge as a senior chief information systems technician was not only “other-than-honorable,” but he also received an RE-4 re-enlistment code, barring him from ever returning to duty.

Federal privacy regulations protect the details of every service member’s discharge. In its story reporting that Scott received an honorable discharge, the Kitsap Sun cited “a report confirming Scott’s status that has circulated through the criminal justice system.”

Still, that other-than-honorable discharge does give Scott, who served 25 years on active duty, his military retirement pay as well other retiree benefits. The nature of that discharge also qualifies him for benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

VA officials confirmed that for Scott to be stripped of those benefits, his discharge would have had to be “dishonorable or for bad conduct.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/navy_scott_discharge_080222w/