Air Force Times: Wilkerson: Demotion, ouster politically motivated
The Air Force Times reports:
Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, the former Aviano Air Base, Italy, inspector general whose overturned sexual assault conviction triggered calls for change to long-standing military law, called his forced retirement and demotion to major an unfair and politically motivated decision.
“I emphatically disagree with [the] decision and believe my service record provides clear proof that I honorably served in the rank of lieutenant colonel, so much that I was promoted to colonel,” Wilkerson said in a statement to Air Force Times.
It is the first time Wilkerson has spoken publicly about his case.
The Air Force announced Thursday that Acting Secretary Eric Fanning had approved Wilkerson’s retirement at the grade of major because he had not served “satisfactorily in the grade of lieutenant colonel.”
