An Army brigade commander who was fired this past October is facing a court-martial that alleges he showed up at the house of a fellow officer that he knew was away from home on a training event and sexually assaulted the officer’s wife.
Col. Jon Meredith, formerly commander of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was charged with two counts of abusive sexual contact and two counts of conduct unbecoming of an officer. He pleaded not guilty at an arraignment on May 15.
According to the charging documents, on July 23, 2022, Meredith went to the home of a fellow officer at what was then Fort Hood, where the officer’s wife and daughter, along with another person, were present. There, Meredith began making unwanted sexual advances towards that officer’s wife, kissing her repeatedly, sexually groping several places on her body, and saying that “he wanted to ‘[expletive] her’ or words to that effect.”
Meredith’s actions occurred while he knew that the woman’s husband was away on a field training exercise, according to the charging documents.
“Under the circumstances, [Meredith’s] conduct was unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman,” according to the charging documents.
In October, Meredith was fired for the typical “loss of confidence in [his] judgment and ability to command.”
Meredith’s court-martial is set to begin on August 14.
Meredith’s own wife, an Army Col., appears to have lost her job during the investigation that led to the charges. In January, Col. Ann Meredith, who is married to Jon Meredith, was relieved as commander of the post’s 89th Military Police Brigade. Stars and Stripes reported in April that Ann Meredith stated in a social media post that her firing was the result of a text message that was perceived as interfering with the investigation into her husband.
In addition to the intertwined Meredith incidents, Fort Cavazos – recently redesignated from Fort Hood – has also seen multiple senior leaders fired over the past year. The same week Meredith was fired, Col. Anthony Wilson was relieved as the 1st Sustainment Brigade commander. And in April, Lt. Col. Damasio Davila was relieved from command of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment.
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