DATE: Tuesday, June 3, 1997                 TAG: 9706030336

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A10  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   29 lines

ARMY GENERAL TO RETIRE OVER AFFAIR DURING MARITAL SPLIT

In a demonstration of the military's heightened sensitivity to sexual misconduct, the commanding general of the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland has decided to retire after admitting that he committed adultery while separated from his wife more than five years ago, Pentagon officials said Monday.

The officials said the commander, Maj. Gen. John Longhouser, became the subject of an inquiry after an anonymous tip about the affair was received over a telephone hot line established because of a flurry of sex abuse cases at Aberdeen, where male drill sergeants had preyed on young female recruits.

Pentagon officials noted that while adultery is a crime in the military, Longhouser's case involved an affair with a civilian that occurred long before he arrived at Aberdeen, and that his offenses were not in any way equivalent to those committed by the drill sergeants, in cases that have included rape.

The situation, the officials said, is also unlike that of First Lt. Kelly Flinn, an Air Force bomber pilot who was charged with adultery but whose well-publicized case was complicated by additional charges of fraternization, lying and disobeying orders.

Longhouser, 53, will retire at the rank of one-star, or brigadier, general, which means a reduction in retirement benefits.

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