Former base commander’s court martial to begin Tuesday at Wright Patterson

Col. Christopher Meeker returns his first salute as 88th Air Base Wing and installation commander during a change of command ceremony July 7, 2022 inside the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/R.J. ORIEZ

Col. Christopher Meeker returns his first salute as 88th Air Base Wing and installation commander during a change of command ceremony July 7, 2022 inside the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO/R.J. ORIEZ

Col. Christopher Meeker, former commander of the 88th Air Base Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, will face a general court martial on charges of extramarital sexual conduct and fraternization starting next Tuesday.

Meeker had been scheduled to be tried at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois in June. But the trial date was moved up and the location moved to Wright-Patterson, where Meeker led the 88th Air Base Wing and still works, although in a different position.

The date was moved by mutual agreement of the parties involved and with the concurrence of the convening authority and presiding military judge, said Derek Kaufman, a spokesman for the Air Force Materiel Command, which is headquartered at Wright-Patterson.

Meeker faces charges of “willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer,” and one charge and two specifications of ”extramarital sexual conduct and fraternization."

The venue was shifted to Wright-Patterson for convenience, as trial participants and potential witnesses are local to Wright-Patterson, Kaufman said.

Meeker was removed from command of the 88th Air Base Wing in December 2023 by Lt. Gen. Donna D. Shipton, commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, also based at Wright-Patt.

Since there is potential for Shipton to be a material witness in the case, she transferred the case to another convening authority, Maj. Gen. Charles D. Bolton, the 18th Air Force commander at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois.

Bolton is still the convening authority in the case.

Meeker waived his Article 32 preliminary hearing and charges were referred to a general court-martial by Bolton.

Wright-Patterson is home to global units responsible for equipping and sustaining the Air Force and its personnel, the Air Force Materiel Command, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, among others.

The installation is the largest single-site concentration of employment in Ohio. In a fact sheet, the wing put the base’s annual payroll at $3.3 billion, with a total economic impact of $6.5 billion.

Since the inception of the 88th Air Base Wing in October 1994, no prior commander of the wing had been relieved of command.

Col. Dustin Richards assumed command of the wing about a year ago.

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