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But the Army will have a much tougher time punishing Hale now that he has retired. Responding to a written inquiry from Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, Army Colonel Scott Black recently wrote that "although retired soldiers remain subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, they are only prosecuted by courts-martial when extraordinary circumstances are present." And senior Pentagon officials say it will be much harder to reduce Hale's rank, and consequently his pension, even if Carpino's charges are substantiated. "Once he's retired, the burden of proof shifts from him to the Army," says Korb, the former personnel chief.
Now that Hale is gone and neither he nor his Army lawyer is willing to speak on his behalf, it is left to his Army buddies to figure out what happened. "This story is so far out of character I can't comprehend what is going on," says Major General Kenneth Simpson, the senior Army officer in Alaska, whom Hale has described as his best friend. When Simpson heard of his friend's sudden retirement, he called Hale at his Army-owned home at Fort Myer, Va., only to get a message saying the phone had been disconnected.
For his part, Carpino's ex-husband wishes he had never taken the assignment in Izmir. "I think we'd still be married if we'd never gone to Turkey and met Dave Hale," he says. "I was loyal to General Hale and to the Army, and they both abused their power." The clue to Hale's gift for easy exits may be contained in the same West Point yearbook entry that cheered his prowess with women and alcohol. It observed that Cadet Dave Hale--much like Major General Dave Hale--had "an expert ability to cover his tracks and a lot of good luck."