Ethnic Slur Causes Air Force General's Resignation

An offensive comment last month derailed an Air Force general’s career. Maj. Gen. M. Keltz said four words that weren’t taken lightly: “Drunker than 10,000 Indians." On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Air Education and Training Command confirmed the ethnic slur, which was first reported in a blog written by a former U.S. Air Force officer and veterans’ advocate. Keltz was the former commander of the 19th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. However, he resigned last week while announcing he was retiring. In a written statement, he said he inadvertently made an unfortunate comment.

The Incident

On April 9, Keltz commented during an Article 15 hearing where he was the convening authority. At that time, a company-grade officer was seeking a reduced punishment after a finding of wrongdoing, as determined by the officer’s commander during a previous hearing. During the hearing, Keltz saw a photo of the officer standing beside a friend at a unit event where the pair were drinking. Keltz observed the photo.  He then stated the friends appeared to be “drunker than 10,000 Indians.”A spokeswoman for the AETC, Maj. T. Whaley, confirmed that Keltz had commented on looking at the photograph. Per the blog writer, the audience was taken aback by the comment.  Additionally, the audience included individuals of Native American descent. Keltz continued his commentary and later said that the officer looked drunker than 10,000 sailors. Whaley noted that about 75 people were attending the Article 15 hearing at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. After the hearing, several people complained to the staff judge advocate about Keltz’s comment. Whaley said that Keltz offered his letter of resignation to Gen. Rand, who was Kelt’z boss; he accepted it—looking for a military criminal defense attorney. Contact Crisp & Associates, LLC if you have been charged with an army crime anywhere in the world!