Service members punished for bringing women back to hotel during Pence trip

ByELIZABETH MCLAUGHLIN ABCNews logo
Friday, January 19, 2018

Four U.S. service members who were removed from Vice President Mike Pence's communications team after bringing women back to their Panama hotel rooms in August have been punished.

Three Army soldiers have received General Officer Memorandums of Reprimand, Army spokeswoman Adrienne Combs told ABC News. The reprimand can impact promotions, reenlistment, or retirements, if a review board evaluates the soldier's personnel filed, she said.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek confirms one airman involved received "appropriate administrative action."

"Due to the Privacy Act we do not discuss personnel actions or information about individual Airmen," Stefanek said. "However, behavior of this nature is absolutely unacceptable and is completely contrary to our core values in the United States Air Force."

The news was first reported by the Washington Post.

Separately, ABC News reported that service members from the Army and Air Force had been removed from their roles at the White House amid allegations they had improper contact with foreign women while traveling with President Trump in Vietnam in November.

Combs confirmed that the Vietnam incident is still under investigation, but should be complete next week, after which time the chain of command will evaluate whether any corrective action is warranted.

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