I’m in the military and this didnt happen to me, but a friend of mine.
We used to have this mid-level officer, we’ll call her Boss Lady, who lashed out to junior officers daily. She had the ear of the Captain, so if you were on her bad side then you were pretty much screwed in terms of meeting career milestones (which impacts future job placement).
This particular officer started a rumor that my friend, call her Jane, had slept with a junior ranking Sailor (fraternization). So she gets investigated for it, and the investigation comes out not guilty.
Boss Lady is furious so she sat Jane down for informal, but written paperwork, stating “The appearance of being guilty is contrary to good order and discipline”. She then proceeded to tell her that if she continues with her behavior she will revoke the Commanding Officer’s recommendation for promotion. Not a power she has, but again she has the Captain’s ear.
Unrelated but related side story –
Flash forward 6 months and Boss Lady told the CO that another female officer onboard, will call this person Mary, was trying to sabotage her marriage. Mary – who btw was sleeping around and also later fired – tried to tell the CO that Boss Lady had a chronic lying problem and that she couldn’t be trusted.
So these two get in a vicious verbal, rumor spreading cat-fight, and it all came to head when emails were given to the CO showing that Mary was trying to sleep with Boss Lady’s man.
The CO, having enough, started another investigation into the emails and the IT department discovered that the emails were fabricated to set up Mary. Boss Lady was fired from her job for the lying, but is still in the Navy doing a different job and wrecking havoc onto others
Tl;dr My friend was investigated for fraternization, investigation found not guilty, but she was still written up for perception. The officer who wrote her up was later fired for fabricating emails attempting to frame a different women whom was actually fraternizing- and was also fired.
Jane is doing well btw, she’s planning on leaving the military – and so am I.