Braxton Taylor
An Air Force commander at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, has been removed from his leadership position, a move that comes several months after he faced arrest and charges were subsequently dropped against him.
Col. Joseph Coughlin, commander of the 557th Weather Wing at Offutt, was removed from his position Tuesday “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to lead,” a Wednesday news release said.
In late January, Military.com learned that Coughlin had been arrested in Sarpy County, Nebraska, and was accused of third-degree domestic violence assault charge, according to online court details. The charges were dropped later that month, Kris Pierce, a spokesman for Offutt Air Force Base and the 55th Wing, said at the time.
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“Offutt AFB fully cooperated with local law enforcement regarding the arrest of Col. Joseph Coughlin,” Pierce told Military.com in a Feb. 3 emailed statement. “As of Jan. 30, 2025, local authorities dropped all charges. We have no further comment at this time.”
While further details of that dropped case were not immediately available, it was considered a factor in Coughlin’s dismissal.
“The arrest this January contributed to Lt. Gen. Thomas Hensley’s, the 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) commander, decision to relieve Col. Joseph Coughlin of command of the 557th Weather Wing,” Rabia Coombs, a spokesperson for the 16th Air Force, said in an emailed statement. “Lt. Gen. Hensley lost confidence in Col. Coughlin’s ability to lead. The Air Force holds leaders to high, uncompromising and clear standards and expects them to always exemplify those standards.”
It was not immediately clear whether Coughlin had retained an attorney, and he could not be reached by phone calls or texts at numbers listed for him in public records. Coombs deferred other legal questions to the Sarpy County Attorney’s Office.
When asked whether Coughlin was facing additional charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Coombs said the “Office of Special Trial Counsel is currently reviewing the evidence,” adding “it is premature to comment on whether Col. Coughlin will face legal action under the UCMJ.”
Further details of Coughlin’s case were not provided by the 16th Air Force. The Office of Special Trial Counsel investigates “primarily victim-based offenses, including sex-related crimes, incidents of interpersonal violence, sexual harassment and some violent offenses,” the Air Force said last year.
“This was a difficult decision to make, but one necessary to ensure we are restoring our fighting force and acting in the best interest of the 557th Weather Wing,” Hensley said in Wednesday’s news release.
Eric Carpenter, a former military lawyer who is now a law professor at Florida International University, told Military.com in an interview Thursday that it’s not uncommon for the military to pick up some cases that local prosecutors may drop.
“Maybe the military won’t do anything with it, but it’s not surprising that they would pick it up and prosecute it and, oftentimes, when this happens, they end up getting convictions,” he said.
Coughlin took command of the 557th Weather Wing in July 2024. In his role, he oversaw 1,400 airmen at 19 worldwide operating locations, according to his service biography. The wing is the Air Force’s lead meteorology center.
His prior assignment was serving as the deputy dean of admissions and business operations at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii. Before that, he was the commander of 8th Mission Support Group at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea.
He graduated from Lyndon State College in Vermont and was commissioned into the Air Force through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program in 2000.
Col. Matthew Sattler, 557th Weather Wing deputy commander, has temporarily assumed the unit’s responsibility until Coughlin’s replacement is named, the news release said.
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