At left, Col. Jon Meredith was fired as commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, in October 2022, after a criminal investigation. At right, Col. Ann Meredith, his wife, was fired Tuesday, March 23, 2023, from her position as commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade at Fort Hood after a separate investigation. (U.S. Army)
AUSTIN, Texas — Col. Ann Meredith has been fired as commander of the 89th Military Police Brigade at Fort Hood, as she and her husband, also a colonel fired from his command post, faced separate criminal investigations, officials at the Texas base said Thursday.
Meredith has been suspended since Jan. 5, and Lt. Gen. Sean C. Bernabe, commander of III Corps and Fort Hood, decided Tuesday to relieve her command “due to a loss of confidence in her judgment following an investigation,” said Lt. Col. Tania P. Donovan, spokeswoman for III Corps.
Meredith had been on the job since July and Lt. Col. Jeremy Prince is serving as acting brigade commander.
She will not face criminal charges or a court-martial and was disciplined through administrative action, Donovan said.
Col. Jon Meredith, her husband, was fired Oct. 3 as commander of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood also for a loss of confidence, said Lt. Col. Jennifer J. Bocanegra, spokeswoman for the division.
“The Army [Criminal Investigation Division] investigation involving Col. Ann Meredith is distinct from the previous investigation of her husband, Col. Jon Meredith,” she said. “For the investigation involving Col. Jon Meredith, the Army CID has exhausted all investigative leads and provided an interim report to 1st Cavalry Division. The 1st Cavalry Division does not provide comments during this stage of the process.”
Jon Meredith was the second consecutive commander to be removed from 1st Brigade. He stepped into the role May 2021 after the previous commander, Col. Michael Schoenfeldt, was removed for bullying staff. The brigade was deployed to Poland at the time.
The married colonels have served more than 20 years in the Army with assignments at Fort Riley, Kan., and Fort Knox, Ky.
Bernabe said Fort Hood moves quickly to investigate when there are allegations of misconduct by leaders.
“Regardless of rank or position, we investigate to figure out what really happened. We go into that not making any assumptions about what the truth is and allowing the investigative process to help us understand the truth,” he said. “I fully realize that for folks on the outside trying to understand what's going on, it's probably not satisfying. While that investigation is underway, there's not a lot we can say or ought to say until we understand the results of that investigation and make some decisions based on that.”
