Discharged?

An Air Force drill sergeant and former Iowa National Guard member who posed nude for Playboy magazine has been removed from active duty, she said Wednesday. Whether that amounts to an honorable discharge, as Michelle Manhart also says, is unclear.

Manhart, who appeared in a six-page spread in Playboy's February issue, said she got word Friday that she was removed from "extended active duty" and was also told that she was demoted in rank from staff sergeant to senior airman.

"I'm disappointed in our system," Manhart told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "They went too far with it."

Manhart said that being removed from duty meant that she reverted to her Air National Guard status and that she submitted a "resignation" to the Guard, which she said is pending. Manhart was a member of the Iowa Air National Guard before going on extended active duty.

Manhart offered The AP a copy of a signed "request and authorization for separation" form that indicates her "character of service" was "honorable." It is not clear whether the form is an official discharge order.

Oscar Balladares, a spokesman for Lackland Air Force Base, confirmed that Manhart was removed from extended active duty on Friday, but he said Lackland did not discharge her.

"She was not discharged, but she was removed from active duty status and thus reverted to National Guard status," Balladares said. "It is not up to the Air Force — it is not our jurisdiction to discharge her."

So, until her papers come through from the Air Force regarding her active duty status, it would appear that her status with the National Guard isn't resolved one way or the other. It will be interesting to see how the National Guard handles the matter. Either way, Manhart is getting quite a bit of press these days. More photos here.

Prior coverage is here.

UPDATE:
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Faultline USA, The Random Yak, The HILL Chronicles, stikNstein... has no mercy, basil's blog, Pirate's Cove, The Amboy Times, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Conservative Thoughts, Right Voices, and Pursuing Holiness, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Technorati: michelle manhart, playboy.