The senior enlisted soldier for an air defense artillery battalion at Fort Campbell, Tennessee, is suspended from his leadership role after he was arrested off-post early Sunday morning on suspicion of domestic assault, Army Times has learned.
Command Sgt. Maj. Kevin Peterson was arrested at 3:19 a.m. on Freedom Drive in Clarksville, Tennessee, according to Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office jail records.
Peterson is the senior enlisted leader of 2nd Battalion, 44th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division Artillery, Army officials confirmed.
The NCO was arrested on suspicion of domestic assault, jail records said. Publicly available 911 call logs show someone called at 12:18 a.m. to report a “domestic [disturbance] in progress” on Freedom Drive.
Public records show that Peterson owns a home on the same street where the 911 call and arrest occurred, though the booking record did not specify the address at which he was arrested.
“We are aware of the arrest of Command Sergeant Major Peterson by local authorities,” Lt. Col. Kari McEwen, a 101st Airborne Division Spokesperson, told Army Times. “The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident and the case is pending a prosecution decision by the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.”
“Command Sgt. Maj. Peterson has been flagged and is suspended for favorable personnel action pending the outcome of the case,” said McEwen. “He is currently suspended from his role as the senior non-commissioned officer in the battalion pending the outcome of the case.”
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office declined to provide any additional information regarding the incident.
Peterson did not respond to a request for comment sent to his military email address.
A rash of senior enlisted leaders across the Army have faced allegations of misconduct in recent months.
The former command sergeant major of Winn Army Community Hospital at Fort Stewart, Georgia, was also sentenced to six months of confinement and dropped in rank to specialist after he was convicted of sexual misconduct in April.
And the former senior enlisted leader of the 4th Infantry Division Artillery was sentenced last month after pleading guilty to an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and sending lewd text messages to a woman.
A field artillery sergeant major at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, faces general court-martial in October over alleged “offenses related to sexual harassment and abusive sexual contact against a subordinate.”
Another former Fort Bragg, North Carolina, sergeant major will go to trial for an alleged sexual assault in October, in addition to charges of desertion, extortion, and destroying evidence before his previous court-martial.
Davis Winkie covers the Army for Military Times. He studied history at Vanderbilt and UNC-Chapel Hill, and served five years in the Army Guard. His investigations earned the Society of Professional Journalists' 2023 Sunshine Award and consecutive Military Reporters and Editors honors, among others. Davis was also a 2022 Livingston Awards finalist.
