Does the Air Force actually punish Airmen committing adultery?

Read the UCMJ you'll be amazed at the things you are doing that are illegal......long answer they don't go hunting down adulterers.......short answer if they catch you....yes.

Also hard to prove unless you admit it or get caught in the act.....btw not condoning adultery. Personally having been married 23 years my advice is if someone is even thinking about it...just get a divorce...your relationship is over and you just don't know it......anyway moving on.

It certainly was not a big deal in the 1970's. The only instance I heard of was a pilot Captain who took a Sargeant's wife to a unit dining in and intriduced her as "my mistress". He got away with that until her husbsnd came back from RVN early and found the Captain's flight suits and uniforms in the closet. The Sargeant showed up in my office with the name plate off the Captain's flight suit. He knew the unit because he was in it before he went to Nam. Since the Squadron Commander had ignored the incident, I had him file an Article 138 Complaint against him. Within a week both the Captain and the Lieutenant Colonel had accepted Article 15's and their careers were over. Bad stuff adultry. Especially within your own unit.

As a current defense paralegal I can tell you without a doubt YES! Although a common misconception is that one has committed adultery by engaging in sexual acts outside of intercourse but that's not the case. The law requires intercourse to have occurred to be charged as adultery. It can be difficult to charge someone because one of the elements that the government would have to prove is that it was to the prejudice of good order and discipline or that it was service discrediting. It is most likely only to the prejudice of good order and discipline if the involved parties come from the same unit. And I have never seen it charged as service discrediting because civilians do it too. I know of a court-martial being convened for an adultery case within the past few months. But it's more common to see some lesser form of action taken i.e., Art 15, or admin paperwork.

You may want to seek the advice of your local Area Defense Counsel or point someone in that direction if any of this applies to you or them!