An Air Force general who is facing a court-martial on charges that he raped a female subordinate has asked to retire rather than stand trial and risk being sentenced to decades in the stockade.

Maj. Gen. Phillip A. Stewart was commander of the 19th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, the service’s pilot training arm, until he was abruptly removed in May while the military investigated the allegations against him. He allegedly committed the sexual assault at an Air Force base in Oklahoma in April.