A military investigative hearing is under way for a senior Coast Guard commander facing numerous charges, including indecent acts and conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Capt. Herbert M. Hamilton III is charged with 31 violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He will have the right to question witnesses at the hearing that began Tuesday at Fort Richardson in Anchorage.

Among the alleged offenses filed in November, the 48-year-old Hamilton is accused of sexual improprieties that allegedly took place in Alaska and other states and involved multiple women, including enlisted Coast Guard personnel.

Several women are expected to testify at the hearing, which is expected to last three days.

First to testify was a petty officer who said Tuesday that her short-lived relationship with the married Hamilton began weeks after he took command of the Coast Guard's Anchorage sector in summer 2008.

The woman said that the first encounter occurred when the two attended a three-day oil spill response exercise on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. She said they shared two pitchers of beer and Hamilton began holding her hand. She said they each went to their rooms after Hamilton hugged her and said he didn't want to let her go.

Asked if she found the hug unusual, the woman said yes, then added, "I was surprised but also excited that this bright individual would be interested in me."

The woman said she sent Hamilton a text message, thanking him for the evening and reminding him about the next day's schedule. She said they continued exchanging text messages until early morning, when the woman went up to the commander's room, where she performed oral sex on him. The two then began a relationship.

When asked by a defense attorney, the petty officer denied trying to advance her career by having sex with a senior commander. Likewise, she denied feeling pressure to have sex with him because of his higher rank.

The woman ended an existing relationship to be with Hamilton, but her former boyfriend found e-mails between the two, prompting Hamilton and the woman to end their affair in early November 2008.

In an October e-mail leading to that decision, and read at the hearing, Hamilton told her he valued the relationship, "but neither of us can afford the ramifications of this getting out."

The Coast Guard has said the investigation continues, and has not ruled out charges being brought against others.