
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993                   TAG: 9310170013
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: WILLIAM H. McMICHAEL NEWPORT NEWS DAILY PRESS
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

TAILHOOK CAPTAIN CLEARED

The Navy has cleared Capt. Richard F. Braden's name. But the job that was waiting for him is gone and so is his career, Braden says.

The top Tailhook authority, Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason, met late Thursday in Norfolk with Braden, 47, and cleared him of any wrongdoing at the 1991 Navy fliers' convention in Las Vegas, where investigators say dozens of sexual assaults took place.

Braden was one of the five officers whose Tailhook cases were re-opened in August. One of those officers, Cmdr. Robert E. Stumpf, similarly was cleared Oct. 7. The cases of the other three still are pending.

Braden was to have taken command this summer of the Airborne Early Warning Wing E-2C Hawkeye wing on the West Coast. But in May he was reassigned for the duration of the Navy's investigation and, according to his attorney, the job only could be held open for so long while the investigation and subsequent review were taking place. It now has been filled by another officer.

"It's impossible for him to get that back," said attorney Lt. Jeff Horwitz, now teaching at the Naval Justice School in Newport, R.I. "The bubble closed 30 days ago. That would have been his major command and his shining moment."

As a result, said Braden, his 25-year career has been stalled. He's requested retirement, effective next spring.

"Certainly I'm happy that it's over," said a subdued Braden, reached at his home in San Diego Friday night. "But it's cost me my career. It's great to be a person of mistaken identity, but I sort of feel the same way Capt. Bonam must have felt in Quantico [Thursday]. We've paid the same price in our career as if we were guilty. The damage has been done."

Marine Corps Capt. Gregory J. Bonam is accused of assaulting Lt. Paula Coughlin at Tailhook. A Marine Corps magistrate recommended dismissing that charge Thursday after evidence was presented that indicated she identified the wrong man.

On the verdict, Horwitz said, "I've got mixed feelings. I'm actually ecstatic for him and his family that it's finally over. But I'm disappointed that it took this long to clear him. It was evident from day one that this was the result that should have occurred. Anyone who just took time to look at the case would have come to the same conclusion."

Also on Friday, Reason testified before Capt. William T. Vest, the military judge hearing the Tailhook cases, that his recommendations in the 117 cases handed to the service by Pentagon investigators in April were made without bias.

Reason, who spent nearly three hours on the stand at Norfolk Naval Base, was called to testify in response to motions by attorneys for Tailhook court-martial defendants Cmdr. Thomas R. Miller and Lt. David Samples to dismiss charges against the two.

Reason also testified that he felt the Navy probably wouldn't have made any strides toward solving sexual harassment problems unless Tailhook had come to the fore. "There's no doubt that this was the wake-up call," he said. "Had the Tailhook incident not surfaced, there would have been no impetus on the Navy to change."

by CNB