Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``It's time for the Navy to take a day and stand down and take a hard look at ourselves,'' Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, said Thursday. The day of introspection will be observed on a rotating basis by units worldwide, he said.
The purpose will be to think of ways to avoid discipline problems before they happen.
Boorda's announcement came after The Washington Post reported Thursday that a drunken Navy cook sexually assaulted a female sailor aboard a commercial jet and that the 20 or so other sailors on the flight chose not to intervene.
The Post said the alleged offender was Chief Petty Officer George Powell, 49, and that the victim was a 23-year-old 3rd class petty officer. The Post said none of the sailors intervened other than to ask the woman if she was all right. In summoning several reporters to his headquarters office in the Pentagon, the admiral made no secret of the fact that the reported incident prompted him to act.
The Post report ``troubled me,'' Boorda said, but added that his order for a daylong ``stand down'' for the Navy worldwide was in response to a string of embarrassing episodes recently that reflected poorly on the Navy. Among these, he said, was the Naval Academy's announcement this week that it is investigating 22 midshipmen for alleged marijuana and LSD use.
And there have been these other recent incidents:
A 22-year-old Navy seaman based in Okinawa is on trial there, along with two Marines, for the rape of a 12-year-old Japanese girl. The seaman, Marcus D. Gill, admitted in court Tuesday that he raped the girl after abducting her Sept. 4.
Navy Capt. Everett Greene, leader of a SEAL commando unit and a former head of the Navy's equal-opportunity office, was charged with having an ``unduly familiar'' relationship with a female subordinate. He was acquitted in a court-martial in Washington last month, but Navy Secretary John Dalton decided this week to recommend that his scheduled promotion to admiral be stopped.
by CNB