THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 10, 1995 TAG: 9511100448
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
His Navy embarrassed again by allegations of sexual misconduct, the nation's top admiral on Thursday ordered a servicewide ``stand down'' so that sailors and airmen can ``take a hard look at ourselves.''
Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, said the one-day suspension of normal operations will focus on helping personnel find ways to prevent breaches in discipline. A date for the stand down hasn't been set, but Boorda said he wants it within a month.
``Our discipline rates are down,'' the admiral asserted, but ``I don't like to see sailors get in trouble - particularly if it's preventable.''
Boorda acted just hours after The Washington Post reported allegations that a drunken Navy chief petty officer assaulted a female sailor during a commercial flight from Norfolk to the West Coast last month. The paper quoted sources saying that 20 other Navy people on the plane, including two officers, did not intercede to stop the attacker.
At one point in the long flight, the paper reported, the 23-year-old woman awoke from a nap to find Chief Petty Officer George Powell, 49, groping at her breasts, crotch and legs. The case is being investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and so far no charges have been filed.
Sounding more disappointed than angry, Boorda stressed that he has made no judgment about the truth of the allegations. But he acknowledged that the incident is among several, including an ongoing drug probe at the Naval Academy, that prompted him to act.
The quick response seemed to underscore both the Navy's official determination to stop harassment and its leaders' desire to minimize further damage to the service's image.
Boorda repeatedly stressed his pride in the good jobs Navy people are doing and argued that it would be impossible to eliminate discipline problems entirely in a force of more than 500,000 active duty and reserve personnel.
``Ninety-nine point nine-something of us are not having a problem,'' he said. Still, the percentage who are ``is too darned big, and I want to make it smaller.''
The Navy released figures later in the day indicating that between 1990 and 1994, while the size of the force was dropping by about 15 percent, courts-martial and other disciplinary proceedings dropped by almost 50 percent.
The stand down will focus on a variety of problems with ``good order and discipline,'' Boorda said. He cited as a particular concern the role of excessive drinking in some of the problems.
Stand downs, which usually include special classes or counseling sessions, are not uncommon within segments of the Navy, particularly naval aviation. Typically, they're called to deal with safety problems.
Boorda said details of the upcoming stand down have yet to be worked out. He plans to ``set a tone'' for the day with a message to all hands, he said, but senior officers down the line will be responsible for running the stand down within their commands.
``I think we have good standards, and most of what we're talking about is common sense,'' Boorda said. The Navy needs to hammer those rules home and remind its people that they're expected to take care of each other so that trouble can be avoided, he added.
The last Navywide stand down came in 1992, as the Navy intensified efforts to stop sexual harassment in the wake of a 1991 convention of naval aviators in Las Vegas. At that gathering of the Tailhook Association, drunken naval aviators assaulted some of their female colleagues and several civilians.
Various investigations after the incident implicated dozens of men but resulted in no convictions. Tailhook led to the resignation of then-Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett and the early retirement of Boorda's predecessor, Adm. Frank Kelso.
In addition to the Naval Academy drug probe, in which 22 midshipmen are being investigated for possible use, possession or distribution, the Navy's recent embarrassments have included Tuesday's admission by an Okinawa-based seaman that he raped a 12-year-old Japanese girl in September.
The seaman and two Marines, who have admitted only to participating in the girl's abduction, are on trial in Japan. The case has prompted anti-American demonstrations in Japan and a formal apology from Defense Secretary William J. Perry.
The service also continues to grapple with the case of Capt. Everett L. Greene, who formerly headed its efforts to stop sexual harassment. A court-martial acquitted Greene last month of allegations that he became overly familiar with two women in his command at the Bureau of Naval Personnel in 1993.
The verdict notwithstanding, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton has tentatively decided that questions about Greene's fitness for promotion remain serious enough to warrant withdrawing the captain's nomination for rear admiral. Greene, who is based in San Diego, is expected to come to Washington later this month to plead his case directly to Dalton.
KEYWORDS: DISCIPLINE U.S. NAVY SEXUAL HARASSMENT by CNB