DATE: Thursday, September 11, 1997          TAG: 9709110442

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   45 lines

ARMY REPRIMANDS ABERDEEN'S EX-COMMANDER FOR SEX SCANDAL

The Army has reprimanded the former commander of the Maryland training base where sexual misconduct touched off an investigation of sex harassment throughout the service. Officials also said the Army plans to add a week to basic training to stress ethics and values.

Maj. Gen. Robert Shadley, former commander of the U.S. Army Ordnance Center and School at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., received a letter of reprimand and plans to contest it, a Pentagon official said Wednesday. Shadley now is deputy chief of staff for logistics and readiness at Fort McPherson, Ga.

Several officers under Shadley's command at Aberdeen, including battalion and brigade commanders, also have been reprimanded, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Such reprimands are considered career-ending actions in the military.

The actions came to light as the Army prepared to issue a comprehensive report on sex harassment in the service prompted by last November's allegations of widespread misconduct at Aberdeen.

Army Secretary Togo West and Gen. Dennis Reimer, the Army chief of staff, are to discuss the findings of two major studies today. Lawmakers were briefed late Wednesday.

A key recommendation will be that the Army add another week to the service's eight-week basic training course, said one senior officer.

``They want to put the focus on ethics and values,'' the officer said, noting that top service officials believe they must respond to the harassment and misconduct problems reported at bases around the world.

Accusations that drill sergeants at Aberdeen Proving Ground were preying on female trainees touched off allegations of rape and other misconduct at a number of bases, including sexual misconduct charges against the service's most senior enlisted man, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Gene McKinney.

The Army charged 12 staff members at the Aberdeen base with sex crimes ranging from inappropriate sexual comments to rape.

Of those cases, one was convicted of rape, four were convicted of other sexual misconduct, four agreed to be discharged in lieu of court-martial, one was cleared of sexual misconduct charges and two cases haven't been resolved.

Some Army officials argued at the time that Shadley should be exonerated. ILLUSTRATION: Shadley

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