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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993                   TAG: 9304270353
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TAILHOOK '91

Drunkenness. Destruction of property. Indecent exposure. Strippers and prostitutes in the hotel suites. And worse: women - including 15 female officers - forced to run hallway gantlets of pinching, pushing, groping, grabbing, fondling, clothes-ripping, sexually assaulting men.

Yet even that isn't the worst thing about this sordid episode. Worst of all is the report's compelling indication of a cover-up - of massive lying, by dozens of senior officers among others, about their knowledge of the misconduct during the initial investigation of the Tailhook scandal.

The cover-up wasn't only an attempt to shirk responsibility. It also reflected continued condoning of the Navy's endemic sexism.

To be sure, the rules have been changing. (Indeed, says the report: "Similar behavior had occurred at previous [Tailhook] conventions." It had assumed "the aura of `tradition.' There is even some evidence to suggest that Tailhook '91 was `tame' in comparison to earlier conventions.")

The Navy doesn't hold the patent on sexist attitudes in the military. Other branches and military institutions keep their own sexist traditions - despite the fact that women have been integrated into the services for years.

And not every sailor and Navy fly-boy is a lout. As President Clinton says, the damning Tailhook '91 report "should not be taken as a general indictment of the United States Navy or all the fine people who serve there."

Even so, there's more than a little evidence that the Navy needs an infusion of moral values, regarding not only the treatment of women, but also the importance of putting accountability, responsibility and honesty above the tendency to close ranks.

(Sadly, on the same day the Pentagon Inspector General's report was splashed across the nation's front pages, a short article inside this newspaper reported on what's been labeled the biggest cheating scandal in 20 years at the Naval Academy.)

Adm. Frank Kelso, the Navy's chief of operations, concedes that the Navy has had "an institutional problem" in how it has treated women. No kidding. The report says 35 admirals and Marine generals condoned the conduct at Tailhook or tried to mislead investigators. Kelso himself was the most senior officer at the convention, and claims he was unaware of the scandalous conduct while it was occurring.

Kelso now says Tailhook '91 was a watershed event for cultural change. In the long run, he promises, it will serve to reinforce the dignity of women and promote reform within the military.

We hope so. But, meantime, the top-brass panel that will review the report should recommend strong disciplinary action against those involved, especially those who committed assaults and who lied to investigators. If the Navy is to learn from this ugly affair, it needs to do more than send the boys to charm school.