Navy And Marine

WASHINGTON -- The final report on the Pentagon's Tailhook investigation, expected to be released later this month, alleges an assortment of sex acts by Navy officers that go beyond grabbing and fondling female aviators and expands the potential targets for prosecution and discipline.In confidential memorandums expected to accompany the long-awaited report, Inspector General Derek J. Vander Schaaf is expected to recommend that about 15 officers face courts-martial on charges of assault or indecency, according to knowledgeable sources.

They are the first class of graduates since the Vietnam War to step from the Naval Academy campus into a major conflict, and Vice President Dick Cheney told them yesterday to expect a "new kind of war against a new kind of enemy." "This afternoon, with one oath, you will step into history," Cheney said in his address to the 965 graduating midshipmen, on a sun-splashed day of pageantry that drew thousands to a tightly guarded Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. "You are the first class in more than a generation to leave this academy in a time of war."

BY NOMINATING Rear Adm. John R. Ryan as the next U.S. Naval Academy superintendent, the Navy is following precedent established when Adm. Charles R. Larson took over four years ago. The billet is now considered an important post that must be filled by a strong leader who can mold future Navy and Marine officers.Admiral Ryan is a well-regarded flag officer who will continue the much-needed reforms Admiral Larson initiated. Colleagues say Admiral Ryan is effective and forceful, and demands a great deal from himself and the personnel under his command.

WASHINGTON -- One morning last month, a Marine Corps CH-46D Sea Knight helicopter crashed into the Atlantic some 30 miles off the Georgia coast while scouring the waters for a downed civilian aircraft. Four Marines were pulled from the chilly waters after the helicopter went down March 9. Two days later, the body of a Navy corpsman serving with the Marines, Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin J. Frank, 39, of Ocean City, Md., was found next to the helicopter, 90 feet below the surface. The Sea Knight is one of 18 Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, helicopters and fixed-wing warplanes, that crashed between October and the end of last month, resulting in 19 deaths.

WASHINGTON -- One morning last month, a Marine Corps CH-46D Sea Knight helicopter crashed into the Atlantic some 30 miles off the Georgia coast while scouring the waters for a downed civilian aircraft. Four Marines were pulled from the chilly waters after the helicopter went down March 9. Two days later, the body of a Navy corpsman serving with the Marines, Petty Officer 1st Class Kevin J. Frank, 39, of Ocean City, Md., was found next to the helicopter, 90 feet below the surface. The Sea Knight is one of 18 Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, helicopters and fixed-wing warplanes, that crashed between October and the end of last month, resulting in 19 deaths.

At least eight top Navy and Marine Corps officers are being interviewed at the Pentagon this month as the search narrows for Naval Academy Superintendent Adm. Charles R. Larson's successor, according to academy, Navy and Marine Corps officials.Finalists include three Marine generals. Although no Marine has been superintendent, the Marine Corps has fought in recent years for greater representation in the academy's upper tiers."This is an ideal opportunity to bring together a true melding of the Navy and the Marine Corps, and I hope we don't blow it," said retired Marine Brig.

WASHINGTON -- The Navy yesterday unveiled the first major policy revision of its national security role in a decade, shifting its emphasis from open-ocean conflicts toward development of naval expeditionary forces that would be used to fight regional "brush-fire" wars around the world.The Navy's "white paper" is designed to respond to changes since the end of the Cold War, as well as to establish a stronger position for the Navy and Marine Corps in future contests with other military branches for missions and money.

WASHINGTON -- Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett III resigned yesterday amid questions about his involvement in a scandal over the assault on 26 women, including 14 female officers, at a convention of naval aviators last year.The Navy secretary, who attended the convention but said he saw no misconduct, had come under growing criticism from Congress in recent days for the Navy's handling of the inquiry, which Mr. Garrett last week turned over to the Defense Department inspector general.Mr.

Adm. Frank Kelso's decision to take early retirement as chief of naval operations is the right one for him and the Navy. It should reduce somewhat the number of lightning strikes -- to use Admiral Kelso's metaphor -- the new CNO attracts regarding the 1991 Tailhook convention. The controversy over that bawdy party of naval aviators will no doubt continue. But with a CNO not in any way responsible for it, the Navy's top officer will not be as distracted as Admiral Kelso would be.That is desirable, since, of course, the Navy does have a few other things to be concerned about in addition to sexual harassment and discrimination.

ANNAPOLIS -- America's latest conquering hero, U.S. Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf, told graduating midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy yesterday that Operation Desert Storm proved that great American leadership always emerges in times of crisis."

Yesterday's interview had scarcely begun when Marine Col. John R. Allen leapt suddenly from his seat in a Naval Academy conference room and marched a group of reporters to a hall honoring fallen sailors. He had a point to make about moral fiber. And if it meant a breach of interviewing custom, so be it. Gesturing with an air of quiet intensity to a listing of academy graduates killed in action, he said he asks midshipmen accused of misconduct to choose a name, research how the officer died and write a paper on lessons gleaned from the officer's life.

There were no crying parents and bright-eyed teens lined up outside the Naval Academy sports arena at dawn yesterday. No baggy jeans or care packages from home. No long-haired kids learning how to salute. This was a different breed of soon-to-be midshipmen who arrived at the academy a day before 900 recent high school graduates charge through with their parents in tow today. These young men and women come from the fleet, from the Navy and Marine enlisted ranks - older, calmer and seasoned, in many cases, by years of military experience.

BY NOMINATING Rear Adm. John R. Ryan as the next U.S. Naval Academy superintendent, the Navy is following precedent established when Adm. Charles R. Larson took over four years ago. The billet is now considered an important post that must be filled by a strong leader who can mold future Navy and Marine officers.Admiral Ryan is a well-regarded flag officer who will continue the much-needed reforms Admiral Larson initiated. Colleagues say Admiral Ryan is effective and forceful, and demands a great deal from himself and the personnel under his command.

At least eight top Navy and Marine Corps officers are being interviewed at the Pentagon this month as the search narrows for Naval Academy Superintendent Adm. Charles R. Larson's successor, according to academy, Navy and Marine Corps officials.Finalists include three Marine generals. Although no Marine has been superintendent, the Marine Corps has fought in recent years for greater representation in the academy's upper tiers."This is an ideal opportunity to bring together a true melding of the Navy and the Marine Corps, and I hope we don't blow it," said retired Marine Brig.

CHICAGO -- Joanne Bertalan won the battle her paralyzed son could not fight -- a five-month struggle with Navy and Marine officials who had sought to strip her 22-year-old son of his veteran's benefits.She was at her son's bedside at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago on Friday, bags under her blue eyes, her gray hair tousled by the five-hour flight from San Diego after a four-hour hearing.Months of uncertainty about the quality and cost of the care her son will receive had ended.It is doubtful that her son, Cpl. Joseph Bertalan, understood much of what she said.

Washington.--Scene: The third floor of the Las Vegas Hilton, Sept. 7, 1991. The corridor is flanked by pawing, grasping Navy and Marine aviators engaged in one pursuit -- grabbing female officers wherever they can get hold of them as they run "the gantlet;" in hospitality suites, X-rated movies flicker; in another room, women are having their legs shaved by men; a stripper is performing somewhere. Elsewhere prostitutes are plying their trade.Debauchery.Scene: The fourth floor of the Pentagon, Feb. 15, 1994.

Washington.--Scene: The third floor of the Las Vegas Hilton, Sept. 7, 1991. The corridor is flanked by pawing, grasping Navy and Marine aviators engaged in one pursuit -- grabbing female officers wherever they can get hold of them as they run "the gantlet;" in hospitality suites, X-rated movies flicker; in another room, women are having their legs shaved by men; a stripper is performing somewhere. Elsewhere prostitutes are plying their trade.Debauchery.Scene: The fourth floor of the Pentagon, Feb. 15, 1994.

They are the first class of graduates since the Vietnam War to step from the Naval Academy campus into a major conflict, and Vice President Dick Cheney told them yesterday to expect a "new kind of war against a new kind of enemy." "This afternoon, with one oath, you will step into history," Cheney said in his address to the 965 graduating midshipmen, on a sun-splashed day of pageantry that drew thousands to a tightly guarded Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. "You are the first class in more than a generation to leave this academy in a time of war."

Adm. Frank Kelso's decision to take early retirement as chief of naval operations is the right one for him and the Navy. It should reduce somewhat the number of lightning strikes -- to use Admiral Kelso's metaphor -- the new CNO attracts regarding the 1991 Tailhook convention. The controversy over that bawdy party of naval aviators will no doubt continue. But with a CNO not in any way responsible for it, the Navy's top officer will not be as distracted as Admiral Kelso would be.That is desirable, since, of course, the Navy does have a few other things to be concerned about in addition to sexual harassment and discrimination.

WASHINGTON -- The final report on the Pentagon's Tailhook investigation, expected to be released later this month, alleges an assortment of sex acts by Navy officers that go beyond grabbing and fondling female aviators and expands the potential targets for prosecution and discipline.In confidential memorandums expected to accompany the long-awaited report, Inspector General Derek J. Vander Schaaf is expected to recommend that about 15 officers face courts-martial on charges of assault or indecency, according to knowledgeable sources.