Tailhook

AS THE Navy, Congress, and the American people consider how to respond to the notorious Navy "Tailhook" scandal, they are being stampeded into inappropriate actions that have little to do with the case, lack perspective and could do more harm than good. Of course, if the charges turn out to be true, then the guilty should most certainly be punished.But actions being considered by those wishing to use the incident for their own political agendas could threaten to harm the effectiveness of the Navy as a fighting force.

EMILY is the name of my 9-year-old niece, a girl who would not harm a fly.But it is hardly an appropriate tag for the violent storm that loomed threateningly in the Caribbean in September.Likewise Bob.No one is going to be frightened by a hurricane called Bob.Hurricanes should have intimidating names that make people stay home and batten down the hatches.Bone Crusher, for example, would be a good name. The only problem with Bone Crusher is that it doesn't capture the essence of a storm's particular nature.

We almost did it. We almost managed to make it through a full television season without a rip-roaring debate about docudrama -- that much-maligned but highly popular formula built on the premise that the line between fact and fiction should be blurred.But now, in this last week of new programs for the 1994-1995 television year, come HBO's "Indictment: The McMartin Trial," ABC's "She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal" and NBC's "Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story."Big names, big budgets, big controversy -- especially for "McMartin," which airs Tuesday, and will be repeated Saturday, May 31, June 5 and June 8. The executive producers are Oliver Stone, of "JFK" fame, and Abby Mann, whose career ranges from "Judgment at Nuremberg" to "The Atlanta Child Murders."

Tailhook Award Won't Replace Personal LossI wish to thank Thomas F. Allen of Severn for his Nov. 14 letter on the Tailhook controversy. I was finally able to find closure to several issues that have bothered me for years.During the exposure of Tailhook and the investigations that were not investigations, I constantly wondered how could this have happened.I was confused when I heard of the women who were raped and abused during the Persian Gulf war. It was difficult to look at the defenders of our country, whom we supported as heroes, and be shown this hidden harbor of harassment.

Mel Gibson has been Hamlet. Kevin Costner has been Robin Hood. Woody Allen has been a romantic lead.Stranger things have happened in Hollywood than Demi Moore playing a Navy SEAL, as she does in "G.I. Jane." Director Ridley Scott's preach-athon doggedly insists women (especially surgically enhanced ones) can endure the military's most rigorous physical and mental program: Navy SEAL (sea, air, land) training.But the casting of Moore isn't what has retired SEAL Tom Hawkins up in arms about the movie.

WHAT REALLY caused Adm. Jeremy "Mike" Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations, to commit suicide? Could it really have been because he had worn two little brass "V" buttons without having won them by combat in Vietnam?The answers run deep, buried in the troubles of a Navy that nurtured Mike Boorda's incredible climb from enlisted high school drop-out to top officer of the fleet -- the first "mustang" in history to attain the pinnacle.Those "V" buttons could have been the result of an honest misunderstanding or some darker need for recognition deserved but not granted.

WASHINGTON -- The Marine Corps dropped all charges yesterday against a Marine captain who had been charged with sexually molesting Lt. Paula Coughlin, the admiral's aide and Navy aviator who first spoke out about the debauchery that occurred at the 1991 Tailhook convention.In essence, the Marine Corps decided that Lieutenant Coughlin might have identified the wrong man, and it dismissed the most celebrated case that arose out of the Tailhook incident.The Marine Corps said in a statement that there was no doubt that Lieutenant Coughlin had been assaulted at the convention two years ago at a Las Vegas hotel.

WASHINGTON -- A Navy judge dismissed three of the four remaining cases in the Tailhook scandal yesterday, stating that the Navy's top admiral misrepresented his knowledge of what occurred at a bawdy convention for aviators and tried to manipulate the investigation.In a decision with broad implications for the Navy, the judge, Capt. William Vest Jr., concluded that Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, the chief of naval operations, used "unlawful command influence" to "manipulate the initial investigative process" and the subsequent nTC discipline process "in a manner designed to shield his personal involvement in Tailhook '91."

WASHINGTON -- Four days before the trial of a lawsuit over the bawdy 1991 convention of a naval aviators' group, the Tailhook Association, in Las Vegas, Nev., the group reached a settlement with the plaintiff, a former Navy lieutenant who was among the women sexually abused there.The settlement was disclosed yesterday afternoon by lawyers for the Tailhook Association and Paula A. Coughlin, who filed the lawsuit last year.The lawyers declined to discuss the terms, saying in their joint statement only that the case "has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties."

WASHINGTON -- Four days after he declared he would not quit, the Navy's top admiral yesterday requested early retirement in an effort to end the service's torment over the Tailhook scandal.Adm. Frank B. Kelso II, chief of naval operations, announced his decision hours after the secretaries of defense and the Navy publicly commended his character and integrity, both of which had been impugned by a military judge last week. For Admiral Kelso, their statements of support were prerequisites for his early departure.