Tailhook

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.

*TC She has lost her career, most of her friends, and nearly a third of her weight. She has been called a man-hater and a slut, a disgrace to the Navy and a crybaby who should have known better.But last week, a federal jury said that Paula Coughlin, the woman who blew the whistle on Tailhook, was right. She had been hurt and she had been wronged, and for that, said the jurors, she should be compensated to the tune of $6.7 million."Even if I never see one penny, it is worth it," says Ms. Coughlin, 32, without hesitation, "because for the first time in a very long time, I am proud of myself.

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.--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.

YOU know what really stinks?" the young Navy officer asked me.He pushed aside his third scotch and leaned across the table in a chain restaurant near the Naval Air Station in Norfolk, Va., where the Tailhook prosecutions have crept along for more than a year and where he was one of the dozens accused of "conduct unbecoming."

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 -- 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.

Boston -- Maybe they ought to teach this as a case study at the Naval Academy or at Officer Candidate Schools. It could be a lesson in the value of closing ranks, the importance of military bonding, or the power of loyalty in the face of opponents.That's what it has come down to. About two and a half years ago, some 90 women were assaulted at the infamous Tailhook convention. Now the last cases to reach court have been dismissed. Not a single man has been court-martialed or seriously disciplined.

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."