Fraternization Rule Shoots Down Navy Pilot : Military: Flier’s affair with a junior woman officer is one of a growing number of fraternization incidents that have shaken military policy.

When Capt. Larry (Hoss) Pearson, the commanding officer of Miramar Naval Air Station, was relieved of his command Friday for fraternization, it sent shock waves through the military community.

Pearson, a renowned pilot, was caught having an affair with a female junior officer who was an attorney on his staff.

In many civilian jobs, the romance between Pearson and his subordinate would have been the subject of gossip. In the Navy, it derailed their careers.

Under the longstanding policy of fraternization, higher-ranking officers are prohibited from having “unduly familiar personal relationships” with those of lesser rank--a tradition maintained for more than 200 years.

The rules, promulgated long before women entered the Navy, were established to avoid favoritism and prevent the possibility of an officer making strategic combat decisions that might be based, in part, on emotion, military officials said.

“On a ship, you have to literally trust the other person with your life. You have to maintain that professionalism. (Otherwise) . . . it’s very possible emotions will overlap into a work organization and effect performance and the ability to give orders,” said Capt. Kathleen Bruyere, a special assistant for women’s policy for the chief of naval personnel and a member of the Navy Women’s Group that has studied the issue of fraternization. “The intimacy, friendship or even the perception that there is more to the relationship than professionalism can cause a lot of problems.” But critics say the Navy has gone too far, using an archaic rule to infringe on personal rights and pry into romance and bedroom etiquette. And further, they say--and the military acknowledges--it’s a rule that is unevenly applied.

“Maybe 50 years ago when someone in a foxhole had to make a decision as to who should lead the charge it made sense but right now, it reinforces the image of the military as insensitive to personal rights,” said Mark Rosenbaum, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who litigated a fraternization case. “The rule was breached all the time by the top brass--it was mainly something applied to officers of lower ranks. . .It gives the top brass a weapon if they want to utilize it.”

In the Navy, officials believe fraternization is widespread--as well as, perhaps, an attitude of indifference towards it. Of 6,700 sailors and officers interviewed during a recent Navy study, two-thirds agreed that “some type of inappropriate senior-subordinate relationship exists in their command.”

But the majority also said fraternization posed no major problem. One third of the men and women said that members of their command did not understand the Navy policy on fraternization, according to the Update Report on the Progress of Women in the Navy, issued earlier this spring. The report was compiled at the request of the Secretary of the Navy, who directed the chief of naval operations to convene a 26-member study group to examine a number of issues, including fraternization, affecting women.

To Bruyere, and others, who worked on the report, these findings indicate that the Navy may have to beef up its educational and training efforts to make sure personnel understand the policy. The study group recommends that Navy officials:

* Provide better understanding of the reasons for the regulation.

* Order commanding officers to publish local instructions on the issue and include it in training.

* Expand the definition to include “any inappropriate personal relationship between staff/student personnel.”

Bruyere and others say the fraternization regulation is imperative to maintaining “good order and morale.” They point out that they are not trying to prevent romance but they are trying to maintain discipline. And the rule applies to non-sexual friendships, as well as romance.

“This is a gender neutral issue--it can also apply to inappropriate male-male or female-female relationships,” Bruyere said. “We are not saying people aren’t going to meet and fall in love--that is appropriate where it is appropriate.”

In the months ahead, the fraternization rule may come under increasing scrutiny as the battle heats up over whether to repeal the law prohibiting women from combat. Proponents of women serving in combat say the fraternization rule could be an important cornerstone that will help women serve without threat of harassment or discrimination. If the rule was rigorously enforced, they say, women could serve with impunity in close quarters, such as submarines--where they are currently prohibited.

“The Navy has got to act in these cases--it’s an embarrassment to the Navy, “ said retired Rear Adm. Eugene Carroll, Jr., deputy director of the Center for Defense Information in Washington. “We are officers and gentlemen--most of the time.”

Pearson, a well-regarded fighter pilot in the Naval Aviation community, may be the most senior Navy officer in a prestigious position to lose his career on charges of fraternization.

The affair between Pearson, a married Vietnam war hero who has two children, and the attorney--Lt. Janet McCully--was discovered earlier this month by her husband, a source said. A complaint was filed with Navy authorities and legal proceedings were scheduled, officials said.

On Friday, Vice Adm. Edwin Kohn, Commander of the Pacific Fleet’s Naval Air Force, conducted separate closed-door administrative sessions with Pearson and the attorney.

Pearson, 46, received a letter of censure, which is permanently entered on his service record, was fined $3,000 pay over the next two months, and was re-assigned to serve on Kohn’s staff at North Island Naval Air Station, said Cmdr. Sheila Graham, spokesperson for Kohn. Pearson will retire from the Navy shortly--which he intended to do before disclosure of his involvement with McCully, said Navy spokesman Senior Chief Petty Officer Bob Howard.

McCully, who joined the Navy 6 years ago, was fined $1,500 in pay over the next two months, relieved of her duties and reassigned to the Navy legal offices at 32nd Street Naval Station.

Because the Navy holds the senior officer more responsible for such improper conduct, Pearson received harsher punishment, said Graham.

“The responsibility for preventing inappropriate relations must rest primarily on the senior member. Commanding officers are responsible for ensuring that the Navy fraternization policy is adhered to by all members of the command,” Howard said.

The fraternization rule is not unique to the Navy and each branch of the armed forces upholds a similar regulation. Fraternization rules also apply across the services when one member of the armed services consorts with someone from another branch.

Three years ago, a Navy officer--Lt. Kathleen Mazure--underwent a court-martial for being involved with a Marine Corps lance corporal, who had become her husband. Mazure was later cleared of the charges but not until her husband had been forced to leave the Marine Corps.

Mazure’s case was unusual. But fraternization is not, officials acknowledge. Yet they are also beginning to realize that they don’t have accurate measurements of the problem. A Pentagon study, conducted in 1985, showed that 10% of all marriages within the armed forces are between officers and enlisted personnel.

In Feb. 1989, the Judge Advocate General’s office sent a memo to the Inspector General, suggesting that the legal commands start tracking statistics on harassment and fraternization--a practice that has not yet been systematically set up.

Navy officials say their records are far from complete. In 1989, for instance, records indicate there were 19 officers--ranging from ensign to captain--and seven enlisted punished for fraternization. The punishments included reassignment, a letter of reprimand, low evaluation marks, fines, being asked to leave the Navy and an other-than-honorable discharge.

“It’s on the low end of ‘widespread’ rather than high end, but it’s out there,” Bruyere said. “To say these things are not going on is naive.”

To help the Navy measure the problem, questions about fraternization will be included in the equal opportunity survey, mailed out to thousands of randomly selected sailors and officers this spring, said Lt. Mary Hanson, a Washington-based spokeswoman.

Many of those caught by the rules, including former Petty Officer 2nd Class Richard Adamson, believe the Navy has intruded in their lives.

Last September, Adamson, 30, watched his wife, April, an enlisted sailor, board the destroyer tender Acadia and steam off to the Persian Gulf. Adamson had been discharged from the Navy on charges of fraternization based on conduct before they were married.

“It just eats me up but I can’t do nothing about it,” Adamson said in an interview last fall.

Adamson said, “We were holding hands once. There ain’t too much in the way of hanky-panky on board. Anything that happens is usually away from the ship.”