Five Officers at Miramar Are Relieved of Command : Military: Navy’s action stems from derisive banner directed at congresswoman during ‘Tomcat Follies.’

Five Navy officers were permanently relieved of command and 16 others were counseled for their roles in a bawdy show at Miramar Naval Air Station last month that featured a banner with an offensive sexual remark about a congresswoman, the Navy said Friday.

The disciplinary action and reprimands stemmed from the so-called “Tomcat Follies,” described by the Navy “as an annual F-14 fighter community social event.” The party is arranged by Miramar-based squadrons who fly the Navy’s top-of-the-line fighter.

A retired female Navy captain who attended the June 18 festivities at the base Officers’ Club was offended by the banner deriding Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.). The Navy declined to identify the officer who wrote a letter of complaint to the Navy’s top admiral, Chief of Navy Operations Frank B. Kelso.

Schroeder, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, has been a vocal critic of the Navy’s investigation into the 1991 Tailhook sex scandal. The message on the banner was about Schroeder and oral copulation, and was a variation on the nursery rhyme phrase “hickory, dickory dock; the mouse ran up the clock.”

Kelso ordered Adm. R. J. Kelly, the Pacific Fleet commander based in Honolulu, to investigate the retired female officer’s complaint. Kelso’s directive went down the chain of command to Vice Adm. Edwin R. Kohn, commander, Naval Air Force U.S. Pacific Fleet, whose headquarters is at North Island Naval Air Station.

Kohn appointed Rear Adm. Merril W. Ruck, commander of the San Francisco Naval Base, to supervise the investigation.

Senior Chief Pat Neal, a Navy spokeswoman, said two of the officers relieved of command were also involved in another “offensive” skit, but declined to elaborate. However, a source familiar with the incident said the second skit was also a derisive reference to Rep. Schroeder.

A third officer was also disciplined for accepting $3,500 from two defense contractors, General Dynamics and Grumman, and 20 kegs of beer from Crest Beverage Co. According to Navy investigators, the contributions by the companies were illegal. The money was used to defray the cost of the Tomcat Ball, held at the San Diego Marriott on Harbor Drive.

The money and cost of the beer were refunded to the donors, the Navy said.

Astatement released by the Navy said the officers relieved of command, all naval aviators, had lost the confidence of their superiors. Kohn had ordered them temporarily relieved of command when the investigation began June 30. They were ordered permanently stripped of command by Kohn on Friday.

The statement said that Kohn also counseled 16 other officers individually on Friday for their involvement in the follies. Neal said the officers were given “warnings and cautionary instructions” but declined to identify them.

The fired officers were identified as:

* Capt. Richard F. Braden, chief staff officer, Fighter Airborne Early Warning Wing. Braden was the senior officer present at the follies.

* Capt. George L. Moe, commanding officer of VF 124, a fighter squadron. Navy officials said it was Moe who accepted the illegal contributions from defense contractors and kegs of beer.

Navy investigators said Moe was the officer in charge of the follies. Although he was accused of accepting the illegal contributions for the ball and beer for the follies, Moe was not charged but was instead issued a warning.

* Cmdr. David M. Tyler, commanding officer of VF 51, a fighter squadron.

* Cmdr. Robert H. Clement, commanding officer of VF 111, a fighter squadron.

* Lt. Cmdr. Dale A. Bruetting, VF 111’s executive officer.

The Navy said the investigation also revealed that Clement and Bruetting were involved in the second skit. Officials said Bruetting was VF 111’s acting commanding officer at the time and helped plan the offensive skit.

Four of the officers could not be reached for comment. But, in a telephone interview, Clement called the investigation a witch hunt fueled by various sex scandals currently plaguing the Navy. Clement, a 17-year Navy and Persian Gulf War veteran, said he was misled by Navy superiors.

He said that he was on leave while the follies were being planned, but that he returned from leave in time to attend the event. The Navy said he was disciplined for being at the event.

According to Clement, he was instructed not to talk to the press during the investigation. He said Navy officials encouraged him to “hang tight . . . we’re going to take care of you.”

On Tuesday, a Navy lawyer representing Kohn told him that Kohn was going to recommend that he be reinstated to his command, Clement said. But the same lawyer informed him the following day that he would instead be required to stand before an admiral’s mast Friday, Clement said.

“It was only Tuesday when they were recommending my reinstatement. All along they were telling us not to talk to the press. They said they would handle it for us. Well, they handled it today.”

“It’s very difficult right now to trust anybody,” Clement said. “This is a great witch hunt . . . . To say that I’m disappointed in the outcome and turn of events is an understatement.”

Cmdr. Sheila Graham, Kohn’s spokeswoman, confirmed that Kohn had recommended that Clement be reinstated to his command. However, Adm. Kelly, Kohn’s boss, rejected the recommendation, Graham said.

Final determination on the disciplinary action against the five officers will be taken by the Bureau of Naval Personnel, which will review the investigation’s findings.

Clement and the other officers were disciplined in an admiral’s mast, and the punishment meted out was administrative. However, the disciplinary action goes into each man’s permanent military record.

In his case, Clement said that being stripped of command all but dooms his chances of being promoted to captain. He said he intends to stay in the Navy for three more years and retire after 20 years’ active duty.

If he is not promoted to captain he stands to lose about $500,000 in retirement benefits, Clement said.

A Miramar pilot familiar with the follies, and who did not want to be identified, said the goings-on at the annual Miramar party are no more offensive than “what you see every night on Home Box Office or ‘Saturday Night Live.’ ”

The aviator said the officers who attended and participated in the follies “were only exercising their First Amendment rights . . . and held accountable to the point where their commanding officer is released.”

The pilot said the Navy brass who ordered the investigation that derailed so many promising careers “are hypocrites” who cowered in the face of political pressure.

He pointed out that Adm. Kelly, who was directed to began the investigation and who rejected Kohn’s recommendation that Clement be reinstated to his command, was a captain in command of the aircraft carrier Enterprise when it ran aground in San Francisco Bay in April, 1983. Kelly was relieved of command but was later promoted.

“Compare what these guys did to the damage that Kelly did to that carrier. These guys’ careers are done, finished,” the pilot said.

A Washington spokeswoman for Schroeder said the congresswoman would not comment on the Navy’s disciplinary action against the officers or whether it was severe enough.

“Was the (disciplinary) action that they took appropriate? That’s the Navy’s call,” said Lisa Moreno. “The most important thing is that people realize that the issue is not insulting a member of Congress. The issue is that they refused to obey their command and instead sent a clear message that they have very little respect for women.”

John Davis, area manager for Grumman, said his company did nothing illegal by contributing $1,000 to help Miramar pilots defray the cost of the Tomcat Ball.

“We were invited to attend and to defray our fair share of the costs, the company paid $1,000 toward the cost of the band and ballroom,” Davis said. “We all paid individually for our dinners. The $1,000 was considered a fair contribution. There was nothing out of line at all.”

Navy spokeswoman Neal said General Dynamics contributed $2,500 to cover the cost of the ball. Company executives did not return phone calls. Crest Beverage executives also did not return phone calls.

HOMOSEXUALITY also causes problems for the Navy. A20