Admiral to Quit Over Claim He Shielded Staffer

The admiral who developed Navy ethics training prompted by the Tailhook sexual-harassment scandal has been removed from his post for allegedly protecting a staffer accused of homosexual activity and will resign from the military at a reduced rank.

Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman, 59, was removed as chief of naval education and training, the service’s largest on-shore command, Navy officials said Friday.

Acting Navy Secretary Sean O’Keefe later approved Fetterman’s request for retirement at a reduction in one rank to two-star rear admiral and gave him a letter of censure.

“The reassignment results from a Navy inspector general investigation of a hot line call concerning allegations that Vice Adm. Fetterman protected an enlisted staff member from possible disciplinary action,” the Navy said in a statement issued in Washington.

The hot line was set up to let personnel anonymously report improprieties.

The staffer was accused of making homosexual advances to other enlisted personnel, the Navy statement said. Fetterman allegedly impeded the investigation because of the sailor’s position on his staff. Regulations prohibit homosexuals from serving in the military.

Fetterman, who was transferred to the staff of Adm. Frank B. Kelso, was not available for comment.

Rear Adm. Louise Wilmot assumed control of the command, which is based at Pensacola Naval Air Station.

The “core values” training that Fetterman ordered was little more than an idea until after reports of sexual harassment at the Tailhook Assn. convention in Las Vegas last year.

Navy Secretary H. Lawrence Garrett III resigned as a result of those allegations. The Navy is looking into complaints that some 70 naval aviators fondled and stripped clothing from 26 women, many of them fellow officers, during the gathering.

The ethics training is designed to instill such traditional values as honesty, integrity and patriotism and to counteract sexual harassment, racism, fraud, spouse abuse and other violence.

Fetterman, Garrett and Kelso were among high-ranking officials who attended the Tailhook convention but said they saw no improper behavior.