Excerpts: ‘There Is No Excuse for the Misconduct’ at Fliers’ Convention

Following are excerpts from the report by Derek J. Vander Schaaf, the Defense Department’s inspector general, on the Tailhook incident:

In this report, we have attempted to describe the events that occurred at the 35th Annual Symposium of the Tailhook Assn. (Tailhook ‘91) in as complete a manner as possible. We determined that at least 90 indecent assaults took place and a considerable amount of improper and indecent conduct occurred.

Although our purpose is not to shock or offend readers or to sensationalize the accounts of the various incidents, there are sections of the report that contain graphic language. After considerable reflection regarding how best to present our findings, we determined that general descriptions and euphemisms failed to convey a full impression of the prevailing atmosphere in which the assaults took place. . . .

It is important to understand that the events at Tailhook ’91 did not occur in a historical vacuum. Similar behavior had occurred at previous conventions. The emerging pattern of some of the activities, such as the gantlet began to assume the aura of “tradition.” There is even some evidence to suggest that Tailhook ’91 was “tame” in comparison to earlier conventions.

Although there were some attempts made in past years to curb improper behavior, such attempts were ineffective. In fact, many of the younger officers who attended Tailhook ’91 felt the excesses that occurred there were condoned by the Navy. This belief is understandable given that the Navy continued to support the Tailhook Assn. and the annual convention notwithstanding the knowledge on the part of many senior Navy leaders of significant misconduct that had taken place at prior conventions. More disturbingly, the evidence indicates that at least one former high-ranking civilian Navy official engaged in lewd behavior at a prior Tailhook convention in front of junior officers.

There is no excuse for the misconduct and unbecoming behavior that occurred at Tailhook ’91. However, to be fair to those engaged in non-assaultive activities, such as indecent exposure and drunkenness, the reader must keep in mind that an atmosphere was permitted to develop over a period of years which encouraged officers to act in inappropriate ways.

Finally, we recognize that the effects of Tailhook ’91 have had a negative impact on the morale of many members of the Navy. We believe that neither the entire Navy nor the aviation community generally should be judged on the basis of the misconduct of some officers at Tailhook, and we commend the many loyal and dedicated Navy and Marine Corps aviators who continually perform their duties in an exemplary fashion.

Professional, Social Aspects

The symposium aspects of Tailhook ’91 were found to be reasonably educational and professionally presented. We noted, however, that the Navy knowingly supported and encouraged the attendance of as many as 4,000 naval officers despite the fact that at most only 2,100 people--including contractor personnel and other non-Navy people--actually registered for the professional aspects of the conference, and even fewer actually attended the professional events. . . . By virtually all accounts, large numbers of officers attended for the sole purpose of participating in the “social” aspects of Tailhook ’91. . . .

Our investigation disclosed that 83 women and seven men were assaulted during the three days of the convention. Virtually all of the assaults took place in the third-floor area (including the adjoining patio which continued to be open to the public during the convention) of the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel where the squadron hospitality suites were located.

Through the use of detailed interviews and other investigative techniques, 23 officers were determined to warrant referral to the Navy for having participated in indecent assaults, and an additional 23 in indecent exposure. In total, 117 officers were implicated in one or more incidents of indecent assault, indecent exposure, conduct unbecoming an officer or failure to act in a proper leadership capacity while at Tailhook ’91. Further, 51 individuals were found to have made false statements to us during our investigation.

Evidence concerning all such matters has been referred to the Navy and/or the Department of Justice for appropriate action. In this regard, it is noted that we anticipate further referrals with respect to officers implicated as a result of our continuing investigation into the indecent assaults. It should also be noted that the number of individuals involved in all types of misconduct or other inappropriate behavior was more widespread than these figures would suggest. . . .

The Investigation

“Candid” photographs: We obtained more than 800 photographs during the investigative process. The photographs range from simple scenes depicting people conversing on the pool patio to pictures of indecent exposure and various other activities that could be characterized as conduct unbecoming an officer. In virtually every instance in which activity relevant to the investigation was shown, we were able to identify those individuals represented in the photographs. In every case of male indecent exposure, the individuals involved were found to be Navy or Marine Corps officers. In every case of indecent exposure depicting women, the individuals were found to be civilians. . . .

Squadron hospitality suites: Records reflected that the 22 hospitality suites spent a total of $33,500 on alcoholic beverages. However, this figure is not entirely accurate inasmuch as witnesses informed us that, as the initial supply of alcohol ran out, additional alcohol and beer were purchased using supplemental funds collected in Las Vegas from squadron attendees. . . . Many naval aviators, their guests and other visitors recounted in detail various incidents of inappropriate or unbecoming conduct in the squadron hospitality suites and adjoining areas which were accessible by the public. These incidents included a stripper performing oral sex on an aviator during her performance. Another account included an incident in which a woman, while getting her legs shaved by a male aviator, stripped off her clothes and had her pubic area shaved. There were additional accounts of women exposing themselves either to have squadron stickers applied to their breasts by aviators or to receive free T-shirts. Other reports described male aviators who “ball-walked” or otherwise exposed themselves in the suites or in the third-floor hallway. A number of ball-walking incidents were photographed. Finally, there were numerous descriptions of women performing simulated oral sex on the dildo attached to the rhinoceros mural in order to obtain a drink from it.

The Gantlet

We received two independent accounts of a woman (or women) who walked through the hallway with electronic weapons. One male lieutenant said that on Saturday night, he saw a woman come through the crowd carrying a “Tazar,” which he described as a device similar to a small cattle prod and designed to foil attackers. He said the woman was waving the device, which was apparently recognized by the men in the hallway because they did not bother her. Another officer said he saw a woman on Saturday who looked “frazzled.” He said that as the woman approached the elevators, a man tried to grab her breasts. The woman pulled out a “zapper” (which he described as a stun gun) which she waved in the man’s face. . . .

Many eyewitness accounts described women who had articles of clothing ripped or removed as they went through the gantlet. One particularly disturbing incident involved an intoxicated college freshman who was stripped from the waist down as she was passed overhead through the gantlet and then left on the hallway floor.

Although she had not attained legal drinking age in Nevada, she was served a considerable amount of alcohol by officers in the HS-1 hospitality suite. After becoming intoxicated, she was placed by those officers in the hallway in the vicinity of the gantlet. Once in the hallway, she was lifted above the crowd of men and passed hand-over-hand down the hallway. As she was passed over the crowd, the men removed her slacks and underpants. At the end of the gantlet, they dumped her on the floor and cleared out of the hallway as hotel security officers came to the victim’s assistance. . . .

Another female civilian told us that, as she walked up the hallway, at least seven men suddenly attacked her. They pulled down her “tube top” and grabbed at her exposed breasts while she attempted to cover herself with her arms. She fell to the ground and the assault continued. She bit several of her attackers in an attempt to get up from the floor. She turned and looked back down the hallway and observed another woman screaming and fighting her way down the hallway as she too was attacked.

The victim was crying profusely when she was approached by a Marine Corps aviator whom she had met earlier. He told her that it is an annual tradition at Tailhook conventions to harass women physically and verbally in the hallway and she should not worry about it. The victim later told her boyfriend, a Navy officer, about the attack but he advised her not to tell anyone about it because they would think she was a “slut.” . . .

Lt. Paula Coughlin, the Navy officer who first publicly revealed the allegations of impropriety at Tailhook ‘91, told us that she entered the third-floor hallway of the Hilton Hotel and, as she walked up the hallway and into a crowd of men, someone began to yell, “admiral’s aide!” She was grabbed on the buttocks from behind with such force that she was lifted up off the ground. As she turned to confront the man, another man behind her grabbed her buttocks and she was pushed from behind into a crowd of men who collectively began pinching her body and pulling at her clothing.

One man put both his hands down the front of her tank top, inside her brassiere and grabbed her breasts. Lt. Coughlin told us that she crouched down and bit the man on his forearm and on his right hand. As the man released his grip on her breasts, another man reached up under her skirt and grabbed her panties. She then kicked out at her attackers. She stated: “I felt as though the group was trying to rape me.” . . .

The terms “belly shots” and “navel shots” describe the practice of drinking alcohol (typically tequila) out of people’s navels. Incidents involving the exchange of belly shots between male and female officers and between male officers and female civilians at Tailhook ’91 reportedly occurred in either the VF-124 or the VAW-110 suite.

Witnesses and participants reported that three male officers drank belly shots from the navel of a female officer. This occurred in the VAW-110 suite on the same night the female officer had her legs shaved by two of the male officers. The female officer reported that a few of the women who participated in the belly shots wore short dresses and no undergarments and exposed themselves while doing belly shots. Other witnesses reported male officers lying on a table while women drank alcohol from the men’s navels.

Conclusions

There was a serious breakdown of leadership at Tailhook ’91. Misconduct went far beyond the “treatment of women” issues for which the Navy had enacted new policies in the years preceding Tailhook ’91. Tailhook “traditions” such as the gantlet, ball-walking, leg shaving, mooning, streaking and lewd sexual conduct significantly deviated from the standards of behavior that the nation expects of its military officers. . . .

Leaders in naval aviation, ranging from the squadron commanders to flag officers who tolerated a culture that engendered the misconduct also bear a portion of the blame. The damage suffered by the Navy as a result of Tailhook cannot be fully repaired until the integrity of the Navy is restored, which, in turn, depends on the integrity of each of its members. The senior officers must lead the way in that endeavor.