Censured Retired Admiral Gets Boost in Bid for 3-Star Rank

Navy Secretary John H. Dalton removed a letter of censure Friday from the file of an admiral once accused of attempting to protect an aide from punishment for alleged homosexual advances.

The decision cleared the way for Rear Adm. John Fetterman to be nominated for retirement as a three-star vice admiral. Fetterman retired last year at two-star rank after he was removed as chief of naval education and training in Pensacola, Fla., in connection with the matter.

The Pentagon announced Friday that President Clinton has nominated Fetterman for retirement in the higher rank, a move subject to Senate approval.

At the time of his censure, Fetterman challenged the reduction in rank and denied that he had shielded his aide from discipline, asserting that he was a victim of a “frenzy of criticism” inside the Navy due to the Tailhook Assn. sex abuse scandal.

Navy spokesman Steve Pietropaoli said Dalton “once again reviewed the issue . . . and determined the original letter of censure issued by (former Navy Secretary Sean) O’Keefe was not the appropriate action.”

The difference in lifetime retirement benefits between two- and three-star rank averages about $100,000, Navy officials say.

A Navy source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Dalton found that “while there were some actions on Fetterman’s part that created a perception of undue interest in the case, they weren’t enough to warrant a letter of censure,” which is considered a severe form of punishment.

Instead, Dalton ordered an administrative form of punishment that will not bar his retirement at the higher level, the source said.

Fetterman’s case received attention because he was the admiral in charge of developing training to counteract sexual harassment and other unethical behavior in the naval service in the wake of the Tailhook scandal. Dozens of women said they were pawed by a gantlet of drunken Navy and Marine Corps aviators at a 1991 Tailhook convention in Las Vegas.

Fetterman said he did not believe he did anything wrong by referring a complaint against his aide, Chief Petty Officer Edmund R. Bonnot, to the man’s commanding officer.

Navy officials say the matter should have gone to the Naval Investigative Service, which normally handled cases involving homosexual activity.

An investigator recommended that Bonnot be court-martialed, but the commanding officer, Cmdr. Wayne Hurst, ordered lesser punishment and treatment for alcohol abuse, which he found to be the cause of his behavior, not homosexuality.

Fetterman said an NIS investigation would have taken too long and he needed a quick solution because Bonnot worked in close proximity to the sailor who had complained.