The Lessons of Tailhook

EXECUTIVE MEMO

The Lessons Of Tailhook

t's too soon to tell where allegations of sexual misconduct, including rape, assault, harassment and fraternization, primarily among drill instructors and new recruits, will leave the Army, but early indications are the service has learned a few lessons from the Navy's Tailhook scandal, where dozens of women were groped and assaulted at a Las Vegas hotel during a Navy flier convention in 1992.

Perhaps most notable has been the seriousness with which the Army has taken the complaints of misconduct at its training facilities. For starters, when senior service officials realized they had a serious problem on their hands, they went to the press to explain what they were going to do about it. They then established and publicized a toll-free hot line for victims at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. And Army Secretary Togo West called for an outside investigation into the role of senior leaders at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command in handling the matter.

All that is well and good and is a welcome about-face from the Navy's attempts to close ranks, downplay and even cover up wrongdoing, particularly among senior officials, in the Tailhook incident. But the real test for the Army will be in the conclusions of the myriad investigations springing from the allegations. For example, what will the Army do to prevent the abuse of power among noncommissioned officers and officers in future training? And most importantly, why did it take so long for senior leaders to discover that serious crimes apparently were being committed at training facilities throughout the Army? The answers will show how much the Army has really learned.