(Unofficial Tailhook ’91 patch on Nomex flight suit.)

It is too soon to announce the death of the culture of Naval Aviation. There are still full a dozen US aircraft carriers out there, each one steaming  as 97,000 tons of armed diplomacy.

The very fact that we are talking about the antics of a fighter pilot entrusted with command of a multi-billion dollar nuclear propelled ship indicates that parts of the old, bold raunchy tradition still exist, despite the earnest and desperate efforts to root it out and expunge it.

I was going to talk about the transformation of great young American into a poster child for resistance to the social change that she symbolized today.

The story of Kara Hultgreen, the twenty seconds of terror that transformed her, and the cynical exploitation of her sacrifice by Elaine Donnelly will have to wait, possibly to tomorrow, and possibly longer, since I am travelling this morning and am running out of time.

I am headed for Newport, Rhode Island, and the commissioning ceremony for my son tomorrow morning. I checked last night. My father’s Service Dress Blues, striped to my retired rank, fit well enough, and I have the various bits to make it authentic.

It will be the second-to-last time I wear them, and it is in tribute to Raven, who can no longer travel and cannot witness the event.

This commissioning will mark the third generation of Crazy Ensign Socotras to serve their nation, so some traditions may be better than others.

I got several messages about Captain Owen P. Honors yesterday. The memories are fresh for some of us, as is the repugnance some others expressed. A pal in Detroit noted this:

“I think the guy is a real loser, RECORD or not.  I’d rather not support such a redneck IN COMMAND & behind the wheel of so many sailors & their vehicles.  Save it for your cronies & spare humiliating the few for a stupid gag for the masses.  How did he make it to captain?  Don’t you need some maturity or integrity?  Serious food for therapy.  Oh yeah, and thanks for considering your family, Owen.  When they cut defense I hope they cut him.
One last comment.  YUK. “

That pretty much summed up the response from Middle America, and I certainly sympathize with the reaction. After all, that is precisely what was intended by whoever provided the DVD’s of the XO Follies to the media.

But this was not so much a treatise on the lack of taste inherent in the Fighter Community- a given- but an examination on media, entrenched tradition, and a transitional moment in social-military history.

A renowned social psychologist described the phenomenon this way:

“It seems that the evolutionary trick of the US is maximizing both individual liberty and the potential that is otherwise made dormant in that dynamic by the rigid roles that human hierarchical organizational structures have favored previously. Of course, there is always a price to be paid in this, as all of this energy tends to be chaotic and creates enormous amounts of turbulence along with the energy.”

“Extremely rapid morphing of gender and other societal roles is the benefit and the cost of this evolutionary niche in which this nation is absolutely and utterly preeminent (as we may not be in any other specific factor as compared to other nation states).”

“Even in conventional defense terms this might prove beneficial as in opening up military service to women and open gays means that the entire population can potentially be drawn from to meet defense needs, which functionally increases the potential size of the service compared to nations that cannot make such rapid and chaotic change work, even if they have much larger populations.”

Picking up on the social change agenda, The Judge was moved to write as well from his aerie in the mountains of West By God. He was in the middle of the legal shenanigans that went on in the wake of the Tailhook scandal, and put the Navy circus of shame in the context of the larger social fabric:

“Pat Schroeder was able to wield so much influence, because the Bush I administration would not stand up to her.  I am convinced that the Bush I folks were so gutless because they could not afford a second war with Schroeder’s crowd after the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill battle…in other words, Clarence Thomas’ appointment to the Supreme Court ultimately cost a lot of Navy/MC aviators their careers.”
      
“Those of us who were trying to deal with the Tailhook mess could not get clear guidance, i.e.: tell us what you want done and we’ll do it.  The problem is that there were in fact very few “victims” or crimes and the most prominent victim, Paula Coughlin the admiral’s aide who was groped, could not credibly ID her assailants.”
“Nonetheless, it was clear heads had to roll.  So here’s the dilemma: we know a squadron admin was showing skin flicks and we are told to question the CO about it…do we give him Art. 31 warnings (which assumes showing skin flicks in Las Vegas is a crime) or do we not (which condones showing skin flicks)?  When we asked for guidance from the Bush I leadership, we got no answers (and so conducted no interviews).”

“Our political leaders kept looking to Pat Schroeder for answers, but she did nothing but find everything unacceptable.  What happened was that instead of proceeding to find and punish people who did something wrong, there was no definition of what constituted misconduct hence no way to separate the wrongdoers from the innocent and EVERYONE associated with the event was treated as a guilty party.”

“Careers of many innocent people were ruined.   The treatment of that generation of aviators makes colonial Salem look like a model of fairness and is inexcusable from every rational perspective.  Yes the culture was anachronistically anti-female, but culture is a leadership problem (you may recall VADM Dunleavy who was the senior aviator took responsibility and retired at a lower grade, becoming road-kill but not slowing the truck) and the troops should not pay the price simply for being what the culture demanded.”
 
“Second point:  the Navy and DODIG reports were pieces of crap written by a bunch of buffoonish scolds.  There was a DOD commission on investigations that later chastised the IGs for such reports.  The problem, which is similar to the one discussed above, is that conduct was criticized when there was no clear statement of what standard the conduct violated.  Wagging your finger at someone for (gasp!) attending a strip show in Las Vegas, is of course permissible, but the first question ought to be:  what rule of conduct does it violate?  The commission also criticized the IGs’ use of sensationalist language in their reports, but, frankly, if there was serious wrongdoing, you can argue that strong language would be warranted.”
 
From an observer of the Aviation Programs Officer in the Office of Legislative Affairs. The callsigns used by the Den Mother in the front office were selected depending on their behavior:

“Bronson (The Grand Bronsooon, The Ayatollah Bronson) was LA-53, he followed Dick Macke (His Majesty, The Big Dick).  Captain Honors would have fit right in with the Back Room Gang.”
 
“One fine Navy day the officer responsible for submarine programs arrived at work to find one of the usual suspects had put a condom on his Trident missile model.  The unwritten rule: what goes on in the back room stays in the back room.”
 
From the Harvard Kennedy School of Government: “Elaine Donnelly was at KSG running a women-in-the-media program when I was there. She was very condescending to us military types in the NSF. How like her to pop out of the woodwork and go after Mike Mullen. Some people just can’t help themselves when there is an opportunity to get attention, no matter how nonsensical the reason.”

From a recovering fighter guy:
 
“Who could forget the Tomcat Ball poem on the wall of the Naval Air Station Miramar O’Club “Hickory dickory dock, Pat Schroeder can suck our c**k.”

“For those fans of bravado, the air base is no longer “Fightertown USA.” It is now called MCAS Miramar and both the Tomcats and Topgun were banished from San Diego – sort of like how the Israelis bulldoze the homes of Palestinians who do naughty things.”
 
From a recently retired officer:

“We conspiracy theorists are wondering about the timing. One speculation is that he brought to mast someone who either had the video (maybe a Big E sailor from when he was XO) or had a buddy who had access and used it get even.”

“Another variation on that theme is that he has been selected for flag (about time for flag affairs to be calling the selectees) and someone did this to drop a large dime on him for whatever reason or past slight.”

There is something there for everyone. More from the road, or not, depending on how things play out.

Copyright 2011 Vic Socotra and unindicted co-conspirators
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