The Tailhook scandal was a military scandal in which United States Navy and Marine Corps aviation officers were alleged to have assaulted up to eighty-three women and seven men, or otherwise engaged in "improper and indecent" conduct at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada. The events took place at the 35th Annual Tailhook Association Symposium from September 5 to 8, 1991. The event was subsequently abbreviated as "Tailhook '91" in media accounts.
The alleged sexual assaults mainly occurred in a third-floor hallway in which hospitality suites rented by participating military units for the conference were located. According to witnesses, a "gauntlet" of male military officers in civilian clothes groped, molested, or committed other sexual or physical assaults and harassment on women who walked through the hallway. In addition, military officers were alleged to have engaged in public nudity, excessive heavy drinking, public sexual activity, and other lewd behavior in and around the convention location at the hotel. One of the alleged victims, naval officer Paula Coughlin, initiated an investigation into the incident when she notified her chain of command about what she had experienced.
About a month after the conference, the public learned of the affair when it received widespread attention in the media. In response, the United States Congress, led by the Senate Armed Services Committee, directed the U.S. military to investigate the event, verify the allegations, and prosecute the personnel involved. The resulting Navy inquiries were criticized for failing to adequately investigate what had happened. Also, it was learned that Secretary of the Navy Henry Garrett had attended the convention, but his involvement had not been disclosed in the Navy's investigation report.
As a result, the Department of Defense Inspector General's Office took over the inquiry. Its investigation led to approximately 40 naval and Marine officers receiving non-judicial punishment, mainly for conduct unbecoming an officer and false official statements. Three naval officers were taken to courts-martial, but their cases were dismissed after the presiding military judge determined that the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Frank Kelso, who had attended the conference, had concealed his own involvement in the events in question.
The aftermath resulted in sweeping changes throughout all military services in the Department of Defense regarding attitudes and policies toward women. Military critics claimed that the scandal highlighted a hostile attitude in U.S. military culture towards women in the areas of sexual harassment, sexual assault and equal treatment of women in career advancement and opportunity. Following the incident, in April 1993, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin announced a revised policy on the assignment of women in the armed forces: both services were to allow women to compete for assignments in combat aircraft, and the Navy was to open additional ships to women and draft a proposal for Congress to remove existing legislative barriers to the assignment of women to combat vessels.
Background
Tailhook history The Tailhook Association began in 1956 as an informal club for Navy and Marine aviators (pilots and aircrew), who met once a year to socialize and swap stories. By 1963, the annual event had grown in popularity and attendance, and moved from San Diego to the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In 1968, the convention relocated to the Las Vegas Hilton, which became its home until 1991.Vistica, p. 233; Zimmerman, p. 21
Over time, the Tailhook Association attained semi-official status with the U.S. military, including being given rent-free office space at Naval Air Station Miramar. The annual conventions featured forums, presentations, and symposiums on military aviation and operations. Officers were allowed to attend on official duty (called "temporary additional duty"), rather than leave, although they dressed in civilian clothes. Senior officers and Defense Department (DoD) officials, including flag officers, as well as defense contractors, also became regular attendees. The DoD often provided military aircraft for attendees to travel to the conference.McMichael, pp. 21–23; Vistica, pp. 233–34; OIG, p. 18 states that 1,730 attendees at the 1991 conference were transported on military aircraft. In 1991, 96 percent of the Tailhook Association's 14,000 members were male, reflecting the numbers in the naval air fleet, in which, out of 9,419 pilots and aircrew, 177 were women, with only 27 of them flying in jet aircraft.Zimmerman, pp. 12; 241; OIG, p. 18. The OIG report states that the association counted 15,479 members in August 1992.
Concerns over behavior
The conventions were well known for the partying atmosphere that prevailed. Participants at the conventions' social events frequently engaged in heavy drinking, public nudity, outrageous stunts, and aggressive sexual advances. Navy and Marine flying squadrons would host hospitality suites at the Hilton, many of which encouraged alcohol consumption and featured sexually oriented activities and presentations, such as performances by strippers. The events often caused thousands of dollars in damage to the hotel.Vistica, pp. 233–34; McMichael, p. 18; Zimmerman, pp. 6–8. Past stunts had included taxying a military aircraft, with a police escort, from Nellis Air Force Base to the Hilton, and an admiral (Jeremy "Bear" Taylor) who dressed as a Civil War general and rode a horse into the Hilton lobby (Vistica, p. 234). In some cases, prostitutes had reportedly been retained to provide sexual services to guests in the hospitality suites (McMichael, p. 18) Although Hilton and not the Tailhook Association was responsible for security, squadron officers were expected to maintain order and prevent damages.OIG, p. 30
After the 1985 convention, several senior attendees, led by Tailhook board members Commander Duke Cunningham, Rear Admiral James E. Service, and Vice Admiral Edward H. Martin, formally complained that the drunken revelry they had witnessed had crossed the line.Vistica, pp. 234–238; McMichael, pp. 18–19; OIG, pp. 26–27; Martin referred to the 1985 convention as, "a rambunctious drunken melee" with behavior that was "grossly appalling" and that "there was virtually no responsibility displayed by anyone in an attempt to restrain those who were getting out of hand." (McMichael, pp. 18–19) In response to threats from Navy officials that official sponsorship could be withdrawn, the Tailhook Association imposed restrictions on behavior at future conventions, including the blacklisting of hospitality suites most known for promoting salacious activities.Vistica, pp. 237–238; McMichael, pp. 18–19 As a result, the 1986 convention exhibited calmer deportment, with one notable exception. Attendees later reported that Secretary of the Navy John Lehman (a commander in the Naval Reserve on active flight status) engaged in a sexual act with a stripper in front of 50 to 100 spectators in the hospitality suite for Navy fighter squadron VFA-127.Vistica, pp. 13–14, 391; McMichael, p.19; According to the witnesses, Lehman licked whipped cream from the stripper's nude crotch. Vistica (p. 246) states that Lehman held a dollar bill in his mouth, which the stripper grabbed with her crotch. In the DoD Inspector General investigation report on the 1991 Tailhook convention, Lehman is not mentioned by name in reference to the 1986 incident, instead described as a "senior Navy official" (Vistica, p. 391). When asked about the incident on May 26, 1996 by Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts, Lehman responded, "I have to say that the description is far more lurid than the fact." (McMichael p. 345) Lehman was reportedly a regular at Tailhook during his tenure as Secretary, and had been seen cavorting with strippers at earlier conventions (McMichael, p. 19). McMichael states that the number of onlookers was 50, while Vistica says it was 100.
In spite of continued exhortations and warnings from Tailhook leadership, subsequent conventions returned to featuring excessive alcohol consumption, sexually explicit presentations and activities, and lewd behavior by attendees. Reportedly, some hospitality suite hosts competed with each other as to who had the most outrageous entertainment.McMichael, p. 9; OIG, p. 26; An example later presented in investigative reports was that of VMFP-3. Known as the "Rhinos", the squadron's suite featured a papier-mache model of a male rhinoceros with a dildo for genitalia that could dispense alcohol. Guests in the suite were encouraged to play with and drink from the dildo. Although decommissioned in 1990, the squadron hosted a hospitality suite at the 1991 convention (McMichael, p. 34). The VMFA-121 squadron suite displayed a green knight statue that dispensed liquor through a phallus (OIG, p. 31). The VT-21 squadron reported that, at the 1990 convention, their suite dispensed 40 kegs of beer, 450 gallons of margaritas containing 315 liters of tequila, and 15 cases of other liquors (Vistica, p. 313). In one custom that persisted, "ballwalking," male participants (usually on the patio around the pool or in the suites) would hang their genitalia outside of their unzipped pants.McMichael, p. 45
Tailhook Association leaders were especially concerned over a practice that started in the late 1980s and became a custom at succeeding conventions. The custom involved young aviators lining up on both sides of the east wing third floor hospitality suite hallway and slapping stickers of their squadron insignia on the bodies of passersby, usually women. Often, after running out of stickers those involved would change to groping or pinching the women as they walked by. The activity became known among observers as the "gauntlet."Vistica, pp. 246, 313; McMichael, pp. 19–20; OIG, pp. 37–43; "zapping" is a U.S. military aviation community slang term for slapping a unit insignia sticker on any object, not just someone's body and the word may have been used by some participants at Tailhook in place of the word "gauntlet." McMichael points out that the spelling "gauntlet" is incorrect as it describes a type of medieval armor that protects the hands and arms. The correct word is "gantlet", but most media reports on the activity use the word "gauntlet" and so "gauntlet" is used in this article. The Hilton management was aware of the gauntlet, and had told its female staff to avoid the third floor at night during the Tailhook conventions.Vistica, p. 322; According to Navy investigators, gauntlet-like behaviors at the convention had started around 1986 and became more established around 1989. (Zimmerman, p. 75)
1991 convention Agenda