Takeoff: 0 to 120 Overnight

I created this blog as a forum for readers of the upcoming novel, The Last Top Gun, to share stories, thoughts and anecdotes about the book, Naval aviation, fighter pilots and aircrew, air combat, women and gays in the military, organziational and personal change, and any and all related topics.

Here is my inaugural post:

American society has undergone substantial change over the past three decades. “Political correctness” is a regular part of mainstream America’s vernacular. Notwithstanding the profound impact the War on Terrorism has had on a minute segment of American society suspected of terrorism, the pendulum of individual rights has swung far to the left. In many contexts and environs, the danger of offending or impinging upon another person’s “rights” takes precedence over rational conduct. The battle over civil liberties sometimes usurps reasonable, common sense. A substantial amount of this political shift occurred during the latter years of my career as a Naval Flight Officer.

Other types of political change affecting the military forces occurred well before I joined the Navy. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, as in society, racism was rampant throughout the military.  Separate, but similarly backward, instructors and NCOs were allowed to physically strike recruits and junior enlisted for poor performance or insubordination. Strict reform of the military needed to occur, and thankfully, did. During the period of transition, however, both the leadership and rank and file of the armed forces endured numerous hardships. Many soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines refused to accept these significant cultural changes. Overt resistance and conflict ensued. In less than a decade, change did occur—substantial change (albeit some saying shamefully late). Less than ten years after race riots flared up aboard Navy ships in the early 70’s, the Navy and the other military services were fully integrated, practically, as well as legally. Additional reform took place when physical abuse and hazing in the military were made illegal and then ceased entirely in the early 80’s.

When I joined the Navy in 1986, there was one more major institutional discriminatory practice that thrived. The military generally, and fighter pilots in particular, propagated sexism.  No doubt about it—pure 100% testosterone ran through each and every squadron ready room. It had been that way for generations, most likely dating back to the original aviation squadrons of World War I. Although sexism was rampant, there was not much harm done, since no women were around. None. Up to the mid-1990’s, exactly zero females were assigned to Navy carrier squadrons or combatant ships. What’s more, it wasn’t as if the officers and enlisted continued their sexist behavior outside of squadrons or ready rooms. Though “part-time” warriors, we were full-time members of American society and played “nice” when not deployed at sea for six months or more at a time. Each of us had mothers, sisters and wives or girlfriends. Off the ship we largely behaved appropriately—as appropriately, that is, as any other fraternity of men. As individuals, we were not particularly sexist. It was the environment—100% male, highly stressful, competitive, elitist, dangerous and steeped in tradition—that propagated our attitudes. We were a fraternity of airborne warriors…a brotherhood that crossed socio-economic lines, but not gender.

In the fall of 1991, the Navy’s systemic sexism hit a brick wall head-on. Following the fallout from the infamous Tailhook Convention, where hundreds of rowdy Navy officers overstepped the line of decency with several groping and assaulting multiple females in the hallways of the Las Vegas Hilton, the Navy instituted a radical policy shift that resulted in immediate change. But this instantaneous change brought with it an entirely new dimension of challenges and consequences. The Navy has been around since 1775 and deplores change. To end gender discrimination that erupted so spectacularly following the Tailhook scandal, transformation was mandated on an unprecedented accelerated timetable. But how does an elite male military institution accept women virtually overnight without considerable resentment, antipathy and confusion? How do the individual members of the organization adapt and adjust their entire routines and lifestyles in a radically condensed period?

Twenty years later, the US military continues to struggle with the collateral consequences of a fully integrated combat force. Many persons and groups welcome women in combat roles, however, the Department of Defense still prohibits women from serving in about 280,000 combat position (though, ironically, women are allowed to fly fighter and bomber aircraft in combat missions). Moreover, headlines across the country--even today in 2012--routinely highlight widespread sexual discrimination, assault and even rape in the military—irrespective of rank or military service. A less publicized issue is how female integration of elite combat units has impacted the integrity and lethality of these units. This is an enormously complex and challenging issue that has yet to be solved and likely will take many more years to resolve.