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- THE WEEK, Page 16SOCIETY"What's the Big Deal?"
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- The Navy finds ample evidence of sexual assaults -- but few
- culprits
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- Talk about a group of men who just don't get it. Last
- September at a convention of Navy and Marine aviators, an
- entertainment favored by scores of junior male officers involved
- lining up along the narrow corridors of the Las Vegas Hilton and
- groping at any woman who happened by. According to two Navy
- reports released last week, at least 14 women officers and 12
- female civilians had their breasts, buttocks and other bodily
- parts grabbed by drunken male pilots. As appalling as the
- behavior itself was the reaction of the more than 1,500 officers
- and civilians questioned about the incident. "A common thread
- running through the overwhelming majority of interviews was,
- `What's the big deal?' " stated a report issued by the Naval
- Inspector General's office.
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- Upholding a fraternal code of silence every bit as
- effective as the Mafia's legendary omerta, male pilots
- stonewalled investigators' questions so effectively that only
- two suspects were identified. To date, just one Navy official,
- Rear Admiral Jack Snyder, has been punished. His offense? When
- a female aide complained of the lewd activities, he responded,
- "That's what you get when you go to a hotel party with a bunch
- of drunk aviators."
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