As Air Force General Joseph Ralston sought to become the nation's No. 2 military officer last year, he pledged to the Senate to be "very candid and forthright" while harnessing "traditional values" to help curb sexual misconduct in the military. But last week Defense Secretary William Cohen released Ralston from that vow, declaring that Ralston's secret, adulterous relationship 13 years ago wouldn't "automatically disqualify" him from becoming the nation's No. 1 military officer this fall.
Or so Cohen thought. The Defense Secretary's assertion, while technically justified under military law, hit Capitol Hill like the heat-seeking missiles Ralston once fired from his F-105 Thunderchief fighter over Vietnam. Some lawmakers immediately charged that Ralston was getting a free ride for behavior that has sunk the careers of several officers and drove First Lieut. Kelly Flinn out of the Air Force last month. "It is very clear that the Pentagon is selectively enforcing its rules on sexual conduct," said Democratic Representative Nita Lowey of New York. "We cannot have one set of rules for the big boys in the Pentagon and another for the rank and file."
Thus no sooner had the nation met Ralston than it prepared to say farewell. Within 24 hours of the disclosure, the Pentagon was distancing itself from the man Cohen had anointed as his choice to replace Army General John Shalikashvili, and was scrambling to find a replacement to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before the Senate leaves town in August. Worries about a double standard aside, many military experts said the uniformed services desperately need a leader with impeccable credentials in the realm of sexual ethics. In the wake of Cohen's dispensation, even Colin Powell, Shalikashvili's predecessor, privately grumbled to friends that an admitted adulterer is not the kind of leader the Pentagon wants as it investigates charges of sexual misconduct in the U.S. military.
Ralston's tailspin came at the end of an unprecedented fortnight at the Pentagon, where senior officers held their breath amid almost daily charges and revelations about career-ending sexual misconduct. No sooner had the Air Force completed its awkward ejection of Lieut. Flinn than allegations of wrongdoing by officials high and low began landing in the Pentagon's backyard. Army Major General John Longhouser, commanding general of Aberdeen Proving Ground, decided last week to retire after a telephone tipster told Army investigators of an affair Longhouser had had five years ago. Army Brigadier General Stephen Xenakis was relieved of the command of all Army medical operations in the Southeast region two weeks ago because of an apparent "improper relationship" with a civilian nurse who was caring for his ill wife. And last week Sergeant Major of the Army Gene McKinney, the top enlisted soldier in the Army, offered to resign to avoid facing prosecution for sexually harassing female colleagues. What looked like equal time to some feminists was regarded as a witch-hunt by old-timers.