COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Military Service: Women
Military has rules on 'fraternizing' among officers
MICHAEL HEDGES, Houston Chronicle
Feb. 6, 2007
WASHINGTON,
D.C. - All three members of the triangular relationship that has
resulted in an attempted murder charge against Lisa Marie Nowak are
military officers who could face consequences in their careers if facts
emerge that document improper fraternizing or sexual behavior.
But for now, the Navy is content to let civilian authorities handle the case, a spokesman said today.
Nowak, as a Navy captain, outranked Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman,
who Nowak said in an affidavit she confronted because she suspected her
of a romantic relationship with Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, an
unmarried fellow astronaut.
Nowak said in her signed police affidavit that during astronaut
training with Oefelein she formed an attachment that was "more than a
working relationship but less than a romantic relationship. " Orlando
police found a love letter to Oefelein in her car.
"The Navy right now is letting the local authorities in Florida take
the lead," said Navy Lt. Tommy Crosby, a Navy spokesman at the
Pentagon. "There is really no set response to criminal charges being
brought against an officer. It depends on the circumstances of the
case."
Crosby said in a typical case, Nowak's superior officer would monitor
the case through a liaison with the local district attorney's office.
"Any repercussions to an officer's career are put on hold until the
case is resolved." Eventually a court martial could be ordered. If
Nowak was found to have violated rules governing Navy officers, she
could be face sanctions up to expulsion from the service, officials
said.
There is no support in police records for Nowak's belief that Oefelein
and Shipman were involved in a romantic relationship. Even if
investigators find that did occur, it is not clear that the officers
violated the rules.
As a Navy commander, Oefelein outranked Shipman by two grades. But,
while she was involved in a program supporting astronaut training, he
was not her direct superior.
Relationships between officers are forbidden in the Navy when they are
"prejudicial to good order or of a nature to bring discredit on the
Naval service" according to the official fraternization policy adopted
in May, 1999.
So what prejudices good order, or discredits the Navy?
That is spelled out as relationships that give the appearance of
favoritism by a senior officer, or that undermine or compromise the
chain of command.
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