Lt. Paula Coughlin, who blew the whistle on the Tailhook sex scandal, is resigning from the Navy.
Coughlin submitted a letter earlier this week saying the Tailhook assault "and the covert attacks on me that followed have stripped me of my ability to serve," NBC news reported.The Navy's top admiral, Chief of Naval Operations Frank B. Kelso II, said just the opposite Friday: that he won't quit, despite a judge's report accusing him of knowing Tailhook gatherings sometimes got lewd and of doing nothing to stop it.
Lt. Susan Haeg, an Atlantic Fleet spokeswoman, said it would take two or three months before Coughlin's resignation is processed and she actually leaves the service.
Her letter of resignation came as the Navy was about to close the books on its final three cases stemming from the scandal.
Vice Adm. J. Paul Reason, who was appointed by Kelso to handle Tailhook punishments, was expected to announce Friday that a military judge's ruling dismissing the charges in those cases will not be appealed.
However, Reason probably will take administrative action against the three aviators whose cases were dropped, a source close to the admiral told The Associated Press. Such action probably would be a letter of caution, a mild censure that does not go into an officer's official record, said the source, who insisted on anonymity.
Coughlin, who is assigned to a helicopter combat support unit at the Norfolk Naval Air Station, was an admiral's aide when she attended the September 1991 Tailhook convention in Las Vegas.
She said a gantlet of men began chanting at her as she walked down a crowded hotel hallway and someone grabbed her from behind. She said she went public with the assault when she became convinced that the Navy would not punish those responsible.
Despite Navy and Pentagon investigations, no one has gone to trial for Tailhook misconduct and the Marine Corps officer identified by Coughlin as her attacker was later cleared.