In the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels, Porn Viewing Starts at the Top

LOS ANGELES—Last month, as part of an investigation into allegations that its Blue Angels precision flying team had become a band of homophobic and misogynistic brothers under the porn-loving leadership of Captain Gregory McWherter, a two-time leader of the group, the Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Harry B Harris, has issued a 63-page report that lays out in explicit detail the depths—or would that be heights?—to which McWherter brought the storied team during his second tour as its commanding officer. Though individuals of lesser rank and responsibility are also recommended for discipline by both Harris and Rear Admiral Randy B. Crites, who oversaw the investigation, it is clearly the opinion of the Navy that the porn, harassment and misogyny buck was caused by McWherter—and stops with McWherter. "Leadership matters," writes Harris in the report. "We strive to inculcate in our Commanding Officers—whether in squadrons, ships, submarines or any other platform—the concept that 'the Commanding Officer is the ship and the ship is the Commanding Officer.' "In this case," he continues, "a very strong, even charismatic, Commanding Officer did lead; unfortunately, Captain Gregory McWherter led his Ready Room far astray of acceptable norms of behavior and conduct. The Blue Angels Ready Room did, in fact, follow the Commanding Officer's example, and made the standard he established, theirs. This Commanding Officer witnessed, accepted, and encouraged behavior that, while juvenile and sophomoric in the beginning, ultimately and in the aggregate, became destructive, toxic, and hostile. The Blue Angels Ready Room environment under his command ran counter to established Navy standards and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and dramatically weakened good order and discipline in the squadron." As AVN has previously reported, McWherter, who was relieved of command of the Blue Angels in April, experienced no leadership issues during his first tour as commander of the squadron from November 2008 to November 2010, which the Navy report describes as "successful and unmarred." It adds, "He was popular and well-liked by his Ready Room." When he returned to the group in May 2011 following the unplanned dismissal of the commander who replaced him in 2010, he was, Admiral Harris notes in the report, given a "hero's welcome." However, adds Harris, "I believe he subsequently became susceptible to hubris and arrogance, blinding him to the common sense judgments expected of all service members, but especially those entrusted with command. "In sharp contrast to his first tour," he elaborates, "throughout his second tour as the Blue Angels’ Commanding Officer, Captain McWherter and many in his command openly engaged in sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviors, which he failed to correct. Examples include proliferation of explicit pornography and sexually suggestive images in the cockpits and in the 'Group Me' intra-squadron electronic communications tool, the painting of male genitalia on the roof of the center point trailer at the Blue Angels’ winter training facilities in El Centro, California, and hazing during the enlisted 'Cresting Process.' Not only does [the] investigation demonstrate that Captain McWherter failed to take immediate and decisive action to guard against and suppress violations of Navy policy, it established that by condoning and encouraging unlawful behaviors over a sustained period, he created a hostile work environment." Regarding the role that pornography reportedly played in the squadron, Time magazine notes in its coverage, "Pornography became such a facet of the Blue Angels during McWherter’s command... that the sight of it in a cockpit was taken as a sign of the 'trust' and 'bond' between a pilot and his crew chief." Of course, all of this happened a while ago. McWherter's tenure ended in November 2012, and he was reassigned to the Naval Air Forces base in San Diego while his successor at the Blue Angels, according to Time, "inherited a cleanup job. The Navy set up awareness training from various equal opportunity programs to rid the Blue Angels of the smut." But a complaint by a service member this year reopened the case with a vengeance, resulting in a long investigation and a report that provides admirable (if tardy) transparency into a situation that is an obvious embarrassment to the Navy, but also to the U.S. Armed Forces in general, which is still dealing with renewed charges of systemic and widespread sex abuse of female enlisted personnel and also male enlisted personnel. That sense of embarrassment and also resolve is evident in Admiral Harris' general assessment of what McWherter had wrought through his actions: “He failed himself, failed those that he led, failed the Blue Angels, and failed the Navy." The Navy report on the Blue Angels investigation can be read here. Image: Capt. Greg McWherter responds to the crowd at the Guardians of Freedom Air Show in 2011, courtesy of the U.S. Navy. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jen Blake.