AN OFFICER AND A CREEP?

By Mark Thompson/Washington

THE HALLMARK SENTIMENTS SOUND more like the musings of a smitten schoolboy than the clipped commands generally issued by a top Navy SEAL commando. But, though hardly coercive, the words landed a Navy captain in a cramped Washington Navy-Yard courtroom last week to face a court-martial. It was the first time such a proceeding had been brought against an officer of his rank since World War II.

The case of Captain Everett Greene, charged with "unduly familiar personal relationships" with two female subordinates, is again forcing the Navy command to take a good hard look at its policy on sexual harassment. For one thing, Greene--who had been in line for an admiral's gold braid--is the third Navy captain in recent months to have his promotion derailed by charges of sexual chicanery: Captain Mark Rogers was dropped from the promotion list last April for using degrading sexual language, and Captain Thomas J. Flanagan was disciplined last month for an adulterous relationship with a female lieutenant. For another, Greene, 47, was the Navy's top equal-opportunity officer, responsible for, among others, ridding the Navy of the abuses he is accused of committing.

Four years after the infamous Tailhook scandal, the Navy is, at the very least, still climbing a steep learning curve. Admiral Jeremy M. Boorda, chief of naval operations, does not see a trend in the rash of sexual-harassment cases. "We have set some standards," he says, "and I think what you're seeing now is the result of those standards being applied."

In Greene's case, no sexual contact has been alleged. Nor is there any suggestion that Greene hindered the two women's careers. Instead, Lieut. Mary E. Felix and ex-Lieut. Pamela Castrucci contend that Greene made them feel uneasy by sending them suggestive cards and gifts and calling them on the telephone. In one poem, for instance, Greene told Felix, "Whenever you need to be adored, I will be there. Whenever you need to be befriended, I will be there. Whenever you need to be comforted, I will be there." In another missive, he declared, "I wanted you just as much, if not more, than you wanted me." Greene's lawyers are arguing that that passage shows Felix to be a woman spurned.

Last week, before a jury of five admirals and three captains (including two women), Felix described her frustration over Greene's attentions. "I didn't want to believe this was happening," the 28-year-old officer told the court in a shaky voice. "He was a married man, my boss and old enough to be my father." Castrucci, a 30-year-old lawyer, told the jury that Greene's overtures felt creepy. "There was nothing offensive about them," she said. "It was just that they kept coming--it was like he always knew where I was." Outside the court, Greene told reporters that the women had confused his concern for their well-being with harassment. "You're dealing with perceptions," he said, "and I have no way of controlling how someone else might interpret an otherwise innocent event." On Friday the judge, Marine Colonel H.K. Jowers, agreed in part, dismissing Castrucci's two charges, although the trial into Felix's four allegations continues this week.

The case was originally settled informally last year, after Greene agreed to stop contacting the women. Then-Vice Admiral Ronald Zlatoper, as chief of Navy personnel, approved the deal, which, according to Felix, included an unwritten agreement that Greene would not be promoted. But in March, Felix learned that a promotion board--headed by Zlatoper--had recommended that Greene be made a rear admiral. Feeling the Navy had failed to keep its end of the bargain, she began formal proceedings against her ex-boss. The Navy proposed settling the case with a private punishment--perhaps a permanent written reprimand in Greene's personnel file. Greene, however, chose to face the military tribunal in an attempt to clear his name publicly.

The stakes are high. Greene's promotion has been put on hold, while he continues to serve as the head of a SEAL special boat squadron in San Diego, California. If found guilty, he could be booted from the service, fined or imprisoned. Even if acquitted, Navy officials say, he faces a considerably diminished chance of making admiral.

Paula Coughlin, the ex-Navy officer who was roughed up at the 1991 Tailhook gathering and brought down a bridgeful of Navy brass when she complained of the Navy's malfeasance in probing her charges, says Greene's alleged behavior, while it may seem almost innocent, can be unnerving. "It's intimidating coming from a boss, but that's something a lot of men just don't get," the unemployed former chopper pilot said last week. Coughlin's experience does not make her optimistic that the Greene case will lead to enlightenment. Although more than 140 Navy and Marine officers were cited for wrongdoing at the Tailhook convention at the Las Vegas Hilton, none was convicted at court-martial. "I'd be hesitant to call this case a step in the right direction until I see where the court-martial goes," Coughlin said. "I've been there, and it's a kangaroo court."