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The Tailhook Association is a U.S. based, fraternal, non-profit organization, supporting the interests of seabased aviation, with emphasis on aircraft carriers. The word tailhook refers to the hook underneath the tail of the aircraft that catches the arresting wire suspended across the flight deck in order to stop the landing plane quickly.

The association was formed by active-duty naval aviators in 1956, growing into a national organization with headquarters in San Diego, California. During the Vietnam War the annual Tailhook reunion and symposium served as a rare opportunity for aircrews from the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets to exchange information about events in Southeast Asia. After the war, when military retention sagged dramatically, the U.S. Navy used "Tailhook" as a recruiting and retention tool, with some success.

To this day, the Tailhook Association continues its work of supporting sea-based aviation. Among the programs are publication of the quarterly journal "The Hook", with historic and current events coverage; college scholarships via the Tailhook Educational Foundation; and local/regional "ready rooms" for those active and retired members who support fleet activities.

The infamous Tailhook patch, worn by a staff member of TOPGUN, 1992.

In September 1991 the 35th annual symposium in Las Vegas featured a two-day debrief on Navy and Marine Corps aviation in Operation Desert Storm. It was the largest such meeting yet held, with some 4,000 attendees: active, reserve, and retired personnel.

According to a Department of Defense report, 83 women and 7 men stated that they had been victims of assault and sexual harassment during the meeting.

On October 29, 1991, possibly responding to political pressure, and well before completion of any investigations, the Department of the Navy terminated all ties to the association. Although the association cooperated fully in the ensuing investigations and had never held authority over military personnel, ties were not restored with the Navy until January 19, 1999.

A series of official investigations was conducted, but all were widely criticized, involving official cover-ups by senior Navy and civilian officials, and denial of due process to hundreds of individuals, most of whom were not accused of any wrongdoing. Aviators spoke of a witch hunt mentality in the George H. W. Bush Administration, even though President George H.W. Bush had been a Navy pilot.

Indeed, most of the 4000 male military attendees were interviewed several times, many as much as five times or more. Huge government expenses were incurred by such acts as originating a flight off of an aircraft carrier to a land base just so a single pilot with no accusations levied against him could be questioned. Initial investigations by the former NIS (Naval Investigative Service) were botched application of techniques such the use of a single bright lamp in a dark room and asking the pilots questions such as "When was the last time you masturbated?" in an effort to apply psychological pressure. The tactic backfired: the pilots were not intimidated and threatened legal action in return for the "guilty until proven innocent" atmosphere they were forced to endure. The investigation evolved into such a disaster the NIS was dissolved and eventually replaced by the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service). DoD investigators finished the Tailhook 1991 investigation.

The issues were never quite settled, and as late as 2002, the Tailhook chairman spoke of "the alleged misconduct that occurred in 1991".^[1]

Frontline on PBS reported:

Ultimately the careers of fourteen admirals and almost 300 naval aviators were scuttled or damaged by Tailhook. For example Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett III and CNO Admiral Frank Kelso were both at Tailhook '91. Garrett ultimately resigned and Kelso retired early two years after the convention.^[2]

Author Jean Zimmerman developed the thesis that the scandal underscored the shifting status of women in the military and particularly the role of women in combat.^[3] As such, Tailhook can be seen as part of the evolution of the armed forces that continued through the losses of female soldiers in Iraq.

The scandal was satirized on two episodes of The Simpsons, in which a character, Waylon Smithers, confessed that:

"He feels about as low as Madonna when she found out she had missed Tailhook."

and an admiral that would have thrown the book at Homer in Simpson Tide did nothing because he was indicted in the Tailhook Scandal.

• The Tailhook Association official website
• TAILHOOK (BOTHSIDES) The Dream and the Reality. compilation by Dee Finney (2001-07-18). Retrieved on 2007-08-13.