Brace Yourself: Fighter Pilots Might Be Sexist Pigs

AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Jen Blake

Uh-oh. I hate to spoil it, ladies, but it turns out that arrogant fighter plane jocks might be sexist pigs:

A former Blue Angels commander tolerated inappropriate sexual comments and pornographic images in the workplace — including photos of naked women in the cockpits of the precision flying team’s planes, the Navy said Tuesday. 

Capt. Gregory McWherter was found guilty of violating two articles under the military’s code of justice during nonjudicial proceedings convened Monday in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The articles were failure to obey an order or regulation and conduct unbecoming of an officer by fostering a hostile command climate and failing to stop “obvious and repeated instances of sexual harassment, condoning widespread lewd practices within the squadron and engaging in inappropriate and unprofessional discussions with his junior officers,” the Navy said in a statement. 

He will be given a letter of reprimand that will go in McWherter’s permanent file and is widely seen as a career-ender in the service. McWherter told Navy officials he did not wish to speak to the media, said Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, a spokesman
at Naval Air Forces.

There's a couple of way to look at it. One, it's strange that another military guy can apparently desert his post, get promoted, and have his father and mother pay a visit to the Rose Garden, while at the same time a different military guy can master his craft but get rapped on the knuckles for being a frat boy. Life's funny that way.

Two, the military has a code of conduct and if you go against it, it doesn't matter how good you are at what you do. When the day comes that you look cross eyed at the wrong commanding officer, you've given him all the kindling he needs to cook you.