European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 25, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Marine capt. Douglas Gethers inspects Academy midshipmen it who have faced criticism on Many  Academy learns from cheating scandal the frigate Clark passes under the Newport Bridge and into the fog As it leaves its port in Newport r.i., for the fat time. The Clark s departure leaves Newport with just three ships As its naval facilities draw Down. By Richard a. Serrano los Angeles times t the bad news came at sea. Navy capt. Chris Cole and his Crew of 350 were returning to. Norfolk Van a last summer when they Learned the Elpaso their 24-year-old, steel and Gray amphibious cargo ship was going Home for Good. It was to be decommissioned this month its Days of ferrying personnel and equipment to far off places such As Somalia gone forever. Cole is lean and tall almost towering his bearing ramrod straight he s been a Navy Man for two decades. Despite his military Demeanour he struggled against tears to describe the decision to Mothball his beloved ship. Quot As a naval officer i understand it Quot he said. Quot the country wants to Cut the military budget. But As a Captain of a ship i can hardly talk about it. It s a wonderful ship. It s a wonderful Crew. Quot the ship is Metal and paint. But it s the Crew that brings it to . The human toll of military downsizing is Clear. Across the nation Many people Are learning grudgingly that a service career May not be As promising or rewarding and certainly not As lasting As it once was. Cone with the cold War is the Job Security it provided. Units with illustrious pasts Are being disbanded. Promising careers Are being Cut Short. For those who stay in the service forced transfers Are All too common. Quot it s disappointing Quot said maj. David Deykes a 43-year-old West Point graduate and onetime Field infantry platoon Leader.  has been told that june 30 is his last Day in the army Quot you take it personal at first. Everybody does. You try for a goal and you fail. Suddenly the army is not placing any special Fidelity and Trust in you any  Deykes fears for his own future and that of the armed but to some experts the human toll of downsizing is not All that worrisome. Charles Moskos a Northwestern University military sociologist Points out that the army which has been saddled with the Brunt of the reductions has already made virtually All the necessary cuts and is Quot out of the  the Navy and air Force he said did not face such drastic changes. Quot sure there s been a lot of Heartbreak Quot he says Quot but institutionally the draw Down has been a remarkable Success. If civilian Industry had to Cut this far there would have been blood All Over the . Quot a lot of the uneasiness is because of the wild stories that Are circulating about the cutbacks Quot said Lawrence j. Korb a former defense department personnel official now at the Brookings institution. Quot it s scared away some of the  he blames the Pentagon for letting rumours of mass it. H., w5 a it a i a a amps Davo Casey service members wait their turns to speak to Job recruiters at a fair in Kaiserslautern Germany. Firings though largely false go unchallenged. Whether real or imagined the so called draw Down has troubled and confused Many and even left some feeling betrayed. For eight years it. Pat Dennison devoted his career to the Navy working aboard the aircraft Carrier Fleet and seeing duty in the persian Gulf. All he wanted to do was go to sea. But once he realized that ships were being dry docked he was retrained in Public affairs and is now at the Navy Boot Camp in san Diego. Now 30 and at the midpoint of the 20 years service needed to earn his retirement Dennison wonders if he make it to the end. Quot these ship cutbacks Are scaring me Quot he said. Quot getting promoted has become too competitive. Career enhancement in t there. A lot of my friends were giving up and getting out. Quot the future in t there for so Many of  two rounds of base closings have devastated dozens of defense installations nationwide. And commanders spared so far Are having to justify Why their posts should not be shuttered in a third round set for 1995. Total uniformed. Personnel nearly 1.8 million at the end of 1992, is Reading for 1.5 million by the end of next year. All four services Are drastically slashing the numbers of new recruits. Even still the army and air Force have had to Jettison thousands of personnel mainly by attrition and special retirement incentives. The Navy and Marine corps so far have not had to let anyone go but they Are requiring Alt first term enlistees to compete for a second tour of duty. Unlike draw Downs following world War ii and the korean and Vietnam wars this one seems particularly painful to the rank and file trying to make a living in uniform. In the past the Pentagon has simply Cut from the Bottom said Carl Cocke head of research and analysis at the Center for military history in Washington the draftees were the first to leave almost always by their own decision. This time it is the career soldiers and sailors who feel they Are caught in the greatest Swath of personnel cuts. There Are fewer jobs fewer promotions. Quot the one dark Cloud on the horizon in recruiting is we have substantial statistics which indicate a decrease in the propensity to enlist Quot defense Secretary William j. Perry said recently. Quot Many Young people believe the army is no longer recruiting no longer bringing new people into it in the face of the  at Norfolk where the sailors from the Elpaso lived on a berthing Barge while emptying their ship the future looks Uncertain. Some like Petty officer Larry Brock with 24 years service Are retiring sooner than they would have liked. With the ship s decommissioning he said he cannot expert to win another promotion. Quot i promised my wife not to get out unless i was forced out and Here i m being forced out anyway Quot he said. Others like Seaman Sal Defazio with Only two years service Are being transferred for new training.  s hopeful there s a future when he s done. Quot my Only fear is that they re going to Cut Down too much Quot he said. Adm. Henry  jr., commander in chief of the Atlantic Fleet sympathizes with their uncertainty. Quot they re concerned about the future Quot he said. Quot will there be a Navy what will it be i Tell them to have  classes Are doubling at the transaction assistance program. Begun four years ago to help sailors ease Back into civilian life the program first offered a dozen sessions a year with about 75 in each class. That number has climbed to 24 sessions a year with class sizes of 150 or More. Jeannie Keith 20, from Bowling Green ky., is leaving. After just two years upset that her classification As a machinist mate prevents her from switching to nursing. The Navy health care slots she found Are overstaffed while machinist mate positions Are understaffed. So she s stuck. She started to talk about her predicament and then began to cry. She said it was t fair to have to quit the Navy to better herself. Quot i have to leave to get ahead Quot she said. By Catherine s. Manegold the new York times ailing neatly into line dark uniforms creased White hats pulled Low the . Naval Academy s class of 1994 looks every bit As spit and polished As any other Assembly of midshipmen in the 149 years that the nation s future naval officers have been training in Annapolis my. But this year s class is Likely to be smaller than it might have been and its graduation next month will come with a certain poignancy and publicity that it clearly could have done without. Their reputations sullied members of the class of 1994, like the characters in a bitter tale of coming of age will Long live under the Shadow of the widest cheating scandal to scar the Academy. Yet in the minds of Many midshipmen at Annapolis the finding by a Navy Honor review Board that Many students in this year s graduating class had Advance knowledge about an engineering final exam Given in december 1992, when they were third year students has proved a turning Point ushering in a period of reflection and self criticism that was perhaps Long overdue. Last month the Board recommended that 29 students be expelled from the Academy and 42 others be Given a lesser punishment thirty five midshipmen implicated in the scandal were cleared by the Board while 28 students were cleared previously or left the Academy while the investigation was being conducted. In the 16 months since the cheating was disclosed the Academy has been steeped in a difficult and fractious recovery. Quot i think our reputation will be the tried and True Quot said Sean m. Fahey a 21-year-old senior who As brigade commander holds the highest rank among the 4,200 students at Annapolis and Speaks with a deep Pride of the Academy s efforts to improve. Quot we had a serious reality  with the Navy still smarting from the Tail Hook sexual harassment scandal and the Academy still smarting from stories of a bizarre hazing incident in which a female midshipmen was handcuffed to a urinal the reality Many midshipmen say is that it was time for students and school officials to rethink Basic questions of ethics and  it has begun to do so. Last month col. Michael w. Hagee of the marines was assigned to the naval Academy As a morality sentry. His task is to review internal procedures and strengthen courses with Tough questions about ethics Blind loyalty and Good character. And changes have been made in the testing procedure to see that such cheating is unlikely to happen again. Other changes Are coming too including a shift at the Helm. Midshipmen speak with a kind of quiet Awe that a four Star Admiral Charles r. Larson will be the Academy s next superintendent. Larson the commander of american forces in the Pacific headed the Academy from 1983 to 1986. Quot they re bringing in the big guns Quot said Paul Davis 21, a senior from Harrisonburg a. Quot that s when you know they Are  yet the primary focus for the students has been internal midshipmen say. And Many of the men and women soon to graduate chose to keep it that Way. Quot it s Over Quot said one departing midshipman who declined to give his name. Quot that s All i be Ever cared about. It has been hell. And i just want to get beyond  for the students and faculty members Here the cheating scandal has brought unwelcome attention to the Academy. Some believe the attention has been distorted and overblown. Quot it hit us hard Quot said Reuben Brigety a 20-year-old Junior from Jacksonville fla., who could not conceal his irritation at the transgressions and the resulting publicity. Quot we be had so much bad attention Quot he said. Quot but there Are so Many Good things Here  at Dahlgren Hall two instructors taking a break said they thought the Academy was tarnished but not badly injured. The thing is you be had Tail Hook president Clinton and the Gays now this a it s too bad Quot said Royce Robinson a noncommissioned officer who teaches seamanship and navigation. Quot the Navy has been having a really rough time. But this is still the place i d like to have my son