The Letterman Standard

The recent admission from David Letterman struck me as odd the other day.  Now I know that marital infidelity isn't something new, nor is it earth shattering in the entertainment business.  It's simply just not newsworthy these days of "open relationships," reality shows, and your sex just a quick click of the remote control.  Jon Gosselin isn't really seen as the bad guy to Kate and the kids, even though he was the one who left them for more nubile pastures.  Infidelity is just not newsorthy these days, well, unless you're the extreme narcissist that Letterman is.  Drama is what he wants, so he'll share all his little failings in life to bring you into his egomaniacal empire.  It pays the bills and it feeds his ever increasing arrogant self indulgence.   None of that is what struck me as odd.  Just seems so "hollywood-ish".

What did strike me as odd is the stark contrast between the Military and the rest of the world on this subject.  While matters of the heart are seemingly fair game these days, the morality of scrogging the help is an absolute taboo in the Military.  If you want to get an immediate one-way ticket back to the civilian life, be in a position of leadership and indulge in carnal  knowledge of one of your subordinates.  It doesn't matter if both of the participants are single, the same age....whatever the reason.  The policy is quite clear.  Zero "fraternization" will be tolerated.  The policy reads....Personal relationships between officer and enlisted members that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in rank and grade are prohibited.  Furthermore, the policy between senior enlisted (E-7 to E-9) and subordinates (E-1 to E-6) are as follows: Personal relationships between Chief Petty Officers (E-7 to E-9) and junior personnel (E-l to E-6), who are assigned to the same command, that are unduly familiar and that do not respect differences in grade or rank are prohibited.  These policies have practical use in the workplace to respect the differences in rank so as to not foster favoritism and maintain military discipline. 

Letterman's extortion attempt clearly indicates the pitfalls of workplace sexual misadventures.  The thing that really caught my attention was an ABC Poll which said that nearly 60% of Americans see nothing wrong with consential workplace affairs between seniors and subordinates, with close to 20% seeing it as a big problem.  That's a stark difference between military and civilian worlds. 

Boys and girls being what they are, the policy still cannot stop all laws of nature to be ignored.  In a 5 year period between 1999 and 2004, of the nearly 1300 command jobs throughout the United States Navy, 80 commanders had been relieved of their commands due to fraternization.  Those number peaked especially during 2003 at the height of deployments during the War on Terrorism at 26.  Considering the length of deployments, the lonely aspect of being a commander without peer groups to socialize or commiserate in certain circumstances, it's quite remarkable that an average of 16 per year out of 1300 commands, lead to this kind of behavior, which seems to fly in the face of civilian scrutiny.   Still, there is value in the policy and should be a matter of practice, rather an inconvenience of policy.