Nancy Kassebaum: “I oppose this effort to allow Admiral Kelso to retire from the Navy with a four-star rank. While this is not by any…”

“I oppose this effort to allow Admiral Kelso to retire from the Navy with a four-star rank. While this is not by any means a simple issue, I do believe it would be a mistake to accord Admiral Kelso the same privilege we have given to others of the past. Admiral Kelso has served our Nation for 38 years with great skill, courage, and ability. He should be honored not only for that service, but for what I believe were significant efforts to improve and strengthen the role of women in the Navy. The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service recently wrote to Admiral Kelso praising his efforts on behalf of women. As they noted: Under your leadership, more women have been selected for operational command, flag rank, and major shore command than at any other time in the Navy's history. We share the view of many military women that you are the one individual who has done more to further opportunities for women than anyone since Admiral Zumwalt in the early 1970s. The advisory committee went on to cite specific steps Admiral Kelso has taken on behalf of women. Those steps are real and important in changing the Navy in ways that will not only lead to greater acceptance of women in the service but will allow them to be fully integrated into the life and work of the Navy. While these efforts deserve genuine praise, I think we must face the fact that Admiral Kelso also demonstrated a complete failure of leadership in the so-called Tailhook investigation.”