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Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy

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"Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy," by Gregory L. Vistica is a powerful journalistic examination of the political manipulation of American taxpayer dollars and the disgraceful treatment of women who had answered the nation's call to service. However, be warned...it is also filled with excessive and graphic X-Rated pornagraphic narratives.

The author does a worthy service in documenting how Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, a President Ronald Reagan appointee in 1981 orchestrated the largest peacetime naval buildup in the nation's history. Vistica explains how the rallying cry for building the fleet had been the Soviet bogeyman. Moreover, he documents how the Navy had known all along that the Soviet Fleet was defensive in nature and not a threat to the United States. Consequently, the American taxpayer paid the bill for an excessive expansion that included a "six hundred ship Navy" that was not needed and mothballed at great expense.

This book also focuses on the role of women in the Navy and gives a step by step account of the hidden dirty laundry at the prestigious U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Vistica also displays intimate details of the infamous Navy and Marine aviators Tailhook Association annual gatherings in Las Vegas. Vistica is a first class researcher and an enormously talented writer who must be credited for being meticulous in detail. Nevertheless, he displays an amazing lack of maturity for lowering himself into the gutter and reporting news not fit to print.

Bert Ruiz

Someone had to tell this story. I searched the WEB for information on the Tailhook Scandal and the only book I could find having anything to say about how the Navy got into that situation is "Fall from Glory." All books have factual errors but I'm very glad this book was written. I was a naval aviator, attack pilot, in the 1960 and 1970s. 500 carrier landings A1 and A4. I've witnessed the scene at the Cubi Point Officers club. I can separate truth from fiction. What disgusts me most about these events is the lying, the cover ups, the protection of men who deserve to be courts martialed, and the sexual escapades.

I have some of the same reservations that many military men have about women in the service. I think they have an important roll. I have a problem with their being on aircraft carriers flying fighter planes but space is limited so I'll leave out the numerous reasons why I have these reservations. But young men who harass women at the Naval Academy far beyond the norms of hazing, people who ostracize others who tell the truth, are, in my opinion, cowards and scum. And men who think it's funny grabbing at women in a "gauntlet" are not the men I want leading our Navy. I notice that some of the reviewers speak of the Reagan Administration, Secretary Lehman, etc. as if they are the chief offenders or the cause. Bull! Every individual from admiral on down is responsible for his/her actions. Too many naval officers did nothing!

I've read numerous articles by Gregory L. Vistica in the newspaper and in Newsweek Magazine, and am always impressed by the quality of his research and reporting. His writings on military matters are free from political bias and personal agenda.

I read "Fall From Glory" particularly for its coverage of conditions in the gender-integrated Navy. Vistica presents a very balanced view of the Tailhook Scandal, beginning with the circumstances which led up to it. The Navy had overlooked gross sexual misconduct for many years -- from Subic Bay's "hostitutes" for servicemen to "Tomcat Follies" and convention "TailHookers" for male aviators. It was inevitable that such a permissive atmosphere culminated in the drunken debauchery and assaults at Tailhook 91. Perhaps the real tragedy of Tailhook was that careers were destroyed over conduct which had been condoned and even encouraged in the past. (Nor does Vistica place the entire blame on male officers and command. Many female Naval attendees participated in the revelry with equal licentiousness.) Ironically, the Navy's attempted coverup in the aftermath of Tailhook provided the impetus for the long overdue promotion of female aviators to the Fleet. Vistica relates the struggle of those aviators to overcome military sexism and media sensationalism over the fatal crash of a pioneer F-14 aviatrix. While acknowledging deficiencies in the accelerated training of that pilot, Vistica reveals a Navy policy of keeping "an inordinate number of mediocre and poor male pilots, many of whom are less qualified than [she] was... The Navy never released the details of accidents in which inferior male pilots killed themselves and others while flying... They were allowed to keep flying despite serious deficiencies because of the 'good old boy network' that is still so prevalent in naval aviation."

But "Fall From Glory" contains much more than just information relevent to women in the Navy. The book details the abuses of power of the Navy's top Admirals and Secretary Lehman during the Reagan Administrations. How they manipulated the President and misled Congress into appropriating billions of dollars -- for an unecessary fleet buildup to counter a greatly-exaggerated threat from the Soviet navy -- is the real eye-opener. From Lehman's scheming and Reagan's astonishing gullibility, to Clinton's wishy-washy compromises on gays in the Navy, Vistica's thorough documentation leaves no sacred ox ungored. This will not endear his book to liberal or right-wing readers seeking validation of their political agendae. But it is a book which should be read by everyone who really cares about the US Navy and is concerned about its fall from its former glory.

Book is a treasure trove of little-known operations and events during the '80s defense buildup. From secret wargames held 6 miles off the Russian Coast, to budget battles in the Pentagon, the book is an a keyhole to how the navy functioned in the Reagan Administration. Names of the key players that led the massive naval buildup parade across the book. Vistica's coverage of the 600-ship buildup was not complete but otherwise impressive.

As a senior Army Officer, while there might be some errors in dates and personnel, It sounds just like the Army. The quest for congressional dollars has nothing to do with the reality of mission accomplishment at the user level. I was present at some of the events and it was generally accurate. Unfortunatly it is not just the Navy but all services that compete for the dollar in congress. If half of the politicians had idea of what really went on they would fire most of the flag ranks in all the services. At some point in most careers the mission starts to come second to the use of power

I remember when I started flight school in the Navy. I knew little about the politics of the Department, and was a big fan of John Lehman. I grew to despise him over the years. He never earned his Naval Flight Officer's Wings. He is the only citizen that I know of who was ever authorized to wear such an insignia and joy ride in the right seat of an A-6. His vision for a 600 ship Navy, and the information provived to Congress to get it, was based on lies. John Lehman ultimately weakened the United States. As a result of John Lehman, tens of billions were spent on worthless weapons systems. We are still paying for it. Vistica's book is right on target. In the 1980s, the U.S. Navy was an authority unto itself. Its real mission had little to do with national security, but rather advancing its own selfish interests. Our leaders were a bunch of gutless, and spineless self promoters who would stab their mothers in the back rather than take personal responsibility for their disasters.

Vistica's FALL FROM GLORY (1996) chronicles power abusesurrounding the US Navy from the Reagan era to the Clinton presidencyin a swift moving narrative fashion. What had begun as an attempt to gain the largest share of pie in the vicious defense bureaucratic infighting under the secretaryship of shrewd naval aviator-wannabe, John Francis Lehman Jr., prompted the coverup of corruption, the corrosive intra- and inter-service rivalry, the defective weapon systems as result of flawed procurement, repeated leadership failures, the sexual abuse perpetrated by the sailors and the promotion of political agendas pursued by the lawmakers. In the end, the "house built on deck of cards" fell apart like a sputtering engine.

Though the Navy had its share of tough, honest and capable leaders, they ultimately alone could not restore the former glory that it had once enjoyed. These leaders were often swept under the current of endemic political correctness, and the rotten system controlled by the fraternity of "untouchable" admirals who were contemptuous of the regulations. The Navy, unable to support the enormous financial burden of the "Six Hundred Ship Navy", found itself on its ass. Still, the Navy hobbled along on its crutches for quite some time, finding excuses to defend its hollow structure, thanks to the agendas promoted by the Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex.

Perhaps the everlasting impact under the leadership of the Airdale-wannabe Lehman was the conditioning of the flag officers into silence, for agreeing to the personal agenda of the Secretary and the lawmakers was understood to be the ultimate display of loyalty and the key leading to "bigger things". The admirals hunkered down in their plush Pentagon E-ring offices and flagships to escape the merciless indiscriminate hatchet of the lawmakers as they witnessed their beloved fleet sinking. More often than not, they shifted blames on their men by creating scapegoats when things blew up on their screen.

The slow painful death of the once-mighty and glorious fleet began with the disgraceful suicide of its leader, and a searing indictment of the Navy's failure by a former Secretary of the Navy, James Webb in his famous 1996 speech at the Naval Academy.

In this swift, moving, no-holds-barred narrative account of power abuse and corruption, Gregory Vistica exposes to the reader the lies perpatuated by the public servants to justify the raison d'etre of their "sacred pork," and its corrosive impact on the service branch they sought to glorify. Worth noting in this book is the superb quality of its writing style: absorbing, moving, and mesmerizing. A class of its own.

A revealing look at the corruption in the US Navy. While this corruption predates Mr. Vistica's book, Under the Regan administration in general, and Mr. Lehman's tenure as SecNav in particular, corruption ran rampant. While Mr. Lehman had some very good ideas, his implementation was so flawed as to sow the seeds of the modernization debacle we have in the military today. What this book depicts best, outside of the infantile behavior of the Navy's top leaders, is what happens when billions of dollars are given to people who have no vision or idea of what to do with it.

I found this book very interesting, not just for it's exposure of waste,corruption and turf wars within the Department of the Navy, but also for the dedication and commitment of the people who work there. This books shows the Navy at it's best,as well as at it's worst (sometimes,very worst). Many incidents from the 70's,80's and mid 90's are recounted, both on the battlefield as well as in the offices,conference rooms and "back alleys" ,where so much corporate intrigue and 'dirty deals" take place, in civilian corporations as well as the government. The content of this book could easily be transferred to the scandals at Enron,Tyco,AIG, ect. A must read for any military historian, or those who like to invetigate the "real" inner workings of the business world.

Alice Roosevelt Longworth purportedly said, "If you have nothing good to say about anyone, come sit by me," or words to that effect. She would have loved an evening with Fall from Glory author Greg Vistica.

Hardly anyone in he mentions who held a leadership position in the Navy bureaucracy during the Reagan administration -- from the Secretary of the Navy on down -- escapes with his good name intact. This is not to say that all he writes isn't true -- in fact in the very few cases where I was personally aware of the circumstances, he appeared to be right on target.

He names names and lets facts fall where they may -- and I suggest rumors too(Like who really knows what went on under Mel Paisley's desk -- but Greg includes the innuendo that something Bill Clinton-esque happened).

He covers the once well-known, but now generally forgotten scandals of "Tailhook" (racy pictures even) and "Ill-Wind" as well as cover-ups, failures (if not criminal acts) rewarded and palace intrigues that would put the Borgias to shame.

This sort of reporting may not serious history, but it's a good read and is well worth your as a reminder of how badly the government runs things.