I know there are a few professional web sufers out there, maybe even chief scott could climb out of the goat locker help me on this one…
I am looking for the current, and official US Navy instruction covering 2 topics:
Use of vulgar language
Use of racial slurs
Any help would be greatly appreciated… I have sifted through pages and pages and pages of bad links and messages posted on the web and have found nothing… Even the official site for Navy directive gave me piles of information that I am not capable of sorting through…
I’m a naval officer, but not a JAG. This isn’t really a Navy-specific thing, I think. If someone’s charged in the Navy, it’s done using the UCMJ, just like every other service. There may be Navy specific rules on this, but I’m not aware of them.
A good place to start is the Navy Regulations of 1990. You can link to that from the Bureau of Naval Personnel’s website at http://www.bupers.navy.mil. Click on the Instructions link, and then on the SECNAV instructions link.
While there, you can also check the SORN (Standard Organization and Regulation of the Navy) to see who is responsible for doing what and how.
Since using vulgar language can be considered sexual harassment, Article 0722 of the Navy Regulations can apply. Geneal standards of conduct are discussed in Article 1110 of the Navy Regulations.
Equal Opportunity is a big thing in the Navy, just as it is in the rest of the DoD, so the base, installation, or unit will have either a policy letter, notice, or instruction addressing racism.
The three offences I used when writing-up offenders in the catagories of offensive language catagories were: Failure To Obey A Lawful Order Or Regulation (Specifically, The SORM, NavRegs), Conduct Prejudicial To Good Order And Discipline (The ‘catch-all’ Article), and in one extreme case, Conduct Unbecoming An Officer.
Please note, that in most cases, foul language is handled without resort to the UCMJ. A little extra ‘attention’ by a Petty Officer or Chief usually fixes an out of control mouth. Racial commentary, however, will get lots of ‘attention’, at the very least, and although a first-time offender might not actually be written-up, they’ll be in no doubt they’ve just screwed-up royally.