*TC She has lost her career, most of her friends, and nearly a third of her weight. She has been called a man-hater and a slut, a disgrace to the Navy and a crybaby who should have known better.
But last week, a federal jury said that Paula Coughlin, the woman who blew the whistle on Tailhook, was right. She had been hurt and she had been wronged, and for that, said the jurors, she should be compensated to the tune of $6.7 million.
"Even if I never see one penny, it is worth it," says Ms. Coughlin, 32, without hesitation, "because for the first time in a very long time, I am proud of myself. I'll never forget how really, really bad it was, but I am very gratified by the fact that I had the strength to stick it out."
After deliberating for two hours, a federal jury ruled Oct. 28 that the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and its parent company was guilty of "oppression or malice" for its role in the sex-abuse scandal and awarded Ms. Coughlin $1.7 million in damages. Three days later, the jury returned to award her another $5 million in punitive damages.
Ms. Coughlin's suit charged the hotel chain with failing to provide adequate security during the notorious 1991 Tailhook aviators convention. Hilton Corp.
In her first interview since the verdict, Ms. Coughlin -- the first of 12 women to take Tailhook-related charges to trial -- told the Los Angeles Times that while the nightmares continue, she is ready to give herself "the luxury of assuming that life will return to normal."
"I used to just daydream about coming home to this," says the former helicopter pilot and admiral's aide from her cozy brick home in Virginia Beach, Va.
"All my mums are in full bloom and the pansies are ready to go in and it's a beautiful sunny day. I must still be in denial about all that's happened because I feel like it is my friend who just got back from Las Vegas and not me."
The seven-week trial was an ordeal, she said, but one she had been prepared for by years of attacks and counterattacks that preceded it.
From the morning after Tailhook when she reported the incident to her admiral, the Navy, she says, began punishing her for speaking out. Spokesmen for the Navy have said Ms. Coughlin's subsequent transfers and her ultimate grounding were a result of her mental instability, which they agree resulted from the stresses of Tailhook.
Her mental stability was tested and retested at every turn by expert witnesses for the court, including a Hilton-hired psychiatrist who reported that Ms. Coughlin was indeed suffering "severe acute stress" as a result of the Tailhook attack. During the convention, she was groped and pawed by a line of men taunting her and chanting "Admiral's aide! Admiral's aide!" in a Hilton hallway.
Before the pressures of Tailhook forced her resignation in May, Ms. Coughlin was one of a handful of women entrusted by the Navy to pilot its biggest, meanest helicopter -- the CH-53 Sea Stallion. Until Tailhook, she was "the best of the best," according to her San Diego lawyer Nancy Stagg.
Now, Ms. Coughlin says, her Navy days are over. She will probably go back to college in January to train for a new, as yet undecided career.
Despite her reputation as "the woman who changed the U.S. Navy," Ms. Coughlin believes that her victory in civil court may not erase the long tradition of military animosity toward women.
"I am convinced that you can't change the way a person thinks, but you can change their behavior. And eventually, that will change the way they think as well ... eventually."