I was an Army SFC attending a course in Wash., D.C. when Boorda killed himself. Some of my classmates were Navy Petty Officers and Chiefs. They revered Admiral Boorda, and they were practically in tears. It was a sad day.
When I was stationed in Europe and still living in the barracks, circa 1990, Adm. Boorda came through for "Admiral's Call". I was working night shift or something or other, so I missed it. Several of us were chatting out on the sidewalk, when a guy who lived above us came back from Admiral's Call. He was rather excited and started telling us all about it.
He told us how he brought up the barracks maintenance problems, and Admiral Boorda was livid, and he was coming to the barracks to see it for himself. We couldn't believe he did this, but he felt comfortable because it was Admiral Boorda. This was a legitimate issue: the barracks had leaking water pipes in the walls, which were constantly being "repaired", and the residents were being reassigned rooms like they were stuck in a revolving door, but the leaks never got fixed. What added insult to injury, was that these guys were repeatedly failing room inspections for musty rooms and moldy bathrooms, and it was not their fault. He was sick and tired of failing inspection, and didn't care who in his chain of command got sore at him (his immediate supervisors were none too pleased).
So sure enough, soon afterward, Admiral Boorda came though our barracks. That sailor had told him the absolute truth, and Boorda, who really did have a geniune compassion for the "average" enlisted men and women, was fit to be tied. It was worse than he expected. Needless to say, after all the bogus maintenance that had gone on for a year or more, the problems were suddenly resolved in a very short amount of time.
Admiral Boorda had an excellent reputation before this happened, so much so that people actually wanted to go to Admiral's Call. That incident, however, showed many of us just how well-deserved that reputation was.
That was the "trouble" with Admiral Boorda. He was a no-nonsense, results-oriented, honorable man. IOW, he was surely a pox on the Xlintoon administration. I don't know how he could have been in the presence of X42, without becoming sick to his stomach.
IMO, somebody wanted to teach Admiral Boorda a lesson.