"lepers'' at the US Naval Air Station.

The military Police officers -- back here for the first time since the controversy erupted -- said they were being shunned by colleagues.

"We are like lepers. We have definitely got the plague,'' Second Class Petty Officer Thomas William Coggins told The Royal Gazette .

The pair learned yesterday they would be reposted outside the Atlantic Fleet area within the next few days.

Meanwhile, the naval air station has delivered its first response to some of the allegations.

It revealed the Commander in Chief of the US Atlantic Fleet was studying the "capabilities, role and tasking'' of the Base, as well as others.

"This is a serious study concerned with future military necessity, not connected with a questionable television show,'' said spokesperson Ensign Marie McGahan.

The Navy will make its recommendations to the Department of Defence and Department of State.

Ensign McGahan also rejected charges of a cover-up of two sexual assaults, including the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl.

"Any allegation of sexual harassment or assault that is brought to the Navy's attention is investigated and appropriately responded to.'' Ensign McGahan said it was believed ABC newsman Sam Donaldson had not included the cover-up allegation in his programme because the information given to the network "verified our appropriate response to the cases presented.'' Fears of reprisals against Senior Chief Petty Officer George Randall Taylor, a former military chief at the Base, and Petty Officer Coggins were also scotched.

Ensign McGahan said the Base only learned about their participation in PrimeTime Live while they were on stateside leave.

"At present both individuals are working with their detailers to get orders to different commands.

"NAS is assisting them in the preparation for movement of their household goods as requested.'' The statement, however, did not address PrimeTime's allegation that the Base had been turned into a playground for military VIPs -- at taxpayers' expense.

The programme had uncovered alleged unauthorised junkets, with military vehicles being used to take senior personnel to restaurants and golf courses.

Yesterday, however, Chief Taylor said he had been informed the allegations were being investigated by military top brass in the US.

The 32-year-old, who is being reposted to California, said he also believed the law protecting whistle-blowers would also be beefed up.

"I hope our experience will not be repeated,'' said the father-of-two, who was removed from his job as military Police chief and recommended for psychiatric tests.

"I hope in future people's careers won't be affected for speaking out.'' The pair strongly refute suggestions they may have been pawns in a high-level conspiracy to close the Base through bad publicity.

"We have certainly not been controlled by a higher authority. We were coerced by no-one,'' said Petty Officer Coggins.

"We initiated this sequence of events, and have no regrets. We went to the media as a last resort. It was a terribly difficult decision to make.'' Petty Officer Coggins, who only married his Texan wife, Isabel, in March, was braced for the consequences.

"It's messed up my career, and both my wife and I were thinking of moving to a bigger house. We wanted to stay here another two years.

"I'm going to have a tag on my head, but one thing's for sure. No corrupt Police force in the world is ever going to want to employ me.'' Petty Officer Coggins intends leaving the Navy in two years to get a federal Government job in law enforcement.

Chief Taylor plans to stay on in the Navy, and continue his law studies in California.