2 Leaders Defend Military’s Handling of Gender Issues

WASHINGTON — Despite a wave of sex-related scandals that has rocked the military, two of the most senior figures in the U.S. defense establishment insisted Sunday that procedures governing relations between men and women in the armed forces remain fundamentally sound.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen and Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the recent scandals would generate only minor adjustments in the practice of sexually integrated basic training and in how sexual misconduct in the military is handled.

Speaking on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation,” Cohen said he opposes a bill in Congress that would require the military to segregate male and female recruits into separate basic training units.

Rather than end sexually integrated basic training, Cohen said, “I think what we have to have is strict discipline, we have to have high standards, we have to have accountability and we have to have the word go down from the very top that . . . any kind of harassment--be it racial or physical or any other type of harassment--is not going to be tolerated.”

Shalikashvili echoed Cohen’s comments when questioned on ABC-TV’s “This Week”.

“It’s not something wrong with the training, it’s a failure by a handful of trainers,” he said. “The issue isn’t mixed training, it’s whether the Army has enough safeguards to prevent the problems that have occurred.”

Army officials are continuing to deal with a devastating scandal in which several female recruits claim they were raped by their drill instructors while undergoing training at Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Ground. In the most serious case, Army Staff Sgt. Delmar G. Simpson was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this month for raping six female trainees.

Two other sex-related cases also have drawn attention in recent weeks. Sgt. Maj. of the Army Gene C. McKinney, the service’s senior enlisted man, is accused of seeking sex from three female soldiers and one sailor, and with committing adultery with one of the soldiers. And the nation’s first female B-52 bomber pilot, Air Force 1st Lt. Kelly Flinn, on Saturday requested to end her promising career with an honorable discharge rather than face a controversial court-martial on charges of adultery, fraternization and insubordination.

Neither Cohen nor Shalikashvili would comment on how the Air Force might react to Flinn’s request, saying the decision rested with Secretary of the Air Force Sheila E. Widnall.

Flinn said in a brief interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night that she will not settle for a general discharge if offered to her.

Flinn’s brief interview on the TV program came as Frank Spinner, her civilian attorney, assembled a package to present today to the Air Force supporting the resignation request that will include letters from the pilot and captains who have flown with her as well as her performance reviews.

Shalikashvili, when asked if the various scandals were symptomatic of a fundamental problem with a fighting force composed of both men and women, emphatically declared, “No.”

“What we’ve got here is some wrongdoing on the part of several individuals,” he said. “It diminished all of us in uniform, and we take it very seriously. We’ll adjust our training.”

Cohen defended the Air Force decision to schedule a court-martial for Flinn, insisting that the “highest standards possible” are required to keep the military a disciplined, effective organization.

He indicated that he would order a review of how instances of adultery are handled in the military.

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