Redefining A Woman's Place

By Jacob V. Lamar Jr

For as long as she can remember, Gwen Linde wanted to be a pilot. At Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif., Linde, 29, is commander of a C-141 transport plane, a mammoth, 75-ton, four-engine workhorse that carries everything from weapons, paratroopers and medical supplies to Bob Hope and his entourage. Leading a crew of six, Linde routinely carries out five-day missions to bases in Hawaii, Guam and the Azores. Her dream, however, is to fly the fighter jets that she once trained others to operate. But since those elite birds are designated for combat, women have been barred from flying them on Air Force missions. "It was always frustrating knowing that I couldn't fly in a fighter plane," says Linde. "But you can't keep knocking your head against a wall."

Each of the U.S. armed forces has regulations, based on congressional legislation, designed to prevent female soldiers from being killed in action or captured as prisoners of war. Instead, women are limited to "combat support" roles. But in an era when combat no longer occurs on clear-cut front lines, supported by a rear echelon, these rules, established after World War II, have created some peculiar quandaries. While Linde and her female colleagues are not permitted to fly fighter aircraft, Air Force women regularly pilot KC-135 tankers that refuel the fighters and make an even more tempting target for enemy missiles. Though women are banned from Navy destroyers, they may support and supply vessels that steam in dangerous waters. Women piloted tankers in the 1986 air strike on Libya and flew cargo planes in the invasion of Grenada. Says Lawrence Korb, a former Pentagon official and Brookings Institution military expert: "It's kidding oneself to think these aren't combat roles."

Last week the Pentagon took a step toward making better sense of a woman's place in the military. Based on the recommendations of a special task force, Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci ordered a series of reforms that will open up 4,000 Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force posts previously unavailable to women. While not abandoning the exclusionary rule, "we will now go as far as we can within these legislative constraints," explains David Armor, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management and Personnel, who headed the task force. "We're developing a clear rationale for opening all jobs, except those which are strictly combat." The highlights of the reforms:

-- The Air Force will allow women aboard high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft such as the SR-71 Blackbird, the TR-1 and the U-2.

-- The Marine Corps will have women serve as security guards at U.S. embassies.

-- The Navy will permit female personnel on the EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft. The Pentagon also endorsed the plan announced by Navy Secretary James Webb last month to assign women to ammunition ships, oilers and other vessels in the Navy's "combat logistics force." This policy alone is expected to create up to 9,000 new jobs for female sailors.

-- The Army should consider opening certain brigade positions, such as forward support battalions, which do not face the same risks as front-line battalions.

The changes mark a milestone in the gradual integration of women into the ultimate male bastion. In numbers alone, women have already had a radical impact on the armed forces. When the all-volunteer military was introduced in 1973, women accounted for only 1.9% of U.S. forces; today, 220,000 strong, they make up 10%. "We can no longer go to war without the women," says Lieut. General Colin Powell, director of the National Security Council.

Women have excelled in a variety of posts, but the highest rungs of leadership have been difficult to reach. In all the services, the way to the top is through command: of an Army battalion, a ship, an air wing. Partly because of the exclusion from so many designated combat posts, women's military careers tend to top out at the middle ranks. Some 18% of female Army officers are second lieutenants, compared with 11% of male officers. But only 1% of female officers are colonels; 5% of male officers hold that rank. "They're not allowed in the jobs which are critical for competitive promotion," says Korb. The Pentagon's new policy could go a long way toward solving that dilemma.

The Armor task force was created in response to another problem plaguing women in the military: sexual harassment. In the Navy the majority of 1,400 females surveyed last year said they had been victims. Carlucci last week ordered stricter enforcement of sexual harassment codes, development of new sensitivity-training courses, and a system that will allow women to pursue their complaints with other authorities if their local commander fails to respond.

That such measures are necessary underscores the fact that not everyone welcomes the growing role of women in the armed forces. While polls show increasing popular support for women in arms and even for their participation in combat, that last barrier is not likely to fall anytime soon. Congresswoman Beverly Byron, who chairs the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel and Compensation, strongly supports the Pentagon reforms, but she admits, "There is a chauvinistic, male repugnance to women in direct combat that I share." Lorrie Hayward, a Nebraska-born lieutenant stationed in Frankfurt, West Germany, is blunter. Says she: "The American people are simply not ready for women coming home in body bags."

With reporting by D. Blake Hallanan/San Francisco and Bruce van Voorst/Washington