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RETIRED LT. COLONEL AND NOW LEADER CRITICIZES PENTAGON PANEL'S RECOMMENDATIONS ON SEGREGATED TRAINING

December 17, 1997

"The military needs to find ways to better integrate women and men, not separate them further," Johnson said. The panel recommended that to alleviate sexual harassment, discrimination and assault problems, men and women should receive segregated basic training.

"Right-wing beliefs to the contrary, separate is still not equal," Johnson said. "Creating a two-tiered training system will focus on the symptom rather than the underlying problem: a military culture that values women less than men." Sexual harassment often occurs when men feel threatened by women's increasing role in previously male-only fields -- like the military. "Men in power sexually harass and assault women to ‘put them in their place,'" she said. "Why is it that when men abuse their power, women are singled out as the problem?"

The solution is not less professional contact but more, Johnson argued. "If men and women do not train together from the beginning, how will they learn to respect each other as equals?" Since the army integrated basic training, fewer women report sexual harassment -- 64% in 1988 compared to 55% in 1995 (Department of Defense surveys, 1988 and 1995).

Considering that more than half the women in the army are sexually harassed, it is clear that the problem is not limited to basic training. In fact, some of the most infamous problems that prompted the review panel did not occur in basic training at all, but at Aberdeen Proving Ground, one of the Army's advanced training bases. Johnson suggested that part of the answer lies in greater personnel resources committed to training facilities and better screening for drill instructors.

"From recruitment to combat roles to leadership, women must play equal parts in our military services to ensure our readiness. Creating a sex-segregated training system will only undermine that goal," Johnson said.

Johnson did agree with one aspect of the panel's report. The armed forces need to increase the number of women trainers. "We need to expand the ranks of women in all positions of responsibility," Johnson said.