European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 13, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday july 13. 1907 the stars and stripes Page 3 Canada to test women in combat jobs by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau Lahr Germany discarding pan of a plan to test women in combat jobs previously reserved for men. Canada has eliminated gender restrictions in All of its air Force jobs. Henceforth male and female air Force personnel will be equally eligible for employment throughout the air Community National defense minister Perrin Beany said in a message to Canadian forces Europe officials this month. Beany said the forces May have to delay combat related employment trials for in Man in army jobs however because too few female recruits and women already serving in the military have volunteered to participate in them. The forces expect Navy trials of women in combat jobs to occur on schedule. The Navy Experiment Calls for staffing a destroyer with a Crew of which 25 percent will be women and evaluating the results Over a two year period beginning in the fall of 1989. Women make up Aboul 9 percent of Canadian forces personnel and about t 8 percent of Canadian reservists. Before the air Force decision women were eligible to work in 7s percent of the forces occupations compared with 19 percent in 1971. The air Force decision will affect Canada s Lahr and Baden Soellinger bases immediately at least on paper because it makes women eligible to serve As of is i fighter pilots and in tactical helicopter squadrons. Ca Nadian army units in Germany should see no change for at least few years however. The army combat trials Are scheduled to take place in Canada. The experimental combat programs have made no big Waves at cafe bases forces spokesmen said. Caily announced the creation of the combat re lated employment of women Crew trials office in february according to another department of nation Al defense message Locke officials. Trie fundamental principle involved Here is that every Canadian citizen has equal rights and responsibilities when it comes to the defense of this country Balty Aid in a speech to the University of Toronto Law school faculty. Because of the ambiguous nature of modern combat he said women who serve in units supporting front Linc troops Are actually in combat jobs already Beatty said the forces Are drafting gender free physical standards for each military occupation to be Stu died in the trials and i is department will make no changes that put the forces operational effectiveness at undue risk. The trials office director Brig Gen. Lewis w. Mac Kunzic said the forces Are having a much harder time finding the 300 women needed for the army trials than the 60 women for the Navy trials the reason is probably because in the Navy trials women won t have to change their occupational specialities in most cases Mackenzie said. If they re a clerk in the Navy they can be a clerk on the ship. But in the army this entails chancing occupations a clerk will have to retrain As an in Anler or in the Armor corps or whatever. The applicants for the Navy trials will take to Cir Basic training and occupational training in Early 1988 and will graduate in the fall of 1988," he said. The forces have considered integration of the so Systo be trickiest in the Navy because of crowded living conditions and the Lack of facilities for women on some vessels particularly on Canada s three i Csc electric submarines. Those structural obstacles May disappear however in the Wake of a major defense policy while paper that the progressive conservative government released june 5. The policy Calls for creating a three Ocean Canadian Navy panic through building six new frigates and buying 10 to 12 nuclear powered submarines during a recent visit to Canadian forces base Badin soul Lingen associate National defense min ister Paul w. Dick acknowledged the limitations of Canada s current vessels some of which Are 30 Yea sold. We just can t find a place to put women s Wash rooms in our submarines he said but he added we re not going to be designing a whole new submarine. We re going to be taking what other countries can ofter  in Canadian press reports unnamed military Leader shave accused the defense ministry of taking a myopic View of army problems in setting up the mixed gender combat trials. One senior officer quoted in the Toronto Star newspaper said that tanks and armoured personnel carriers Are like Little  and they overflow with people. Up in the High Arctic on our exercise lightning strike the Basic in Fantry unit is a Section of 10 men. They All cram into one tent and do everything in it. The conditions Are just As onerous As in a  a reporter chuch vetch contributed � Ini r mixed gender training draws mixed responses by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau Lahr Germany if women gain permanent Access to Canadian forces combat jobs As a result of experimental mixed gender training this fall the first enemies they Light will be the opinions of people who say they should t be there some canadians interviewed randomly at Canadian forces base Lahr favored admitting women to the Battle front but they also wondered aloud How much the Equality Between he sexes would Cost in social adjustment people Are stuck in their ways an they Don l want to change said reservist Cpl. Shery n. Grant who is serving a six month tour Between semesters at Carl Etori University in Ottawa she favors the mixed gender combat trials she said but inert Are a Loi of people Here who think girls should t be in the  none of a dozen people interviewed offered an opinion that extreme but Many questioned the practicality of put Ting women into combat roles. They cited women s relative Lack of physical strength the potential for sexual distractions and the hygienic demands of the menstrual Cycle As reasons for barring women from combat. Physically there Are problems said sol. Sylvara Thibeault noting that the 12 infantry soldiers he supervises must run a 10-mile course regularly and move heavy equipment. The Only Way woman could be in a combat Job is to be a truck Driver master Cpl. Linda Rossi an administration clerk said servicemen might Fin themselves taking up the Slack for women who Are unable to handle some military trades even some of the Supply trades because the boxes Are  it All depends on the Job they re doing. If you re talking digging ditches Girts can dig ditches she said. It s Good idea Cut you have to look at it  she said she also favors allowing women to become combat pilots High school senior Teresa Lahey said she plans to enlist in the forces but she added i Don t want to go into combat roles. I think that should be left up to themen. Women Aren t built for it physical  her classmate Stephanie Lammert who has a brother in the infantry Dis agreed. I Don t think hey should pro Hibit women from it if they can handle it she said. Lisa Rafuse another High school senior accepts woman in combat roles with reservations. When there s no War on i have no objections. But it just does t Appeal to me the idea of women in a War she said. I Don t think women can handle it As Well As  some people bemoaned the prospector mixed gender fighting units More than the Mere presence of women on the Battlefield. Lahey suggested that men in combat won t be Able to pay attention to what they re doing if women join their ranks. Rossi said she knew Man mate soldiers who Don t want women working with them. She too alluded to possible sexual complications being out in the Field Loo Long girl Sand Guys get lonely Rossi said. A few people interviewed could think of Only one Way to employ women on the Battlefield without jeopardizing the men s effectiveness. They d have to have a separate unit altogether. I Don t believe men and women would be Able to work together efficiently under combat conditions said a master Corporal who has spent his career in combat arms. He asked not to be identified adding my wife would probably kill  if that s True Cpl. Terrence Bones Pittman who served As a Tanker for two years before becoming a trucker with the Royal Canadian dragoons would Proba Bly come to his defense. The Only Way 1 can see females a tankers in the army corps is to have an All female Crew he said explaining that the four person tanks barely offer enough space for the Crew to move around and they Alt sleep in the same tent. But the weight of the ammunition that a Tanker has to lift makes even All women Crews impractical he said. Pal Kevin Conrad a 4 service in radio operator already has participated in mixed gender training and he thinks it s a Good idea. Conrad said he shared Alent with two other male soldiers and a female Soldier on a recent Field exercise. The first night is uncomfortable. But after that she just a co worker he said. He said the training was As professional As Ever but it was More relaxed with the women out  Reserve Cpl. Nancy l. Drake a Tele Type operator and University of Calgary student shared a Lent with two male sol Diers on the same exercise. She said it was difficult to get privacy but the Situa Tion was not uncomfortable. Drake and Rossi both said the introduction of women to combat units will probably Foster intense Competition which will make it More difficult for the women being observed. I m glad they re giving them the Opportunity but people Aren t going to accept it right away Drake said. A lot of the men Are going to think they Aren t Cut out for it and they re going to  Sheryl n. In int. Part. Kevin Conrd master Cpl. Uncut Rossi Sis no ii by Jqhn own High school senior Tern they